Dealer won't honor ad lease deal (San Diego) HELP!

Sounds like a case of bait and switch.

I don't see a deal that cheap on
Toyota Dealerships - New & Used Car Deals & Special Offers | BuyAToyota.com
when I put in the 91909 zip code.

 

My advice is to let it go. Lease rates depend on credit scores. Let's say you file a complaint with your Consumer Affairs Office and they "encourage" the dealer to honor the ad. What's your credit score? Sorry, too low. The lower limit for that rate is 10 points higher than your score.

 

Just for the heck of it I would check with Toyota in Carlsbad, Escondido, and he one in East county. Pick the same car and model with same options. exterior color just pick the color you like.Do the Internet price and on the an offer part plug In the same numbers $189 a month $2,999 Dow. Someone will accept the offer.

 

They are BBB Accredited. You could open a complaint with the BBB and show them the screen shots and see what comes of it. Granted they protect themselves by adding "Advertised Specials Subject to Change" on most of the ads, the word of mouth damage can be worse than a formal complaint.

This seems to be a common practice for them as well as another dealer in the area. If you dont want to make the drive to LA and work with Dianne I'd give El Cajon a call. Bought an ad car from them last year and they didnt give me any trouble on the price, it came down to my trade which I took a little bit of a bath on you could say but it saved me in the long run of problems

 

Re: Dianne, see DianneWhitmire | PriusChat.

 

I have a habanero IV here with the mats but that lease payment was a complete error. Just FYI.
Unless they were playing games with a military discount, a college grad rebate or requiring more cash for the bank fee + payments + license, whatever/something else we have no clue about.... I cannot even get to that # on a 5 year lease.
Thru me for a clean, true $3000 cash drive off, my habanero is 35 month more lease payments at $243.31 + tax for SD = $262.17 a month with tax and that is with selling the IV way under cost.

 

This OP is one more example why one should obtain a signed dealership offer by fax before driving a long distance.

 

Excellent advice about no written price, no drive.

Also take a look at California Vehicle Code Sec. 11713.1 which deals with dealer advertising. Basically, they have to honor advertised pricing unless they have an "error" letter from the paper-which mostly they don't. Did they ever show you an error letter? Should be posted on the bulletin board along with a copy of current ad-this is a legal requirement which dealers often skip.

Try filing a complaint with your county Attorney's consumer protection office. You may get quick action.

Or, look at NACA.net for a consumer oriented lawyer in your local area.

By the way, IMHO, the no-doubt wonderful Diane (in Orange County) has rather high prices. I did much better by making the dealer sell me an ad car at the ad price--they were very unhappy!

PS Putting weasel words in ad such as "advertised special subject to change" does nothing to protect the dealer under California law. They must sell the car first come first served until the ad expires. And the expiration date should be in the ad. Get there just before opening and get your ad car.

 

Thats how I bought my 08...it was a weekend ad and I was there at 7AM on Friday morning and found the 2 ad cars before they opened so they wouldnt try and pull the "it already sold" crap.

 

I recall some dealer ads in newspapers say the dealer isn't responsible for errors.

 

California law controls-the dealer is responsible for errors.

Otherwise, no one could ever buy a car at the ad price. I notice that the dealer folks got rather nervous when it became clear I was familiar with the law and was not to be pushed into buying all the "protection" stuff they had stuck on the car. See California Vehicle Code 11713.1(e). Got my Prius at the ad price and am happy.

This article is interesting on the topic. How To Negotiate the Best Deal on a Car