What would result from putting a stop payment on check for down payment to Honda dealership even though car financing is with a bank?

Answer 1

What would happen. I went to a dealership and at first the salesman told me I didn't need a down payment. However when I came to pick up the vehicle suddenly he says I have to put $600.00 down. I was shocked. I did not have the money so he asked me to post date a check. I thought nothing of it until later when I showed up for work and the doors were locked then when we attempted to cash our payroll checks they bounced. I had other choice, but to stop payment on the check I had wrote cause the money was not going to be there. I called him to let him know that I would not have the money and if I could bring in cash when it was available to me, but instead of the salesman working with me and being understanding he tells me that I can be arrested and put in jail. He said that this was considered "theft by deception". To me that would only apply if I knowingly and willingly wrote the check with no intention on paying it, but that was not the case.

I upsets me to think that person can do a 360 degree turn around. When he was trying to sell me the car I was the nicest person he ever meant. What are the laws of stop payment. I mean if it is considered theft then why do banks allow us to do it

First off, the salesman is a liar (whoa...THATS A SHOCK, A car salesmen WHO LIES? SAY it isn't SO!....but all jokes aside)

Don't worry...this happens all the time and you wouldn't be the first to be taken in on this kind of tactic by car dealers.

Scenario: You talk to the sales rep and they tell you NO MONEY down and after wearing you out via attrition (I spent 12 hours in a dealership trying to get financing closed, once) the sales manager butters you up and tells you that a down payment of say 800 will get you out the door, yada yada. Meanwhile, the interest rate they verbalized has jumped 3.5% more than your credit union refied you for (they ALWAYS tell you upfront they will match your current rate, then never do at check out time-12 hours later). Meanwhile, they have the keys to your trade in (Usually the reason given for taking your keys is to do the appraisal while you talked price- BS -they already know the value of your car and what they are going to give you for it....THEY take the keys so you can't get pissed and walk out on them when they know they have bait and switched you umpteen times....if you get angry, you aren't driving off in your OWN car without going through 5 people to get your keys back and leave).

Dealership can be ruthless and IMHO, skit the edges of legality in some of the things they do.

Anyway, these are all high pressure tactics to make as MUCH MONEY OFF OF YOU AS POSSIBLE AND if they have you in that dealership long enough, exhausted and mentally worn down, they WILL make money off of you and have you secretly begging you could go home. Often most of us (I know I did) bend to their tactics just to get in the new car and get the heck out of that place...

You want to know if writing a check for a down then placing a stop is illegal AFTER YOU TOLD THEM YOU DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY FOR THE DOWN AND AFTER YOUR SALES REP TOLD YOU YOU DID NOT HAVE TO HAVE A DOWN THE ANSWER IS NO BECAUSE YOU DID NOT INTEND TO DEFRAUD. YOU TOLD THEM THAT YOU DID NOT have the money for the DOWN THEY TOLD YOU THAT IT WAS OK NOT TO HAVE A DOWN AND THEN THEY USE A COMBINATION OF HIGH PRESSURE TACTICS THAT LEAVE YOU BEGGING TO GET OUT OF THERE AND YOU WRITE THE CHECK (WHICH THEY SWEAR THEY WILL HOLD) JUST SO YOU CAN GO HOME.

They took the check, anyway (through pressure tactics) when you told them you did NOT have the money. If you put a stop to it, there is NOTHING THEY CAN DO BUT TO TRY AND TAKE YOU TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT AND MOST OF THE TIME THEY COULD CARE LESS. WHY? THEY have already made boatloads of cash off of your from the high interest rate, the low ball they gave you on your trade in coupled with the highly expensive maintenance and extended warranty contracts they just sold you on the car.

What is 800 dollars to them? Nothing. chances are, it's pure spiff. They just want that money from you upfront to cover their cost to the authorities (DMV, tax man, etc) so they don't have to pay those fees upfront to them at time of sale. What better way to cover those fees than to have you foot the bill with your down payment?

If you told the sales rep and finance manager at the time you purchased the vehicle that you did NOT have the money in your account at the time you went in and they pressured you into post dating a down payment on the check (full well knowing you didn't have the cash) then they pulled a bait and switch...which is actually illegal in some states....THEY KNEW that you did NOT have the money at the time the check was written and are hoping that you will somehow come up with it (sometimes miraculously-beg borrow or steal from friends and family) so on the date that check clears they have a down to cover DMV, tax etc (which if you look at your contract, was ALREADY put into the cost of the car anyway!-YES, you are already paying for that!)

Again, I repeat, What the Down REALLY pays for is the tax and licensing fees they must pay to the DMV upon sale of the new car to you, and the cost of registering your trade so they can allow it to be test driven. THEY want those fees covered and use YOUR down payment to cover them.

Never mind you told them when you walked into the dealership you DID NOT have the money for the down (and your sales rep said NO PROBLEM) then they hold your keys and tell you 12 hours later that to walk out of the place with a new car you need 500-1000 down and EVEN THOUGH YOU TOLD THEM YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY. They way they make you feel better about 'screwing you' is THEY TELL YOU THEY WILL HOLD THE CHECK for up to three weeks.

Stop the check. Why? Because they lied to you, NOT the other way around. DO NOT let them make you think that YOU are the criminal because you haven't the money you told them would NOT have, when they try to accuse you of writing a 'bad check'.

THEY PRESSURED YOU, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. THEY LIED TO YOU, NOT VICE VERSA. Some of the tactics used by dealers should be investigated in my opinion as they border on Usury and extortion.

Sorry Jack, You told me I didn't need a down, then you tell me I do. You lied, NOT me. If I don't honor the check you manipulated me into writing then all I am doing is in keeping with the original agreement given me when I walked into the dealership 11 hours earlier. An agreement YOUR sales rep told me was NOT an issue. ,

if they they go to cash the check and the money is not there, they will try to hound you about it. They will call, threaten, coerce, etc etc. Hell, they might even take you to court and try to get the down payment out of you that way, but this happened to a buddy of mine with a small independant dealer (not a major one like I purchased my vehicle from) and he won based off his testimony. In worst case scenario it is seen as a civil court disagreement in the the course of a transaction. You did NOT write a check to defraud so there was no intent on your part, therefore they cannot prosecute you for such. Done deal.

I imagine a large dealership will balk and just keep calling you or in a worse case scenario (usually the likely course) send you to a collection agency.

Face it, they made a LOT of cash off you when you financed your vehicle. I mean. ALOT. The dealership is NOT in business to lose business and they employ some of the best 'shuck jive hucksters' on the plant to play your friend then bend you over without lubricant by days end. Your measly down payment they manipulated out of you is chump change because the finance company has already paid them for the car once you sign those papers. Ultimately, the thousands you are paying in finance charges due to the 8-11 percent interest rate they are charging you is much more important that your chump change down payment they will use to pay state DMV fees.