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Re-activateBetween the approximately 1,900 dealerships that Chrysler and GM have announced that they are disenfranchising and the many more that will likely fail because of dismal auto sales (more than 900 dealerships shut their doors in 2008), a lot of car buyers could encounter unexpected problems when buying a car.
That's because when a dealership suddenly goes out of business, loose ends that hadn't been wrapped up can simply be dropped in mid process, leaving the car buyer dangling.
Some car buyers, for instance, never received a factory rebate to which they were entitled. Or service or modifications that had been agreed to as part of the negotiations were never completed. Or a dealer didn't pay off the loan on the trade-in as promised. This leaves the customer having to pay two car payments: one for the new car and one for the trade-in that he or she no longer owns.
To avoid these kinds of problems, we recommend you take these precautions:
We will continue to monitor this fast-moving story, reporting here in the Cars blog and also updating advice and news on the Auto Crisis hub.
—Rik Paul
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