Apparently a dealership offered a challenger on ebay but forgot to set the reserve. Guy wins it but the dealership will not honor the deal. WTF

Challenger forum page


Autoblog

Bummmer. Great deal if it goes through...

Lucky escape for the buyer next he be wanting an AMC pacer....

I have to wonder how enforceable this is. Yes, the fine print on the auction states that it is a binding contract, but I don't think that anyone reasonably expects to buy a car like that for $26K. If Walmart goofed and put a $99 price tag on a large flat screen TV, and the error wasn't detected at the checkout, I bet they'd be trying to track down any buyers who might have gotten out the door with one.

In most states, the laws are very specific about using the standard purchase agreement to bind both parties into a car purchase. Without it, you've got nothing.

Ebay is a different matter entirely.

The only way I see this working out is if the buyer makes a huge public stink about it, gets the news involved, and makes it painful for the seller to the degree that taking a $10K + loss on the car is better than stiffing the guy...

Otherwise, the dealer will try and talk his / her way out of it, and he / she should... no dealer in their right mind would sell an SRT8 Challenger for $29K.

A local school district here sold one of those relocatable classrooms on ebay and forgot a reserve. It sold for $1 for a $65,000 classroom. They went through with the sale, but ebay felt bad an made a $15,000 charitable donation to the school.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/.../NEWS/903180328

Remember that expression?

"Posession is 9/10 of the law."

Probably applies in this case. Now if he had the car, the results might have been different.

My brother in law bought a tricked out Camaro frm a dealer for a ridiculous price, signed the paperwork, and drove it away.

Several days later, the dealer called wantig more money because they made an expen$ive mistake on the price. Too bad, he told them. They threatened, but he had a valid bill of sale and other paperwork and kept the car.

It's like anything in business, you had better know what you are doing before you sell something. Just because this dealership was foolish and forgot to set a reserve is no excuse for not making good on the deal.

Anyone in business has done stupid things that have cost themselves money; I know I have. If I forget to add a part to a repair order, I eat the cost of that part. I don't call the client later and say, "Oops, you still owe me money for a part I forgot". That would be idiotic.

Do you try and weasel your way out of a binding contract because you made a mistake?? NO, not an honest business person. . . This dealership was obviously trying to create a buzz with the eBay auction in hopes of luring in other customers. eBay is good, effective advertising for sure. But if you're not familiar enough with eBay to put a reserve or are stupid enough to think that people in this economy will willingly pay retail+ on an auction, well you deserve the "education" this type of error brings.

The proof will be if this same dealership pulls the same stunt with no reserve in the future. If it's an honest mistake, they won't. If I were the guy, I would be in contact with my attorney. . .

I believe it would be very difficult to hold anyone to ebay deal if they decided to renege...You get a blackeye but so what....Ebay only protects themselves !

If they were smart, they would used all the free publicity and spin it positive and give the guy his car, fighting him is gonna make it worse than loosing 7kish...

Ferg

Only ever sold...or tried to sell one car on evil-Bay a few years back. Had a buy-it-now price. Someone clicked on it then sent me an e-mail asking if I would take payments.

What can you do? I couldn't relist the car, people would think it had issues. Wound up selling it locally, left him neutral feedback, he left me + feedback for being understanding which was kinda cool I guess.

Exactly. But eBay's business would be at a huge risk if it became accepted as legal precedent (or just socially accepted) that their auctions aren't legally binding. IMHO, eBay has a huge vested interest in enforcing the terms of the sale, especially in cases in the media spotlight.

The same laws and purchase agreement that protects you as the buyer, actually protects the seller in this case...

Doesn't make it right though...

I find it sad that so many think they dealer should have to go thru with the sale even though it's clear they made a mistake in the auction.

Probably gonna turn this political but it sure shows how everyone thinks they deserve something for nothing.

Hey if the dealer goes thru with the sale that is very nice of them. I wouldn't say they are bad people for doing it. They made a mistake posting an ad on ebay, let it go, move on.

and if they put a buy it now $5K above the MSRP and someone actually bought it, would the dealer think its ok for the buyer not to go through with the deal because he found it cheaper someplace else??

As a lawyer i suspect the contract is binding, because not only did the dealer list the car without a reserve, but they had a number of days to correct the alleged error before the auction ended. I've, heard of similar stories where the dealer decided after the auction ended that they had already sold the car. but the issue as is often the case, is will the cost and grief of litigating the issuel exceed any potiential gain. anyone can default on a valid contract, but until the victim sues,wins etc. it is not an issue of right,legal, but an issue of remedy. Brad

A defense to breach of contract is never 'it turned out to be a bad deal.'

You never know _why_ the dealer did that, aside from what they say now...

We bought J's Subie through an EBay no-reserve auction and got a darned good deal - well under what we expected to have to pay and under what the dealer hoped for.

Turns out they were just getting into the EBay market and were willing to 'buy' a bunch of good feedback right out of the box. Aside from having to jump through some hoops, we all got what we wanted.

There are several legitimate defenses to breach of contract - let 'em use one of those, if they've got one.

Or they can back out, like happens with dozens of EBay auctions every day, and take the negative feedback black eye that comes along with it - and move on...

I think this is a new Dodge marketing campaign. They can sell cars for whatever they want and back out of any deal they want since they are government property. The govermental influence is now company policy. Good luck trying to sue.

Auction! 1970 914 six! No reserve! 250 miles (documented) No rust, like new! Inside and out! Chance of a lifetime! Bidding starts @ $100 Dollars! Good luck!


Oh I forgot to mention. I may not take the highest bidder! Cause I am not sure what I am doing! But let's see what happens! Ok with you?


Cool! Thanks!

We can talk if you win!

Look how much attention this has gotten! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly my point from above... what's advertising cost these days? If you figure invoice minus holdback on the Charger, the Dealer "could" have made this a win win by getting a ton of free good publicity by honoring the deal, and lost likely around 7k on one car.

As of now they are getting a bunch of bad publicity, are going to lose customers for life, and in they end, when they resell the car, make a few grand, big whoop.

The dude got the car for $29k! You rock HITMAN congrats to both you and the dealer.