Dealership sold my 4xe without telling me

[omega145]

Stopped reading after a couple of seconds. Not sure why people are always surprised when scumbag dealers/salesman do shady things. Been that way for years and i'd say that a good percentage of dealerships would do the same thing. Do some research on another dealership thats forum friendly and preorder from them. Definitely not the end of the world.

Sponsored

 

[N8213]

Does Jeep/Stellantis offer courtesy delivery? I live in SC, but bought my corvette from a dealer in NH. They charged the same regular freight and had it shipped locally to SC where my local dealer charged $300 to complete the paperwork and hand over the keys.

Curious if Jeep offers anything like this - granted requires a delivering dealer to cooperate.

 

[dgoodhue]

It sounds like it was a dealer order that was in transit on its and they didn't honor their agreement. I would ask for my deposit back, move on order it from a different dealership.

With it being a Dealer order, Jeep probably won't do anything. If it was a customer order that you made, you might have a little more leverage from Jeep. I am guessing Jeep frowns upon dealers selling customer orders.

 

[IdahoJOAT]

@blueweb If you're in SoCal, try Kent Shurtleff at Peterson's CDJR up in Nampa, ID. He gets people rigs nationwide but especially on the western half. I'm not sure what his pricing is now, but we bought Kailani (2020 JLUR 2.0T) off the lot and he was pretty awesome.

We were going to order a Bikini Pearl Sahara, ended up taking Kailani on an extended test drive (overnight). Either he was pretty confident he could sell us on the JLUR over the Sahara or he's just a good dude.

In any case, we've now ordered our Tuscadero JLURe through him on 28 SEP and it's supposed to come off the rails today in Utah. Probably will be taking delivery next week. We'll see how that goes. Full disclosure I'm quite disappointed with Dave Smith up in Kellogg. Unless something has changed they're still the biggest FCA/Stellantis dealer in the world. And they couldn't even respond to my inquiry a couple months ago. Huge black eye in my book.

Now I know it seems like he's the best, but there are some trade offs, and I've even discussed these with him. He is not good at responding to text. I used to get disappointed until I figured this out. Now I email him and either he or his assistant is pretty quick to respond (an hour or two at most).

As he gets bigger, he is busy. This means he can't handle every customer of his with a personal touch. Kinda irks me as I'm putting myself into massive debt through him, but again, this is our second purchase through him and my household's first ever ordered vehicle. I arranged a bow and a little more spectacle for my wife, so yet again, we'll see how it goes.

But I do know overall he's been great. Peterson's in general has been great. We see all the time on here talk about Criswell and Gupton... well for those of us past the Mississippi those aren't feasible options.

Peterson's totally is and I feel like they're highly overlooked. Search for them on this forum and you'll find great reviews and testimonials, and they seem to be the only ones doing high volume, yet decent service on this side of the nation.

Anyway, screw a poor dealer. Spread the word and let them go under.

 

[Dyolfknip74]

This sounds so illegal. You had a deposit, I would contact a lawyer ......

So, let's say best case, OP pays a lawyer a stupid retainer, and then for actual work. In the end FCA yanks this now used vehicle from the new owner.......how did OP "win" in this case? Or maybe after lawyer gets in tough. They offer to give him a bit better price but OP has already invested quite a bit into the lawyer, how do OP "win" there?

Lawyers aren't usually the best option when there isn't't going to be a monetary reward.

 

[theory2]

Lawyers aren't usually the best option when there isn't't going to be a monetary reward.

I second this! Sadly.

 

[TheNewGuy]

So, let's say best case, OP pays a lawyer a stupid retainer, and then for actual work. In the end FCA yanks this now used vehicle from the new owner.......how did OP "win" in this case? Or maybe after lawyer gets in tough. They offer to give him a bit better price but OP has already invested quite a bit into the lawyer, how do OP "win" there?

Lawyers aren't usually the best option when there isn't't going to be a monetary reward.

And FCA has no legal way of getting the vehicle back from the new owner.

 

[Big_Lebowski]

I put down a security deposit onto a 4xe that was a dealership order on 11/12. The vehicle was in transit during that time. I called the dealership periodically to see when it will arrive. On 10/26, they told me it will arrive next week. The week came and passed, I called last Friday 10/29 about the whereabouts of the 4xe. My salesman said it was delayed and they do not know when it will arrive; which is all fine by me. But on Sunday 10/31, I saw that the dealership removed the website listing of the 4xe, and it was marked as sold. I was like, they probably did this because there were too many people contacting the dealership acquiring about the 4xe. On Tuesday 11/2, I saw on the Jeep website that the 4xe switched from being 'in transit' to 'on dealer lot'. I thought that the dealership would call on me soon saying that they received it; they never did. And then I saw that the dealer 4xe build was taken down on Jeep's website from the search inventory section completely. I waited a little bit more, but then I checked the CarFax saw records that shouldn't be there yet. So I called my salesman from the dealership today 11/4, he said he will call me back, he never did. I tried contacting the dealership's General Manager about this matter instead, but he was such an airhead about the situation and told me he will get someone else to look into this. Then two hours later, a different salesman called me and told me that the 4xe I put a security deposit down was super delayed and has no ETA. Their solution was that I should put in my own customer order of a 4xe and the new order will arrive sooner than my previous dealer order 4xe. When I asked them if they sold it yet, they are saying no.

With all of the information taken entirely down from the internet about the Jeep, the biggest reason why I believe that the dealership sold the 4xe is based on the CarFax. Without me paying for the full amount for the CarFax, I am still able to see that there is already been 3 records listed on the 4xe's VIN CarFax, and the only record I can physically see is the Pre-delivery inspection completed on 10/28 by the dealership. There should be no way that the CarFax has already have records of anything if the 4xe is still delayed in transit to the dealership; other than the window sticker.

