THE STING

[Viperfreak2]

Bottom line to all the above: Any VCA members (or even casual browsers) who have read this post will NEVER buy a car from this dealership. They now have a bad reputation.How in the world could any intelligent business person not foresee the bad publicity with NOT HONORING a simple agreement? Which is better, lose a couple grand profit today to make lots more tomorrow, or the opposite.....make money TODAY, SCREW tomorrow???

 

[Janni]

Old fashioned "stealerships"

run on the short term profit outlook -they live and die by monthly sales numbers. They make bonuses dependent on VERY short term goals. So often that's why they don't like to order vehicles. Never understood that - order units are money in the bank. They live in the here and now and don't worry about the future because they still believe that there will always be an endless supply of stupid consumers with no ability to compare prices or find out the true cost of vehicles. The believe that people have to buy cars from local dealers because they are too stupid to buy elsewhere or shop for the best price. They are living in the dark ages and have seriously underestimated the power of the internet, the access to information it provides as well as the speed and distance that bad publicity can travel I this day in age.

I hope their fate is the same as the dinosaurs!

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Bring the media(as in live) into the dealership with the contracts, the buyer the VCA representative and turn up the heat.

If this fails, find out how many SRT's were ordered from this dealer? If more than one contract and if the dealer will not honor it; consider a class action.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Keith, great post from a great guy (you)!

There are MANY reasons I ask that question, but the primary one is that the VCA and it's members have a better chance of getting help, period. It is much easier to approach the subject if it is on behalf of a member verses a non member.

I have and continue to help many owners with dealer situations (unfortunately this type of situation has been going on for way too long)in hopes that we can get them to join the VCA. But I will always tell them that being a member gives them MORE EARS, and in a situation like this that can never hurt.

As an attorney I am sure you can appreciate the stronger the case the more likely you can get a favorable result! That is my goal here.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Oh, I forgot, Keith before you go the law route please be aware that for as long as I remember, once any legal work has been officially put into play all doors are closed, at least those that we can traditionally enter.

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

It would be fantastic if Regional and National VCA officers would go to the dealership with the buyer to influence honoring the deal without negative press if it fails have the news crews standing by to cover the story.

I am sure this will not be the last in dealer problem, so why not set an example of what will happen if you try to screw the VCA?

 

[pj]

Just because a dealer didnt know about the deal, doesnt mean he isn't obligated to fulfil those agreements. I would think the letter to the VCA would be proof enough of the agreement.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Yo lil Fredie, we aint's the Saprono's!

I would take a simple polite letter and make sure all the people at DC, the USA Today and the Automotive News got CC'd. Then threaten to send a copy of a move aggressive letter to all the publications that will have it, including the wall street journal.

The problem, at the end of the day the dealer owns the car he knows that, and we had been warned.

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Hi Steve,

Are you sure?

Has anyone contacted the local TV consumer advocate to discuss this situation?

 

[FrankBarba]

i just got off the phone with a person named Henry - A sales manager of some sort. I identified myself and where i was calling from. I asked him about the owner not receiving his SRT. he stated that they are trying to work the situation out. i asked him if they found the paperwork from this deal. He stated that it was a deal the previous owner had ok'd and was waiting to hear from him. I then asked him that there must be some sort of paperwork in accounting on this deal, other wise they rec'd the car in error. He then stated that they wanted to get this deal done. According to henry, the owner came to the dealership to pick up car, became upset about the deal and walked out. Henry stated that he would have done the same. Seemed sincere about getting this worked out. Hopefully this will work out.

 

[gtsviper]

Yo

Follow the money! Your deposit was accounted for and if that account was transferred through the sale, they have your order.

Janni...no treble damages on breach of contract...only compensatory damages. If there is a tort claim ie. bad faith, intentional infliction of emotional distress, then you get punitive damages.

If 2 or more people at the dealership participated you might consider conspiracy or possibly a RICO claim, that's when you get the big d's.

