Alright i put down a deposit($500) on a 06 Si last saturday. Some of my friends that have alot more experience in buying cars were saying that they can't cash it until the papers are signed and something has been sold, they're suppose to hold onto it. Well the dealership cashed the check today!! Are they allowed to cash it or what? I have no idea on this ****. PLEASE HELP!! THANX!!

 

Do you have a written contract for the car that shows the total payment, deposit made, etc....?

 

yes dealers can cash it. it will be used towards your purchase. did you plan to put money down? deposits do two things. it does let the dealer know you are serious and they will do everything possible to get you your car asap...other thing is if you cancel you might lose it. deal with a reputable dealer they won't screw you. most dealers won't

 

It's best to put a deposit down with credit card not check. That way if there are problems you can dispute it better with a credit card company than cash or check.

 

no written contract that i know of but i have the e-mails with him giving me the quote for the car and i even got pre-approved for the loan. Yes i was planning on putting a deposit down but wasn't planning on it to be coming out soo soon. The manager at the dealership told me that if i wanna back out at any time he'd have no problem in giving me my money back. I was just going by what my friends said and one of them has had really bad experiences with dealers soo he thinks that everything they do is tryin to screw you. Thanx.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SteaveO2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no written contract that i know of but i have the e-mails with him giving me the quote for the car and i even got pre-approved for the loan. Yes i was planning on putting a deposit down but wasn't planning on it to be coming out soo soon. The manager at the dealership told me that if i wanna back out at any time he'd have no problem in giving me my money back. I was just going by what my friends said and one of them has had really bad experiences with dealers soo he thinks that everything they do is tryin to screw you. Thanx.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hopefully the manager sticks to his words if you decide to back out. You also have the e-mail which contains the quote. I think you are in a good spot.

Just curious to why you are so upset about the dealer cashing the check?

 

Well the thing is that i didn't really have the money for the deposit. I was told buy multiple people that they wouldn't cash it and luckily i made arrangements to borrow the money just incase they did. So now i'm temporarily in the hole. Oh and btw i e-mailed my salesman and he wrote me a big response.

"Stephen,

Please read the following carefully. I worked hard on it, it is after 9pm, and I'm going home! Please call me tommorrow if you like.

I can sure understand your concern, you are hearing a lot of erroneous information from people who may have had bad experiences with unscrupulous car dealers and they are naturally distrustful. They are also wrong on all counts. Taking deposits to secure a claim on incoming merchandise is a common general business practice, and it has long been used when someone wants their name on a particular automobile, especially a limited production automobile such as the Si. It is merely a good faith device to reserve the car for a particular serious buyer, it gives that person first right-of-refusal to claim that vehicle.

What would happen if this practice were not used? Let me try to give you an example: Joe Shmo and Billy Bob both say they want to buy a $70,000 Z06 Corvette. Joe is serious and goes to the dealer ready to order a red one, the most popular color. But Billy Bob gets to the dealership first. Billy secretly thinks he might rather have a Porche... but isn't sure... so decides, just in case, to tell them he wants to order a green Z06, the least popular color. The dealer is only allocated one Z06 for a 90-day period, so they can only order one. In the meantime, Joe goes to another dealer to order his red Z06. Billy's green Z06 arrives 60-days later (during that time, six other serious Z06 customers are turned away by the dealer) and he drives up in his Porche and tells them he has changed his mind! The dealer then sits on the (least popular) green car for another 60-days until it is finally traded to another dealer for a Tahoe, at a cost of $400 freight. The dealer is out how many opportunities, how many dissatisfied customers, and how much money?

That is kind of an extreme example, but you probably get the point! You can see where leaving a deposit would make this situation less likely to happen. It also demonstrates a sincere desire to do business. But Stephen, please know that Rushmore Honda has no interest in keeping your deposit if you don't want first right-of-refusal. I want to assure you that any time you feel things have changed, and the purchase of the incoming Si no longer fits your life situation, please come and get your deposit back! If you do have serious doubts, make your decision as soon as you can in case we need to order a different color or whatever. We did have another person asking about an Si this morning. As for your friends saying it will be hard to get back, it will only take the time for a check to be cut by our accountant who is here during her regular work hours (8-4:30) on week days.

As I said to you from the beginning: Rushmore Honda is a reputable dealer and we do business in a straght-forward fashion, I personally could not tolerate working any other way. If you continue to have concerns or questions, please keep asking! I would also urge you to print out and show this e-mail to your friends and tell them I would very much welcome their questions about our order deposit policy and it's legality. Please have them call me or stop by and I will be very happy to discuss this or any of our other policies or procedures with them and we can all lighten-up!