The weirdest thing about all of this is an email that I received from the dealership today. They forwarded an email to me from Stellantis stating:

View attachment 530718

I do not know why the dealership would send me this, but I guess it is interesting to see that Stellantis keeps track of the customer's browser history.

But anyway, I am going to order a new 4xe tomorrow from the same dealership because they are still the only dealership I found in Southern California that is doing MSRP (nothing lower or higher) during today's crazy market. But if anyone has a recommendation of a different dealership to order from, please let me know. I will be willing to go out of state at this point. The only good thing that is coming from all of this is that I order 2022 instead of 2021.

To the person who might have the 4xe that is in question, congratulations on your purchase!


Missing: Have you seen this Jeep? It is lost.

​

View attachment 530723

Jeep Chat can tell you if it was delivered to a dealer. If you have an attorney friend, I would maybe have them contact the dealership and let them know there is a lawsuit coming their way unless this gets resolved immediately. another member did this a while back and was offered a HUGE discount. There is zero chance I would go through the order process again with the same dealership.

 

[ads75]

I would pay over MSRP at another dealer rather than reorder from the same dealer. Of course the original dealer will reorder for you, they know they have you as a backup option as a customer if they can't find someone else first.

 

[blueweb]

So, let's say best case, OP pays a lawyer a stupid retainer, and then for actual work. In the end FCA yanks this now used vehicle from the new owner.......how did OP "win" in this case? Or maybe after lawyer gets in tough. They offer to give him a bit better price but OP has already invested quite a bit into the lawyer, how do OP "win" there?

Lawyers aren't usually the best option when there isn't't going to be a monetary reward.

I do not have enough physical evidence to supply to the court system saying that the dealership was legally obligated to hold the vehicle for me. Most of the contract was verbally spoken. I only have a handful of text messages explaining the situation and a picture of the receipt for the amount that I paid towards the security deposit. The receipt does not specify what the purchase was for. I do not have any written documents saying that the 4xe was 'reserved' for me.

Unfortunately, I have taken enough business law classes to know that any verbal contract does not hold well enough in court. My best options would be to pay for the CarFax, confirm that it was indeed sold, then contact Jeep and complain, and write a lot of negative reviews on Yelp/Google. MAYBE then, the dealership would accept their wrongdoing; give me an insanely good deal on a different 4xe. But nothing else I can really do.

Regardless, there would be no court conclusion where FCA would yank the 4xe from whoever purchased it. Plus I would not want a used 4xe lol.

Jeep Chat can tell you if it was delivered to a dealer.

According to Jeep Chat, since the 4xe was a dealer order, FCA does not have tracking information in their database for those types of vehicle orders. Only the dealerships obtain that information.

 

[Dyolfknip74]

I do not have enough physical evidence to supply to the court system saying that the dealership was legally obligated to hold the vehicle for me. Most of the contract was verbally spoken. I only have a handful of text messages explaining the situation and a picture of the receipt for the amount that I paid towards the security deposit. The receipt does not specify what the purchase was for. I do not have any written documents saying that the 4xe was 'reserved' for me.

Unfortunately, I have taken enough business law classes to know that any verbal contract does not hold well enough in court. My best options would be to pay for the CarFax, confirm that it was indeed sold, then contact Jeep and complain, and write a lot of negative reviews on Yelp/Google. MAYBE then, the dealership would accept their wrongdoing; give me an insanely good deal on a different 4xe. But nothing else I can really do.

Regardless, there would be no court conclusion where FCA would yank the 4xe from whoever purchased it. Plus I would not want a used 4xe lol.



According to Jeep Chat, since the 4xe was a dealer order, FCA does not have tracking information in their database for those types of vehicle orders. Only the dealerships obtain that information.

Ya, that was kind of my point. No lawyer would even bother in this case.

 

[cripton805]

I got my last two Jeeps under MSRP from

Bravo Jeep - Alhambra
Jeep - In Clovis

They did add their stupid security system, but I was still well under MSRP.

I live in the Central Coast and the dealerships around here are trash. They have no incentive to sell near MSRP. There really isn't any competition. I've always traveled to So Cal or Nor Cal for any good deals. I bought my other car brand new for the same price they had a used one in Lompoc with 40k miles. They will also lowball on trades and sell high. Really high.

 

[Badfish]

No lawyer would even bother in this case.

** No honest lawyer

fixed. lol

 

[Dyolfknip74]

** No honest lawyer

fixed. lol

Touché

 

[DHW]

Lawyers aren't usually the best option when there isn't't going to be a monetary reward.

I second this! Sadly.

Bit of a broad statement, but in regards to OP's circumstances, you're correct. A valid contract only requires an offer, acceptance, and consideration. OP's deposit is the consideration, so if either party made a formal offer and the other accepted, OP would indeed have a case against the dealer for breach of contract. Fun part would be that if it was sold to someone else, they would most likely be a third-party purchaser in good faith, and the Jeep is legally theirs. But OP could potentially still be entitled to damages.

So if OP's only option was to buy a similar Jeep that was $5,000 more, he could possibly have $5K in damages, but it wouldn't be worth the headache. I tell my clients anything $5,000 and under isn't worth suing for. You'll incur more costs than you'll recover, and not just attorney fees, it costs money to file documents with the court, conduct depositions, etc.

Unfortunately, OP's best option is to move on, lesson learned. And leave a bad review.

Sponsored