 

[luc]

CMG,


I think that you have a very strong case and that you will win in court.
The only problem is if the dealer decide to sell the car for some extra profit,believing that even if he loose in court,he will only be responsible for your financial damage ( getting the court to treeble damages is VERY rare)and that could be less than the profit he could make on the car by selling it to someone else.

If things don't work out for you and you like black car,i have an SRTR 10 in order that I will be willing (if legally possible )to transfer to you at the same price than my contract.($500 over manufacturer/dealer invoice.

I was not sure if i was going to keep the car,and instead of trying to make some money by reselling it,I would rather prefer to make it right to someone that get screwed by a dealer.

Luc.
00 GTS

 

[1TONY1]

That's nice of Luc. Is this the dealership that ordered several srt's for the Tn/Al club folks.

Also does anybody know who:
1. Has an airplane
2. Has an old cylinder head
3. Lives only one hour by air from
this dealership.
4. Hates thieves (this dealership)
5. And could make a deposit ????

 

[George Murray]

CMG - if all else fails, and the only way you can get the car (if you still want to buy it from those guys, that is) is to cough up more money, I hereby offer to toss a few bucks into the hat for what I consider a good cause. I hate to see a fellow Viper Bubba get hosed.

Any others wanna ante up? A group of us contributing a few bucks each. I'll start with a hundred bucks. Yeah it's not much, but if enough of us chip in...

With all due respect, I'm not looking at this as some charitable contribution, so please don't be insulted. Just an offer to help a fellow Viper Nation guy.

Just an idea to assist, in the event other avenues are exhausted, and there's no favorable outcome. The simple fact is: you have a contract, and you deserve the car. I'll cast my vote with my wallet.

No kidding here. Get the car, bud.

George

 

[pj]

I think this dealer is feeling the pressure. His story appears to be changing as he talks to different people. I would still recommend calling this guy and saying that based on what he had told us you were interested in hearing what he had to offer.

The manager claimed you never even waited for them to tell you the price they were asking. I, for one, would be curious to know just what their idea of terms should be.

He said the the new "owner" wasnt going to sell the car for less than his cost; which sounds fishy to me based on whats been said so far.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

I am asking if this is a VCA member again? If so please provide your membership number?

 

[pj]

While it would be nice to assume he is a VCA Member; I would think that if he wasn't, after this he sure would be. He has a certificate, so its safe to say he owed/owns another Viper.

Keep in mind, Steve; buying this car gives him membership status even if he didnt have it before.

The Viper Community has rallied around someone getting screwed over by a dealer and is a Viper Owner. Any club member, or potential club member, should be impressed by the willingness of people who have nothing to do with this to inject themselves in the middle.

 

[kverges]

Who cares if he is a VCA member? He sure is ABOUT TO BE ONE IF HE BUYS THE CAR and the insinuation that we, as a community, will care any differently about what has happened to him if he is a VCA member is completely irrelevant.

Steve, you gonna tell me that you or anyone else in the VCA is going to give the guy less assistance if he says gee, I am not a member?

I am a charter VCA member, went to VOI 1, yada, yada. Makes me no nevermind if you or a newbie who just WANTS a Viper asks for help. He gets the same treatment from me. If other VCA members feel differently, then perhaps I am in the wrong club. Just because you have the incredible good fortune to be able to buy the car and pay $100 a year does not make you any more or less deserving of assitance in this situation.

This dealer is engaging in unethical, immoral, and unlawful conduct. The dealer got the car because this fellow got a certificate from DC (not the VCA, by the way). The only way the dealer got to see the car was because a signed buyer's order (a contract) was sent to DC by the prior dealer-operator. The WINDOW STICKER HAS THIS GUY'S NAME ON IT and DC has therefore made the cert holder a third party beneficiary of the agreement between DC and the new dealer-operator. This could not be more chrystal clear and to hint that this poor guy is one IOTA at fault for not going to a "friendly" dealer misses the mark and even hints at some kind of "good 'ol boy" network, the concept of which is not the most savory.

Let's just assist this guy - I can get Tennessee counsel referrals if need be.

 

[CMG]

In reply to your post Steve:

Yes, I am a VCA member.