Thanks,

Tim Larson
Internet Manager
Rushmore Honda"

 

they can cash it

hopefully you made sure its refundable

i always put mine down on Credit cards

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SteaveO2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alright i put down a deposit($500) on a 06 Si last saturday. Some of my friends that have alot more experience in buying cars were saying that they can't cash it until the papers are signed and something has been sold, they're suppose to hold onto it. Well the dealership cashed the check today!! Are they allowed to cash it or what? I have no idea on this ****. PLEASE HELP!! THANX!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

it's a DEPOSIT. Generally deposit's are not refundable to make sure you go ahead with the deal that you said you would - as the Internet Manager said - it's a common business practice. If you didn't have the money for the deposit, then you shouldn't have put that amount for a deposit. They're not scamming you, they're just making sure you go through with your deal to ensure your seriousness. When you cut them a check and give them billing information and such they are allowed to cash or take whatever you've agreed upon.

One example: a guy wanted to buy a motorcycle from a friend. my friend told him that he had to give a $100 non-refundable deposit and if he didn't come up with the money in 7 days he was going to put it back on the market for sale. He didn't come up with the money, my friend kept the $100 and got his asking price from another buyer.

make sure you know you can afford what you're buying and know that you really want it. otherwise you end up paying for it (literally)

EDIT: (read the other posts) - it really sounds like you are not ready to buy this car. If you agreed to buy this car and signify that with a deposit (why would you put a deposit or give billing information if you're not already committed) then the dealer has the right to cash or deposit whatever you have given them. If he's willing to give you back your money you're dealing with a VERY NICE dealer - most will NOT do this...


Modified by Sijray21 at 10:53 AM 4/7/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SteaveO2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well the thing is that i didn't really have the money for the deposit. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not to get in your business, but are you financially ready to make a $400+ monthly car payment? ....or are you throwing in a newer car that is paid off as a down payment? If you are looking at a $400+ payment you may want to really count all your finances out and make sure you can carry the load. You don't want to come up short with $$$ just to own a 06 Si

Dealer seems very reliable from the response

 

Yes, you can get the deposit back, and yes, they can cash it as early as they want to.

 

In my opinion, they should cash it. You can easily not have the money in your account, and pass a bad check. In that case, the car should be up for grabs for the first person WITH money.

You giving them a check without having money in the account to back it up is bullshit in my opinion. Its like, here, hold this for me but I need to get you the money later.

Money talks.

 

When I got my Toyota, they wanted 1000 deposit but if we weren't serious were willing to refund it.

 

I am dealer and we take deposits all the time,... reguardless what ANYONE tells you, if it came down to the dealer (any dealer) having to choose between a refund or small claims court,...... they will choose the refund EVERY time,..... its not worth it for them to bother over AND its BAD PUBLICITY,... besides,.... we are all backstabbing crooks right?.... Or at least thats what 99% of everyone thinks,.... courtrooms and judges not excluded.

THE CUSTOMER AALLWWAAYYSS WINS IN COURT. well,....99.99% of the time.

 

ALright here's the deal. I never liked the idea of written a check when i didn't have the money(but for some reason i listened to my friends at work), i've NEVER done that before and i am normally financially stable. My wife just started her new job as a cosmetologist and she hasn't got a paycheck yet so we've been tight on money cause of only one income right now. Also i have two loans that will be paid off next month soo by the time i get the Si i will have plenty of money to pay for it, no doubt about that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SIevo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's best to put a deposit down with credit card not check. That way if there are problems you can dispute it better with a credit card company than cash or check.</TD></TR></TABLE>



The credit card will do a charge back. The dealer won't even bother to fight the credit card company.

 

Well i only have 1 credit card neways and the limit is only $500(i don't like credit cards and try not to use them for nethign but emergency's) soo that wouldn't have worked for me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In my opinion, they should cash it. You can easily not have the money in your account, and pass a bad check. In that case, the car should be up for grabs for the first person WITH money.

Money talks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree, if I went to buy that same Si and was turned away b/c it was "reserved," only to find out later that the individual who was "holding" the car wrote a hot check...I'd be upset since I actually had the money to buy it. But like he said, he borrowed the money and it was in his account at the time it cleared. That's all that matters. Now he's got his Si reserved. I say congrats to that. And the dealer won't screw you, not like that anyway. Just keep track of everything in writing. If you actually intend on buying the car then let them cash it. After all, you imply that you intend on giving them the money anyway, and they imply that they'll deliver the car you want. It's a 2-way agreement. If you change your mind, they'll give it back ...trust me. The last thing they want is to fight with you over $500. When I was trying to get my Si...I had to get my deposit back TWICE from TWO DIFFERENT DEALERS (after it was cashed - both times) b/c neither dealer came through on delivery of the car I wanted. The new Si is just hard to come by and that's something that everyone must live with. But trust me, it's well worth the wait!!!!

 

Well consider this --- if they took the deposit and cashed the check but failed to deliver you the Si and tried to swtich you to an EX coupe would that be fair?

I wouldnt think so --- the deposit is a good faith gesture and shows that they are willing to sell you the car at the price offered and your willing to pay it when it arrives -- win -win deal

The fact they are willing to give it back is actually REALLY nice .... I lost 500 one time because I wanted to by a CRX, made a deposit (private party) and my ex wife spent all our cash ..... I promised to have all the cash in a week and couldnt come through -- he had held the car for me but I dropped the ball and paid for it dearly --- gotta stick to your word