rome

Dealer has a duty to mitigate its damages under state law.

Bob Rouleau

I am not familiar with CA law. Based on the posted terms, you did not make a deposit, you bought an option for one year (so much for the missed delivery date unless there is other wording specifying said date.. is there?). If you fail to exercise your option they keep the money since (unless there is a drop dead delivery date) the dealer did not fail to perform. It looks like their contract wording is designed to avoid the law regarding deposits in CA.

Hope this works out.

Carbon_Ted

Labeling a deposit as an 'option' does not allow a dealer to subvert the law.

Dave I.- If the atmosphere hadn't become hostile from the dealer's end, I would have suggested that you meet them halfway....that is, tell them to keep your deposit until the ordered car sells to someone else....so you might not get the deposit back until a month or two from now.

If that is not your inclination, then try the attorney letter first.
If that doesn't work then file a Small Claims case ASAP. Make a phone call to your local court to determine which jurisdiction you should file in--- whether to file in the court governing the area where YOU live, or whether to file in the court encompassing the dealer's location. It will only cost you around $100 to file the Small Claim, a cost which you will recover in addition to your deposit when you win the case.

I seriously doubt that there is case law which would affirm the dealer's ability to forfeit a deposit by using cutesy option language concocted by their staff counsel, maybe someone else knows of case precedent in California which holds otherwise? Best of luck, pls post the result.

Graygoose997

Why all this dumping on the dealer ?
a customer walks into a dealership and custom orders a vehicle, built to his or her specifications. for whatever reason the customer cancels and the dealer is stuck with a car that was ordered to specification and they now have to find a buyer that shares your taste.
imho, which I'm sure will not be popular, is that the dealer is entitled to at least a deposit.
if I was running things, a customer that custom orders a car should be responsible for taking delivery of the car and finding his own damm buyer.
I run a business, and anyone that orders something stock is welcome to return it for a full refund.
however, place a custom order for a non stock item or have it made to your specification and you own it.
this concept that the buyer is always right is some leftover naderism.

Carbon_Ted

Good points all, but if the car is more than a month late in arriving, then at least to me it seems that specific performance on the part of the dealer hasn't been upheld.

I agree that the law regarding vehicle deposits is something that definitely puts the dealer at a potential disadvantage, but that is the law. It should be amended if it's unreasonable. If the car was pink with purple wheels I would be much less sympathetic to the orig poster.

blk on blk

I hear what you're saying, and to some extent I agree with you. However, if I am the sales manager and someone has a prior relationship I am probably going to give them the benefit of the doubt and let it go. It is just a way to earn some goodwill points and that customer will come back. Now the customer thinks you're just hard balling him and is never going to come back regardless of whether or not he is right. You stand to make more when he comes back to buy another Cayenne or 911 from you at a later date because you treated him well than the 1k you're quivelling over now.

66Porsche912

I've left a $1000. deposit for a GT3 RS and was told by the salesman that when the time came for me to pick the color and decide on the options, that the deposit would need to be increased to $10k. Once that happens, if I back out, they would refund my $10k, but only after they got the car in, sold it to someone else, and calculate and subtract their charges associated with putting it on their show room floor for however many weeks it takes them to sell it.
My salesman also told me that the initial $1000. was fully refundable at any time up until the options are decided on and the deposit is increased to $10k.

rome

The general rule, as a matter of contract law, is that in the event of a breach, the non-breaching party is entitled to damages, provided however, that such party has a duty to mitigate their damages (in this case, by selling the ordered car to a third person).

Often, a contract will contain a "liquidated damages" clause which is designed to fix damages ahead of time where the actual amount of the claim can not be easily ascertained. (This is clause 8 in the agreement cited above). However, read carefully, that clause merely establishes a "presumption" that the damage claim should be equal to the amount of the deposit. Here, that presumption can be rebutted based on an actual sale of the car for a sum certain.

Also, importantly, there is the issue of the dealer having breached the contract by not delivering the vehicle when promised.

Tracym

If that $1,000 is to applied to the purchase price of the car in any manner it's a deposit. It's fully refundable in California. The dealer can call it all they want but that "Option" is a deposit. The car he ordered is not Signal Grenn or Orange, it's a basic car with a few options. The dealer will relent when pressured I am sure.

They have lost nothing, when the car comes in it will sell.

allegretto

Anyone who is in the business of serving the Public knows that many folks out there are not reasonable when it comes to issues such as this. Not referring to this situation in particular since I have no knowledge of it, but...

They presume they are always right. They presume they are always entitled to change their mind. They presume that you are just plain awful if you ever seek to protect your interests. They don't care about any of the aspects of what it takes to run a business.

Service does not mean FREE. In fact, real service is very expensive to provide. Folks often shop on price-realted criteria and then bemoan lack of service.

rome

For what it's worth, I'm not sure this is true for a custom ordered car...A citation would be helpful.

ChipAZ

Once I waited till there were a few customers in the sales room, went back and complained just loud enough so everyone could hear, they listened then. One could ruin a sale doing that. Which would cost them more than they were trying to save by screwing me.

It was a MB dealership.

SrfCity

The easiest route to getting your money back if entitled to it, is file a claim against the dealer's bond. All dealers are required to be bonded by the CA DMV and if a ruling is in your favor the bond co. credits you. The dealer has to make up the difference or lose their license. Good luck with it.

ChipAZ

And a lot of it has to do if they want to keep your business. A lot of us trade up every so often and if a dealer makes you happy you come back.

The next time I will get on the Internet, find a car I want. Call them up and tell them if I drive all the way to their place I damn well better get Blue book for the trade. I'd rather do it that way than have this go on. Porsche seems so disorganized at times.

Graygoose997

<if a dealer makes you happy you come back>
Agreed, but at some point a customer becomes more trouble than he is worth.
I've learned that you are better off concentrating your time and efforts on those customers that appreciate and work _with_ you. Those that are never happy, complain constantly, and try to beat you down to the ground on every deal are best sent to the competition.