This is a true story and the events are unfolding as I write. It involves a good friend of Flyingifr. Friend went to purchase a vehicle from a major auto dealer here in Tucson. Traded in a Free & Clear truck and was given a trade in allowance of $17,500. Took Spot Delivery of the new vehicle, meaning he drove it away without the financing in place. Friend's credit is not that good. The deal took place approx February 23, 2006. I believe the amount financed is somewhere around $29K. A week or two later (I am not clear on the time frame) the dealer tells him they cannot arrange financing on the terms they promised, and that he needed to sign new papers with a hardball finance company. He advised them he would not accept the 22% financing they offered and the deal is off. He demanded the return of his trade in or the cash allowed on it. The dealer was never "available" to make the necessary arrangements. He has been trying to arrange the unwind of the deal. Yesterday I get a call from the hardball finance company. I told them that my friend will not accept their terms and is trying to get ahold of the dealer to unwind the transaction. The finance guy informs me that his company is not accepting the deal as written and is returning the paper to the dealer. I warned the finance guy that it is my friend's position that since the deal could not be delivered on terms he is willing to accept, there never was a meeting of the minds and never was a deal. If anyone repossesses the truck (and they are welcome to it), they better not place it on his credit report, or a lawsuit will be a certainty. He has not had the truck long enough to have defaulted on the first payment. This morning the truck was repossessed. In the truck is about $10,000 in construction tools (I saw them in the truck yesterday and I will so testify in Court if necessary). In the process of repossessing, the repo company damaged his water meter. He called the F&I guy at the dealership and was told the hardball finance company has repossessed the truck. OK, all you armchair lawyers, let's draw up he complaint: 1. Against the dealer for fraud and conversion (fraud for the misrepresentation of the financing terms in order to get his trade in and conversion for selling his trade in before he deal was closed). 2. Against the Hardball Finance Company for Conversion and FCRA violation (since the hardball finance company did not accept the financing at the terms in the written and signed contract, their duty was to refuse the contract, not repossess the truck). By refusing the terms of the written contract they never took ownership of the contract, or any of the rights of a creditor, and for the FCRA violation of reporting a repossession on a contract where the "debtor" never owed them a penny since they never purchased the contract 3. Against the repo company for the damage to the water meter. Did I miss anything?
