Denied financing NOW WHAT ?

I purchased a car from out of state ( Utah and I live in Washington State) The dealership hounded me for weeks about how easy this was and even offered to deliver the car to me which they eventually did. Everthing seemed fine I was contacted by the finance company twice to verify my information and then about a week later I recieved a call from the dealership saying that my loan was denied but not to worry they would work things out. it has now been almost 4 months and I am still riding around with temp tags ( which they send me every month ). I was pulled over this weekend and told by the officer that I need to get plates or updated paper work on the vehicle. I told the car dealership this and now they are saying they will get back to me later today to let me know whats going on. Can someone shed some light on this for me are they going to take the car back or will they need to take the payent from me directly. Also I have been sending my payment to them directly for the past 3 months. :banghead:

I have one major question before I like to give you an answer.

Did you sign a " Retail Installment Sales Contract " ???

If that is the long pink sheet thats states how much I was financed for and what my payment is per month and due date...yes I did. other wise I'm not sure what your speaking of. I signed all the regular paper work like I have all the other times I financed cars locally. I even had the finance company call me to verify info they even got my credt card number for automatic payments. Then I get a call that says there have changed there mind.

This sounds fishy - paperwork shouldn't take that long, or if it does, there should be detailed records available to you (the buyer) of the process that is taking place and when it should be resolved. I'd call the financing company directly and bypass the dealer to find out what's going on - if they approved you, they should not be allowed to revoke that approval unless there was a major change in your credit score. Do you know your credit score? Worth it to check online...

Also, from your answer to Ray's question, it doesn't sound like you're too familiar with the paperwork you signed. That is a surefire way to get burned by a sly used car dealer. Not saying that is the case here, and you may have had many successful transactions in the past, but always ALWAYS read the paperwork you're signing, especially for something as large an investment as a car. We were talking to our banker about this a while back and he was telling us about horror stories of hidden 'balloon' payments. The buyer got a great monthly rate, but at the end of the term there was a big fat wad of money still owing on the vehicle, something they didn't read through to discover. Fortunately in Canada there is more legislature being passed that requires full disclosure from salesman and many protection levels for buyers, but there is still room to tuck things into fine print.

First thing I would do would be to check with the DMV in your state and also in Utah, to find out who is the registered owner of the vehicle, and also the state in which it is registered. DMV can do a search by the VIN number, and once you explain the situation to them (and show them copies of the documents you signed, you did keep them didn't you?) then they should be pretty helpful.

If the vehicle is still in the dealer's name, then I would stop driving it immediately, and send them a registered letter advising them that since they have failed to complete their part of the paperwork (etc etc) that this deal is not going to continue, that you are contacting your attorney and the car will be parked at such and such a location where they can come pick it up.

If it's in your name, no problem go and register it in your state.

You might need to get involved with an attorney to unravel what is going on, but it will be worth it in the long run. 1st step though is to talk to DMV.