Tried to Trade the M5 for a Mini Cooper S... very long story, sorry...

[155plus]

Sorry to hear how poorly they treated you, but you need to think about what you just did - suddenly decided that kids may be a good idea? THINK before you decide to have them - you can't return them.

Compared to that - the rest of your post fades in my memory.... Treat this as sa very expensive lesson in life. Sell the car yourself - anyone can sell an M5 as long as they are realistic about the value and have maintained it OK - Beemer Guy is right about that.

[dave_gt]

I'm very sorry to hear of your troubles but I think it may be best viewed as a mistake from which you'll no doubt learn a lot. The dealership in question could have treated you far better if they wanted your return custom. They obviously don't.

As the situation stands you are $5000 out of pocket and understandably a little annoyed, but in possesion of your car of choice. If you choose to fight the dealership through the legal system without some evidence that they are in the wrong legally rather than just morally, you may end up losing ten times as much money. If losing that much money would mess your life up, I'd avoid fighting them in the courts.

When something like this happens it can make your blood boil to the point at which you lose perspective on the severity of the situation. Losing $5000 probably won't mess your life up, you haven't done anything illegal to worry about and you obviously have a caring wife which is truly something to be thankful for. I don't wish to sound patronising, but if I were you I'd plan a romantic evening with the wife, remember everything that is good about life, completely forget about cars for a night and see how the situation looks in the morning.

I certainly wouldn't even consider potentially illegal courses of action; it ain't worth it. If someone threatened to completely ruin me, materially or worse through my family, I would stop at absolutely nothing to prevent them succeeding. This is not one of those times though, and it would be very easily to make the situation exponentially worse.

Just my two penneth and I hope you feel better about it all soon

[BCelts]

[quote=3rd One;1111844]Absolutely.

I would be very surprised if the law has such a cancellation period (in that state) and the dealer knowingly went against it.quote]

It appears that you would be correct: http://www.atg.wa.gov/ConsumerIssues/Cars/Contract.aspx

[BmwNut]

Originally Posted by BCelts

I believe even the devil's advocates on this tread would readily admit that if Washington has a contract cancellation period and if the original poster tried to excercise that right, then the dealership is in the wrong legally, not the original poster.

Exactly. If there was a way, I'd happily share it, but for reasons like this, contracts are the way they are to protect both the consumer from the dealership, and the dealership from the consumer. I feel for the OP, as that is quite a loss, but it isn't on the dealer to protect the consumer from himself.

[Beamer_usa]

There is a reason we call them "$tealers"

[Richbob]

I was very interested, after reading the post, what position most folks would take. As I was reading the story, I couldn't help but think, "they made some bad decisions, and want the dealer to bail them out."

I'm sorry, but you are both adults, you signed a contract, and took the car home - you must have thought, at some point, that it was a good deal, or you wouldn't have gone that far.

Whether or not the dealer wanted to bail you out, the next day, when you came back with a USED Mini, was entirely his decision. He probably could have handled it better, but you two DEFINITELY could have handled it better.

Much as you would like to shift the responsibility, its not fair to make him the bad guy.

Learn from this, and move on....

[BCelts]

Originally Posted by Richbob

I was very interested, after reading the post, what position most folks would take. As I was reading the story, I couldn't help but think, "they made some bad decisions, and want the dealer to bail them out."

I'm sorry, but you are both adults, you signed a contract, and took the car home - you must have thought, at some point, that it was a good deal, or you wouldn't have gone that far.

Whether or not the dealer wanted to bail you out, the next day, when you came back with a USED Mini, was entirely his decision. He probably could have handled it better, but you two DEFINITELY could have handled it better.

Much as you would like to shift the responsibility, its not fair to make him the bad guy.

Learn from this, and move on....

I hear that point of view, but I also think there is a reasonable toll the dealer should take from them. Really, this dealer charged them $5000 to rent a mini for the weekend. The dealer in this situation should have said: "Look, I'm sorry about this and I want ot be fair, so here is what we will do. Lets say the loss of value on the Mini is $1000 and our time working up the deal is worth $1000. $2000 is fair, lets leave it at that."

As the story is told, the dealer may be legally in the right, but morally they abused the customer to the tune of $5000 plus whatever they earn from the refinancing. It was over the top and morally wrong in my opinion, along the same lines that usuary is wrong.

[gsfent]

Definitely a sad story. As much as we love our cars, they are just hunks of metal. If one gets totalled, and the people walk away, we are all happy. So whatever car you buy or consider, don't get too attached (and this is coming from a car junkie on a car junkie board).

Now the dealership acted like jerks, but legally within their rights. I don't think the Attorney General is going to investigate LEGAL practices (although our Federal Congress likes to stick its nose in all the time, but I digress). I think you just need to lick your wounds on this deal. The only real revenge would be to somehow affect their future sales without libelling them or slandering them. Only two ways to do that as far as I know: through the court system (statements in pleadings are generally privileged) or through the media!

I don't know if there is a human interest story here, but if someone was doing a story on what to do or not do in preparing for children (you know, start a college fund, consider buying a house, the cost of raising a child etc.) you might be able to work in a story about how car buying decisions at one local dealership can have a huge impact on you and your neighbors ability/decision to have children. You can then share FACTS which show what a bunch of turds the dealership personnel were.

If you can set the hook with the media, I think the dealership will be amazed at the negative (and legal) publicity. You might even get your money back from the owner in a photo op session with the owner claiming he had "no idea" what happened that day!!!

A long shot, you need to know someone in the media, and they have to sell the story to the editor. When I lived in Miami, there was a weekly column where the writer tried to right wrongs inflicted on the public. Since they had the power of the media behind them, they had a huge success rate in getting things done, including getting monies back on some shady deals.

BTW, consider the buy back the price of doing the carbon head cleanup without the carbon buildup and you are about even!!
Regards,
Jerry

[3rd One]

Originally Posted by 03silverM5

Gotta love America at times.

This is sickening. Somehow America took advantage of you?

You are not the victim of the dealerships treatment, you are however the victim of your own stupidity. You should be thankful that you only paid $5,000 to get your car back. The dealer could/should have charged $10,000, and I have a suspicion you would have been dumb enough to pay it.

In the future don't buy things you cant afford................................twice

[155plus]

Originally Posted by 3rd One

The dealer could/should have charged $10,000, and I have a suspicion you would have been dumb enough to pay it.

Play nice....