Anybody ever had trouble with this kind of transaction?

I'll keep this short and hopefully find a direction to go with this.

I was approached by a dealer here in the bay area about purchasing my Ferrari. He inspected the car, we agreed upon a price and he left me a $2000 deposit ($1000 cash and $1000 paypal) The contract to purchase was signed by both parties, and he was to take delivery the following Tuesday.

Several weeks have passed and now I cannot get a response from them. He's not reversed the paypal payment, though I suspect he will.

Is there anything I can do short of threatening legal action? Eventually I'd have to show that I sustained some sort of damages but truthfully the only thing I lost was other deals which were LESS than he was paying me that I turned down (one was just marginally less than he agreed to pay and one was about 10% less than what he agreed to pay). Just being honest, I don't think there are any real damages.

Should I just be happy with my $2000 and walk away? Should I have an F-chat party and hold it in his good name? I don't want to out you buddy, but we both know that you read this forum and I would really like to find resolution. A simple phone call or email would tie up these loose ends. I had to turn down another F-chatters offer and it's kind of embarrassing!

 

Hold the car. You have paperwork agreeing to sell it.

Send a registered letter with your terms. eg. how much of the deposit is or is not refundable should he not deliver the balance of the money and pick up the car by xx date.

Storage fees apply after a reasonable amount of time, at so much per day.


In the meantime, get PayPal to cut you a check for the other $1K

 

One possible explanation is very tight cash flow right now.

The dealer may need to make the resale of the car to another customer a done-deal before he continues with your deal. He may be working that end of it frantically while stretching you out in the mean time. If this is the case, he may show up suddenly with the remaining money in hand.

If money is tight, I don't think it is likely he would go ahead and just forfeit the $1000 in cash (I agree the PayPal $1000 is easier to get back). Are there any possible conditions he could claim where he could put in a claim to get the cash money back? That is, any terms to the deal he could claim were not met? If there is such a possibility, then that might be his angle. Lock you up in a deal and then shop the car to other retail customer prospects, knowing the whole time he might be able to get out of the deal and get his deposit money back.

Just a thought. You might want to do a google search for your VIN or for your year/model of car and see if the dealer has your car advertised somewhere on the web already. Maybe places like cars.com, craigslist, his dealer website, hemmings, dupont registry, etc. Good luck.

 

For me that would all be fine and good, I'd just expect some communication to that effect.

 

Just be happy its not the other way around. I feel like I've read too many stories lately of people being scammed out of money and bad car transactions. Good luck with your next purchase.

 

Get a lawyer and see if you can make him give you the rest of the money, but first, see if he HAS that kind of money. I do a lot of consumer protection work and the sad truth is that most people who don't pay their bills, especially the big bills, just plain ain't got no money to get. Though that's prolly not news to you.

 

A lawyer? Wow... just wow!

What ever happened to being civil? Perhaps visiting the dealer at his place of business and having a calm discussion about the matter? He may not be returning phone calls or email, but surely he spends time in the office?

 

In the contract that you both signed , there should be a date for the balance to be paid or the buyer forfeits the deposit and you move on to the next buyer.
Personally, I'd try to contact the buyer and see if he's still interested.

 

Lawyers? You have to be kidding. First it is a waste of time and second you would only make the lawyer rich.
You can't make someone buy the car. You can keep his deposit if it is in your contract. Try to contact him a few more times and move on and try to sell it to someone else.
I am really surprised you are trying to make him buy the car when you have a $2000 deposit. Just be happy you didn't hold the car for a month or 2 with no deposit and you never hear from him.

 

I'll burn through $2000 in legal fees in about 30 minutes. But if the guy won't call me I think I'm just going to assume the deal is dead and will expect a notice from paypal any day...

 

Well, you messed up by not having timeframes and forfeiture of the deposit in the original contract.

If you reach the guy on the phone, tape the conversation.

I like the above blurb about just wandering by and asking the guy if/when he wants to finish the transaction.
Tape that conversation, too, if you like.

I suppose you could contact a lawyer and find out if there's and clearly defined 'reasonable' default time period for these kind of deals. If so, maybe waiting it out is best/easiest.

 

I had a guy give me a six thousand dollar deposit on something i was selling one time. After about 6 weeks I began huntin' for him. That's been years ago, and no one's heard anything from him since, even his family. I sold the item about 10 weeks later. Anyway...

He knows you are honest to a fault.

I'd probably sell the car, and if he wanted his money back, make him sign another contract saying he does not want the car. Make him sign before you give.

edit..and if he won't talk to you, you don't owe him nothin'...let him get the lawyer