After certs were mailed from DC the AL/TN VCA club contacted several area (AL,TN & GA) dealers. As I remember it there was not much difference in price. I simply went to the closest dealer that was mentioned. Price was not the primary concern. We need quality Viper service and do not have it. It was an attempt by this region's VCA to generate dealer awareness of the program. My thought then and now is that it was a good idea and well done.

I assure you that we all admire the Woodhouse's and Tator's of the world and would have ordered our Vipers if it was not a few 1000 miles round trip.

The issue was not price.

 

[CMG]

Steve,

VCA #13525

 

[Viperfreak2]

Nice idea, but the principal is still simple. The VCA certificate program says " the car can only be delivered to the person listed on the certificate " If this isn't honored, then the car must sit until the DEALER starts a legal process, and a judge says they can sell the car. Any opinions?

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Opinions are all over on this one, but there are some facts that I will list here and hope that some of our dealer FRIENDS can shed some light:

The cert program was offered to ALL Viper owners (many of which are VCA member)that purchased a new Viper from a Dodge dealer, and still owned the car.

Dodge warned us in the beginning, once the program was approved, that they could follow the program by the book, but they also stated that once the Viper left CAAP on the truck that it becomes property of the DEALERSHIP that ordered it. From that point until the Viper is delivered to the person who ordered it, all the power is in the dealers favor.

Now with that being said, it was obvious what it means. The VCA has spent many years building great relationships with a core group of dealers who understand the value of relationship sales. Buy utilizing these relationships, members and owners could rest assured that the deal they agreed on would be met by our "friendly Viper Dealers". But in some cases people chose to go with dealers that offered lower pricing, or even lower down payments. Some of those dealers did this to enter in the great world of the Viper community, and for the long haul. But there are just as many who entered knowing that all they needed to get the SRT/10 was to sway people with certificates into their respective dealerships. Once they got you in, they win. They win based on the fact that know the same fact that Dodge warned us about. And if you spend any time on this board you should have seen the warning that this very scenario would play out.

Now that being said, a simple concise professional letter to this particular dealer and CC'd to the media and Dodge, would be the starting point to initiate a great result for all. The dealer can learn about what this group is about (we have to remember that they are new also, and we have to give them the benefit of the doubt)and hope that is leads to a long and beneficial relationship with a NEW Viper friendly dealer. If this fails to resolve the issue then we go into full court press (in more ways than one). But the safest way to start in by taking the high road, at least that is how I would handle it.

 

[Janni]

Steve,
Not to be argumentative, but please understand that this dealer was one of the few that WAS working with the local VCA. Several dealers sent letters to the local president with written offers for folks with the certificates - those letters were offered to club members as information.

The bottom line here is that the ownership change of this dealer is the issue. DON'T blame this on the customer for "choosing the wrong dealer" or "bargain hunting" - that is not the case here. This is NO FAULT of the customer - who has a valid signed buyers order and had placed a deposit. Sounds like pure contract law to me. The fact that the ownership changed is the crux of the problem and that fact that they are choosing not to honor an outstanding / pending contract. When you buy a business, you take over the outstanding obligations. He took dleivery (part of the obligation) but is choosing not to honor the agreement with the customer. Sounds like they are picking and choosing what they choose to honor. BAD BUSINESS!

I have been in contact with the buyer and hope to be posting some more information here to put some of the guessing about price, etc. to rest.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Janni, I am not blaming the customer, and in this case, not even the dealer, since it is clear that the dealer today is not the one who signed the contract.

I am saying that this scenario was predicted, and with some sugar sprinkled on the situation they may both come out of this in great shape. I am a little worried that the dealer told Michael that he got threats, but it sounds like that has already passed over.

This situation can easily be fixed as long as both parties benefit. Lets get it fixed. But I will stand by my initial statement in saying that the dealers that have PROVEN over time that they stand by us are the ones that generally do.

 

[Janni]

With Permission from the Gavitt's below is a scan of 1) signed buyers' orders showing a deposit and 2) the completed certificate. While the new owners may not be "happy" with the deal - it's clearly a deal. More action is planned for today - and I hope that we'll see a happy resolution soon.

