Dennis Dillon said my truck's MSRP just went up by $3000 and it bumps up my order price

[Biga]

I was not aware of this price protection option at the time of purchasing. So I guess I'm either paying it or forfeiting my $3k deposi

Your deposit should be refundable, never ordered a truck without it being refundable. The dealer can easily sell the truck to someone else so it's not like they are losing anything.

 

[HAL9001]

I would call your states AG office and tell them the story and find out 1. what the laws are in your state and 2. can they help you out. I had a life insurance co want all kinds of medical info. after I had already been paying them for 2 years. When I took the policy they said no med. question. So I called the AG's office and told them what was happening.
My states AG called them up and set them straight.
Always helps to ask the final say.

^^^ This ^^^
Whenever you run into a situation where you think a dealer is taking advantage of you or not being honest, always contact your state's Attorney Generals' office. They are there to protect consumers in just such circumstances as this. At the very least, they will tell you if what is being done is legal and above board. If it isn't, they will step in on your behalf.

Believe me, no dealer or retailer wants to run afoul of their state's AG office. That's not the kind of exposure they would ever want.

 

[SpeedyV]

I was not aware of this price protection option at the time of purchasing. So I guess I'm either paying it or forfeiting my $3k deposit.

Given present demand and this “surprise”, I’d ask for the deposit back. It’s not like dealers are having trouble getting trucks sold.

 

[Phippy]

Your deposit should be refundable, never ordered a truck without it being refundable. The dealer can easily sell the truck to someone else so it's not like they are losing anything.

^^^^
Absolutely spot on. My dealer recently received three night edition Laramies nicely equipped for just north of $67K. All three sold at sticker within two days has I was hoping to see one while waiting for mine. Luckly for me my dealership owner is pretty awesome but I could see them getting 7K more for mine especially the way I ordered it.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Did some googling. Couldn't find anything about deposits having to be refundable in Idaho. I did find a reddit thread, which seems to be about same dealer, even though dealer name wasn't mentioned. The "terms" of the non-refundable deposit form that were posted read identical. It was also mentioned, without saying name of dealer, that this particular dealership does a lot of marketing to attract our of state buyers. Probably why they require such high deposits, to try and prevent buyers from backing out of purchase if they find a truck closer to them. There wasn't any resolution in the thread to know if the OP was able to get his $1k deposit back.

Considering you signed a contract acknowledging the deposit was non-refundable, and that you were responsible for any increases in purchase price, I don't think there is much you can do if the dealer won't work with you. Short of doing a charge back in your credit card. But even at that point, with a signed contract protecting the dealer, there is a chance the charge back on credit card won't be allowed.

I would start by renegotiating with dealer about purchase price. Other than the one commuo about increased price, it doesn't sound like you have tried to talk to dealer about it to see if they will either honor original agreed upon price, or at least eat part of the increase as a goodwill effort by dealer. The dealer has some wiggle room on that with Ram if they want to do the legwork required. Unfortunately, it seems the dealer has the upper hand with the non-refundable deposit, knowing there is a high chance you will just pay the higher price instead of losing that $3k deposit. Most people aren't willing to lose that much

 

[MileHi Guy]

Either the dealer will negotiate and back off the price increase or they won't. Personally I'd contact the AG's office and see if you can get any help from them. This doesn't appear legal to me and I deal with contracts a lot. Good luck whatever happens!

 

[GKIII]

WOW, what a shady dealer. I have NEVER seen a non-refundable deposit for a custom order vehicle.

 

[mikeru82]

Did some googling. Couldn't find anything about deposits having to be refundable in Idaho. I did find a reddit thread, which seems to be about same dealer, even though dealer name wasn't mentioned. The "terms" of the non-refundable deposit form that were posted read identical. It was also mentioned, without saying name of dealer, that this particular dealership does a lot of marketing to attract our of state buyers. Probably why they require such high deposits, to try and prevent buyers from backing out of purchase if they find a truck closer to them. There wasn't any resolution in the thread to know if the OP was able to get his $1k deposit back.

Considering you signed a contract acknowledging the deposit was non-refundable, and that you were responsible for any increases in purchase price, I don't think there is much you can do if the dealer won't work with you. Short of doing a charge back in your credit card. But even at that point, with a signed contract protecting the dealer, there is a chance the charge back on credit card won't be allowed.

I would start by renegotiating with dealer about purchase price. Other than the one commuo about increased price, it doesn't sound like you have tried to talk to dealer about it to see if they will either honor original agreed upon price, or at least eat part of the increase as a goodwill effort by dealer. The dealer has some wiggle room on that with Ram if they want to do the legwork required. Unfortunately, it seems the dealer has the upper hand with the non-refundable deposit, knowing there is a high chance you will just pay the higher price instead of losing that $3k deposit. Most people aren't willing to lose that much

He's in Washington, not Idaho. I know that dealerships in my area require a non-refundable deposit as well when ordering a new truck, although it's usually not more than $1000. I'm in Washington like the OP, but I doubt there is anything specific about WA that makes this more common here. For my area I think it's more about not having a lot of dealerships compared to more populated areas. And the conspiracy theorist in me thinks the owners of these dealerships might have gotten together in a darkened tavern and agreed to make deposits non-refundable.

