Car Dealership Told A Woman Her Payment Would Be $280 Then Raised It To $418 After She Drove The Car Home
Unfortunately, it's an all too common practice for car dealerships.
Inside Creative House | Shutterstock A car is a significant purchase. While it is one you’ll likely make multiple times throughout your life, it’s still a big deal — and a big expense. Yet, car dealerships are notoriously shady, between constant upselling and price ambiguity.
One woman learned this firsthand when she attempted to buy a car for her parents.
After the woman drove away with the car, the dealership raised the monthly payment by over $100.
Content creator Dani G shared her experience on TikTok.
“So, I bought a car yesterday for my parents because my dad got into an accident, and his car was totaled,” she explained. "It’s not a brand new car. It’s a 2019. It’s five years old, 50-something thousand miles on it."
Dani stated that she and the dealership “negotiated payments” and reached a consensus.
“Agreed on $280 even,” she said. “That’s what my payment is. Ran my credit, did the whole thing, signed all the papers."
The woman was excited to gift the car to her parents, but before she could do so, she received a phone call from the dealership.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, the financing was finalized, and we can’t offer you that interest rate at, like, 9% or whatever it was,’” she recalled. Instead, they informed her that the payment would increase to $418 — a $138 difference.
"No one said anything about the financing not being approved already," Dani said to the salesman, who then tried to talk her into an 11% interest rate with a $298 payment. Still, she refused.
“I’m taking the car back,” Dani insisted.
After threatening to take the car back, the woman shared an update.
In a follow-up TikTok, Dani offered an update on the situation with the car.
“So I went to my credit union, and I got [an] offer from them,” Dani explained. “It ended up being what my original interest rate and payment was going to be at the dealership."
“What had happened was I signed a spot agreement, which I had no idea what that was,” Dani admitted. “I’ve never seen that in my life, and it was not explained to me. I signed it ‘cause I just did. I didn’t read it very well, I guess.”
Dani took full responsibility for the blunder.
“I went back and read it and I still didn’t understand it, and it just goes to show that I need to read things better and ask questions more,” she said. “And that’s fine. I’m not perfect. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. But, you know, I learned my lesson with car buying, and so I’ll definitely do things differently next time.”
The woman accidentally signed a spot agreement which many people don't know about and can be tricky.
Capital One said, “Spot delivery — also known as yo-yo financing — allows a buyer to drive off with their new car while the dealer secures the financing for them.”
Capital One also acknowledged that this can cause potential problems.
“In some cases, the seller may reveal they couldn’t secure favorable financing and push the buyer to either return the car, take on an auto loan with high interest rates, or risk having the car repossessed or reported as stolen,” they noted.
In this case, it led to Dani’s interest rate increasing. While it can be tempting to sign a spot agreement to get your new car as soon as possible, it's often not worth all of the issues that can arise.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.