There is also a "smoking gun" letter from the dealer thaking the local club for the opportunity to be involved in the certificate program and reiterating the deal, but since it was not addressed to the Gavitt's, I will not post without permission from the local VCA officer - who, by the way, is meeting with the dealer today to discuss this matter.

Let's keep our fingers crossed this gets settled today.

 

[Steve Ferguson]

Janni & All,

I got 17 letters from dealers that wanted to extend "special" offers to the VCA members in our region. Of those, not one of them found there way to our membership (at least by my doing), since I was already very comfortable with the dealer groups we currently work with.

This is a lesson for all of us, and again one that has been seen many times before. You can bet that if a program like this occurs again that there will be another group of dealers that will send out fantastic "paper" offers to all the clubs in hopes of finding some prey. That is the most important time to STICK with the Dealers that stick with us all the time!

 

[RS27J9A]

What is the deal here?
Is the law that different in the States?
Depending on what the new owner bought he should be liable for all contracts signed by the dealership. A case of taking the good with the bad.
If when conducting their DD they found something they did not like it could be excluded but that would generally be tied to the previous owner. You would think if it was exclude the other party (you) should have been notified.
I find it hard to grasp that there is enough money in this deal for the dealer to justify the ill will it has created.

 

[Frank 03SRT]

Steve F., something that always "got" me is how some folks bragged about getting their car for invoice, or $500 under invoice, or whatever, from some local yocal dealership that may have never sold a Viper, or few if they did. And this is for a car that costs a ton, and the savings from the local yocal amounts to a hill of beans.

What I bought from a Viper friendly dealer for a few negligible dollars more was the peace of mind that I would get the car from a reputable car nut. I never ONCE worried about any tricks from your typical car salesman.

I think this problem may be a little different in that the dealership changed hands. You see that a lot in KC. However, dealerships, such as Woodhouse, have built their reputations on doing the right thing, and your chances of seeing dealership turnover is probably much less with people like them. That's because of satisfied repeat customers.

There will be a pop-quiz tomorrow on what we have learned!

 

[Steve-Indy]

RIGHT ON, Steve !!!

 

[kverges]

Steve,

I appreciate, but do not entirely agree with, your points. For example, actively refusing to let your local club members know about 17 offer letters from dealers eager to earn their business because you did not deem the dealer "friendly?" That troubles me (1) because it allowed YOU, without the knowledge, advice or consent of your club members, to make a unilateral decision to withhold information; and (2) it concerns me that "friendly" dealers have to do something (pay $ or what?) to get "friendly" status. How is a new dealer that wants to earn club business supposed to get "friendly" status if the dealer can't get through to members?

I have personal experience with a "friendly" local dealer that developed quite a "relationship" with a certain club, that was not exactly what I thought was open enough to be right. Basically, the club became the dealer's and one local member's show, without elections, financial disclosures or anything else. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but let ALL information be open and let the member have the dignity of making their own decisions.

If you think DC has the duty to deliver a car to a dealer that did not place the order, I think that is wrong. As stated above, the SRT/10 was only to be delivered pursuant to a signed buyers's order. Since the new dealer had no such order, it was not entitled to the car in the first place, unless it agreed to step into the prior dealer's shoes. No order, no car - that is the basic rule, right? What am I missing here?

I just hope this all works out, but I stand by my earlier posts and that DC has some responsibility. DC took the buyer's order and printed the owner's name on the window sticker. DC should say to the dealer "oh, you didn't have a buyer's order?; then you were not entitled to the car. We will come get the car and deliver it to a dealer that has a buyer's order." This would be in full compliance with the certificate program as I understand it. My certificate required a signed buyer's order as a condition to DC's acceptance of the order. I can't imagine another dealer could tell DC to deliver the car to them instead and this case should be no different.

If things don't clear up by tomorrow, I recommend an injunction. The dealer could move that car tomorrow at sticker and then all you have is a money damages lawsuit.