... Uning believable! All right, here's a little background regarding the situation. I just bought my car on February 25th of this year. The dealership has yet to send me my metal plates. Of course a temp tag is only valid for 30 days. Today on my way to work in the early afternoon, a Florida Highway Patrol Officer cruised up behind me in downtown Orlando and immediately took notice of the fact that my temp tag was 5 days out of date. Sure enough, he flips on his pretty blue lights and pulled me over. Just to add insult to injury, I didn't have any proof of insurance with me, so in addition to the $46 ticket for an expired tag, I also got a $46 ticket for not having proof of insurance. He did say that if I take a proof of insurance to the courthouse, that citation will be dismissed. As far as the expired tag, I have to take that up with the dealership where I bought the car who hasn't sent me my God d#*n license plate yet. I called the dealership while the highway patrol officer was sitting behind me in his car, and the finance manager who sold me the car asked me if anybody from the dealership had contacted me to let me know that my tag, and registration was there, I of course so no, which they haven't. He told me that somebody from the dealership was supposed to contact me to let me know that my metal plate, and registration was there, and that they would mail them to me. (The car dealership is in West Palm Beach, about 160 miles away from Orlando where I live.) This is typical of the kind of luck that I have.

Sorry, but I just wanted to rant a little.

Cheers!

 

its not your luck, its poor business ethics of dealership.

i have same situation with you. it was been month and a half and no words on tag info. make the matter worse, the dealer did the paper work for tag in GA when i told the manager that i was going to do it in TN. This is for s2k.

now for my truck, matter doesnt get better. i havent seen it either and its out of date and yes i have to drive to work everyday. i hope i dont get pulled over.

 

I disagree with you young_r.

Although the dealer should make the call and be responsible, etc... blah, blah, blah... what would it have taken TWO days before Need4spd28's temp tags expired for him to call the dealership. One simple little phone call to follow up on something that is just as important (if not more) to him than the dealership.

This would have ensured that he was involved with the process, and knew the situation, and could have resolved this before it became an issue.

I'm not looking to start a war, (although I may just have), but this is typical of the way the American culture has moved over the recent years. 'Let's blame someone else for a problem I could have solved already and prevented from ever happening."

I also recall your thread, and think the situation was slightly different, due to the state issue, etc... Similar, but still different.

 

I can sympathize. I've determined that a car dealer's commitment to the customer ends about 5 seconds after the final signatures are put on paper (sorry for the generalization, I know not all places are like this, but more often than not, it's the case). I say this only because the sales manager from the dealership where I bought my car actually said that to me, then tried to retract his statement after I told him I was going to let his GM know about his attitude.

Anyway, after buying my car and getting a 20-day temp tag, I called the dealership on a weekly basis asking if my plates were in. Each time I got a simple, "no." No explanations, no reasons, other than, "we'll call you when it's in." Anyway, I called again the day my temp tags expired and demanded to know where my tags were. After talking to 3 different people, the sales manager finally gets on the phone and explains to me that my tags had been in for a week, but that since I owed them $200, I couldn't have them. "Um, why do I owe you $200?" I asked. His explanation was that they had miscalculated the sales tax when they sold me my car, so I now owed them $200. Now, first things first, this was about the 3rd "mistake" on their part, each time costing me time and money. Secondly, why didn't anyone tell me about this in the first place??? Finally, please, use a little bit of professionalism and explain the situation, rather than extorting $200 from me so I can have MY tags.

After a lengthy disagreement with the dealership (sales person, sales manager, and finally GM), I was able to pick up MY plates a few days later - out $200, but up an alarm. So, lesson learned:

NEVER BUY A CAR FROM PLANET HONDA IN NEW JERSEY.

 

Send in proof of valid registration and insurance with the tickets and you only need to pay $5 for each. A similar incident happened to me last month, sent in the new reg. and insurance card with a $5 check and all is dandy.

 

Sorry Need4spd28, but I have to agree with Heyitsgary.

While I agree that it was very poor form for the dealer to drop the ball on this one, it "is" ultimately "your" responsibility to see to it that the license plates were installed in time. I would have been calling them two weeks after delivery if I hadn't heard anything from them about the plates by then.

As for Happs22, I'm appalled at how you were treated. My question is, "have you double checked the paperwork you were given to confirm that they made a mistake on the sales tax?" If they did, then I think you owed them the money. If not, as much as I loath mentioning this, call in the lawyers! Beyond that, people make mistakes. It's unfortunate, but how the world works.

What's inexcusable, is how they treated you on this. They should have contacted you immediately after they discovered their error and made arrangements. Holding your licenses plates hostage over this is beneath contempt.

Drive Safe,
Steve R.

 

Here in California out plates and tags come from the department of motor vehicles not the dealer. The less I have to work with the dealership,the better I like it.

 

Same here. I think the tags come from tag department. But when my paper tag expired, I went to the dealership to get a new paper tag. They said it normally takes 30-45 days for tag department plates. WTH! Anyways I received my tag in about 33 days no big deal but come to find out when I go to renew my tags a few months later someone screwed up in the paperwork and the car was still showing as an out of state title so not even a 2 days after the end of December I get pulled over for license plates expired. Stupid GSP's! I showed her a letter stating that I couldn't renew my tags because it is still showing as out of state title but she still gave me a ticket. Well month later I go to court and find out that it is $125 dollar fine but you can have it reduced if you show proof that you renewed your tags in that time. It was a whopping $25 dollars.

BTW... the loan company finally corrected the problem "A few days after that." I had contacted them several times and there was apparently only 1 person operation and she said that she is doing the best she can.

 

IMO, if a dealership "miscalculates" sales tax and then wants you to pay for it later, I recommend two things: 1) Have them absorb the cost of their mistake. You agreed to and signed for a particular price. If you buy a TV from a store and later they call up and say "sorry, we forgot $20 of sales tax, please pay us", would you pay them? and 2) If they're adamant about the extra amount, then tell them that you'd agree to return the car for the full purchase price.

After all, if you agreed to, say, $30k and gave them only $29k, wouldn't that normally invalidate a deal? (thus they get the car back, you get your money back?)

What if you flew somewhere then the airline called up and said "Oh sorry, we miscalculated the tax, you owe us $20 more"? If this happened before the flight, the options are 1) pay the $20, or 2) don't fly and get your purchase price back. If the dealership really feels that you owe them the $200, then technically you haven't bought the car, therefore you should get your money back and they get their car back.

The dealership might back down if you suggest returning the car. After all, getting a car back with potentially hundreds of miles on it makes it much more likely that they'll lose far more than $200 over the whole issue. It's their mistake, they should be responsible for it.

It sounds more like a car buying scam to me, IMO (a way to "increase profit" on a deal)

 

Good thing you're not black and living in Portland, Oregon. They would have just shot you on the spot instead...

ron