 

[HSKR R/T]

He's in Washington, not Idaho. I know that dealerships in my area require a non-refundable deposit as well when ordering a new truck, although it's usually not more than $1000. I'm in Washington like the OP, but I doubt there is anything specific about WA that makes this more common here. For my area I think it's more about not having a lot of dealerships compared to more populated areas. And the conspiracy theorist in me thinks the owners of these dealerships might have gotten together in a darkened tavern and agreed to make deposits non-refundable.

He bought from a dealer in Idaho, not Washington

 

[mikeru82]

He bought from a dealer in Idaho, not Washington

Thanks for the correction. I thought Dennis Dillon was in the Seattle area.

 

[jloops]

Like others have mentioned contact your AG. It’s an election year they’re always looking for things like this to show/ act like they’re doing a good job.

 

[mikeru82]

Which trim level jumped $3000 in price? TRX?

 

[Eighty]

Which trim level jumped $3000 in price? TRX?

He has a 10th Anniversary Limited. But they’ve all gone up significantly. TRX went from $73,380 early in the season to the current $76,780.

 

[n8zcc]

He bought from a dealer in Idaho, not Washington

Correct, the OP lives in Washington state, Dillon is in Idaho. This brings up a question, if the OP signed the contract in his state, does that change the narrative?

Several years ago Dennis Dillon was a premier dealer attracting buyers from all over the country. Dillon was so low priced that nobody could touch their prices. They even ran a shuttle service between the dealership and the airport. They were what Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep is today. I wonder how they ended up going down the toilet.

 

[mikeru82]

Correct, the OP lives in Washington state, Dillon is in Idaho. This brings up a question, if the OP signed the contract in his state, does that change the narrative?

Several years ago Dennis Dillon was a premier dealer attracting buyers from all over the country. Dillon was so low priced that nobody could touch their prices. They even ran a shuttle service between the dealership and the airport. They were what Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep is today. I wonder how they ended up going down the toilet.

My guess (and that's all it is) is that it's because of a change in ownership or management. That's what happened to Dave Smith as well. New ownership completely changed the deals you can get from them now. They used to try and beat any deal I could find locally. But now I don't even bother looking there when I'm shopping for a new vehicle because they don't seem interested in doing that anymore.

 

[PurpleRT]

IIRC I think they’re under new ownership now. I remember reading it somewhere that they told sold the dealership and kept the name since it was already pretty well established but I could be wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[gpk43]

Just got a call from Dennis Dillon in ID that my truck's MSRP just went up from 72k to 75k, they said I will have to pay the extra 3k increase.
This is crazy. And I already paid deposit $3k.
Is this normal? Anything else I can do as a customer? Don't see many options

Mine went up $1,500 but the dealer ate the increase.

BTW, ask your dealer to share the 2% holdback, ~$700 floor plan, $700 advertising fee with you!

 

[mikeru82]

He has a 10th Anniversary Limited. But they’ve all gone up significantly. TRX went from $73,380 early in the season to the current $76,780.

Last time I looked at a TRX the base MSRP was $71k. Damn, I'm so glad I bought my 2021 back in May last year instead of waiting until this year. When I price out a 2022 with the same options the MSRP is $4k higher. Crazy times.

 

[Cocheese]

I had the same thing on my 22 Limited. When the window sticker was available, the price went up by $2k. I actually posted a question in the another thread and I was told that I was SOL. This was a few days before my truck arrived at the dealer and I did some research and found this info. When I sat down with my dealer and I was ready to battle it out, but they did not bring the price increase, they just used numbers from my build sheet. Sorry about the image quality. it was a snip it from another image.

 

[ShortStack]

Just my two cents worth.
1. How bad do you want the truck ?
2. The 3k was a deposit yet nothing states what the deposit is for - truck purchase, shoe shine, payment towards price of truck.
3. They left a loop hole on the Buyers section clearly stating that if the Seller cancels the transaction for other reason than (1) or (2) you get the deposit back and you cannot take them to court.

So, answer number 1 above. Then when the truck comes in - the order in this case is the Sellers contract to you - go over the order and the truck with a fine tooth comb.
If there is Anything that is missing - color, button, option - Even if "it requires a chip" is the excuse - the Seller then fails "...other than the end of Sellers obligation..." portion of the contract.
He then owes you $3k but you lose the truck.

Anyone read it differently ????