Hi,
Do any dealers in California have solutions on deposits / down payments, when to refund or not, and how to protect yourself from flaky customers?
I know that deposits are refundable and I quit taking them after being burned too many times. Agreeing to hold a car for 3-4 days and then having the customer back out is frustrating while getting other interest in the car. A lot of people have moved on to other cars by them time we reach back out saying the car is back on the market.
I landed on taking just a $200 down payment and having the customer sign a law 553 retail contract. They were verbally told that deposits are refundable but down payments are not. We agreed to hold the car 72 hours while they finalized their funds. This has worked well for the most part, but upon further research it appears that down payments are refundable if they don't take delivery of the car (even if law 553 contract is signed).
My logic is $200 is enough to flush out people who are not really serious but its not so much money that they will raise a fuss and pursue legal actions if they did change their mind and lost the money. I told those few people that I would apply the $200 to a future purchase.
Does anybody have any solutions that are fair to both parties in California?
Do any dealers in California have solutions on deposits / down payments, when to refund or not, and how to protect yourself from flaky customers?
I know that deposits are refundable and I quit taking them after being burned too many times. Agreeing to hold a car for 3-4 days and then having the customer back out is frustrating while getting other interest in the car. A lot of people have moved on to other cars by them time we reach back out saying the car is back on the market.
I landed on taking just a $200 down payment and having the customer sign a law 553 retail contract. They were verbally told that deposits are refundable but down payments are not. We agreed to hold the car 72 hours while they finalized their funds. This has worked well for the most part, but upon further research it appears that down payments are refundable if they don't take delivery of the car (even if law 553 contract is signed).
My logic is $200 is enough to flush out people who are not really serious but its not so much money that they will raise a fuss and pursue legal actions if they did change their mind and lost the money. I told those few people that I would apply the $200 to a future purchase.
Does anybody have any solutions that are fair to both parties in California?
