[nullspace]

A little more than a week ago, I put $4000 down on a new Cooper S at Universal City Mini in Universal City, CA. The car will be here within a few weeks. The dealer offered me a loan with a very high interest rate, but said that I was free to shop around and get a better loan. I did in fact get a far better loan from my bank, but the bank needs a signed purchase order from the dealer before they can finalize everything. I've been calling the dealer all day, but they seem to be avoiding me and/or dragging their feet in getting me the purchase order.

I currently only have a receipt for the down payment, as well as a worksheet detailing the price of the car and listing my down payment. I thought this worksheet would suffice as a purchase order, but it is unsigned and does not list the price of the car including taxes and fees.

What do I do at this point to ensure that I obtain a purchase order quickly? Does anyone know what my legal rights are? What should I say to get them working quickly? I don't fully trust this dealer, and I get the feeling that they want to trap me in their loan, which is 5% higher than the bank loan. I never agreed to their loan, verbally or otherwise. All I have done is made my down payment. Help!

[NEMINI]

Appear in person ...

[AprilWhine]

Have you checked the dealer review on MINI Cooper Online? Universal City MINI is the lowest rated dealer in the country!

But now that you are involved, here's an idea: Go ahead and let them finance you at the usurious interest rate, then refi through your bank. They may give you a much better price and count on getting a kickback from the finance company, then you make out both ways.

[nullspace]

I don't consider taking their loan and refinancing an option. If it came to that I would back out of the deal. I believe that I am not legally bound to buy the car at this point. If they refuse to let me finance somewhere else I will demand my down payment back and take my business elsewhere. If that fails to work, I will take them to court.

I wish I had known they were going to be so difficult. At this point I would like to just want to get the purchase order, get the car, and never visit this dealer again. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have just bought something else.

Of course, maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe they really were too busy today. I will find out tomorrow.

[Fibik]

I bought my current car from Universal Nissan, but I will not be buying my MINI from them. (Hello LB MINI )

The way it usually works (and worked for me with them) is that you get pre-approved at your bank for the loan. Go to the dealer, buy the car, fill out all the paper work and take the car home. Tell the F&I person that you will be going through your bank for financing so you don't want their lender. In the purchase order you are accepting thier financing unless you pay it off in 3 days. Then head to your bank with the car and purchase order to get a check cut and take it right back to the dealer to get a reciept to free you from the obligation of their lender. One very important item though, DO NOT allow them to write their financing with "rules of 78". (Rules of 78 means that even if you pay off the loan early, you still owe all of the interest that is due over the life of the loan.)

Remember to ask a lot of questions of the F&I guy and if something doesn't sound straight up, walk away.

Hope it helps

Fibik

[nullspace]

Thanks Fibik - I'll take your advice. Hopefully it won't take more than 3 days to get all the paperwork taken care of with the bank. I'm glad you mentioned the rules of 78 - I knew there were ways to force someone to pay all the interest on a loan, but I didn't know the terminology. Thanks again!

If the car is half as good as I'm hoping, this will all be worth it once I get it off the lot.