i am trying to get a used 2003 maxima. However, dealer insisted on put in the deposit, should i do it? can i get it back in case i dont like the car?

sorry for newbie question!!

 

Oh Hell yes. Make sure you get a reciept for your deposit marked as deposit, or at the very least when the dealer gives you the 'pre-inspection' form make sure its listed on there, as a deposit! Along with vehicle price, any warranty, and ESPECIALLY any things that need to be fixed on the vehicle that you a prior to vehicle purchase. Usually most dealers will give you a couple of days to accept the agreement.

 

Why would you put down a deposit? What exactly does that get you?

Regardless if they legally have to return the deposit back to you, if you decide to not buy a car there (doesn't have to be that 03 you're looking at) they will definately give you the run around on returning the money to you.

CM

 

ABSOLUTELY!!!! NO IF'S, ANDS, OR AS THEY SAY AT THE RIVIERA IN VEGAS, BUTTS!!!!

When I was in grad school a Toyota dealer had stamped "non-refundable" on my receipt, and I had put 5,000 down (use your imagination to guess what Toyota, it had turbos). I changed my mind on the car because I decided I really couldn't afford it, and so they said too bad, I lost my deposit. A little trip to the attorney general's office got me my deposit back in about 15 min. (I was lucky to be in Albany NY that week).

The only time the non-refundable would stick would be a one-of-a-kind special order, say a Ferrari 599 where you wanted a manual and 90% of the cars are super shifts nowadays. The dealer can claim he's having a hard time selling a manual which he got just for you, so your $100,000 deposit he can try to keep. As a matter of fact, that's the only time a deposit should be collected. Me ex g/f went through that with a Honda CR-V, can you believe it? They couldn't even get the CR-V because she wanted a LX not EX, and they made her wait 5 weeks before she could get her deposit back. She was a doctor, so let's just say her negotiating skills and willingness to put her foot down were not there. Any 18 yr. old on this forum would have had the money back in minutes.

 

The laws might vary from state to state. I'm not sure how it applies to used cars. Here in California, on new cars, apparently all the paper in the world (be it deposit check, contract or whatever) means nothing until you actually take delivery of the vehicle. I found this out when I bought my Max. I shopped for weeks on the Inernet and spoke to many sales reps looking for the car I wanted. To make a long story short, I didn't find the exact car I wanted but found one close to it. I went to the dealer, signed all the papers and left a $15,000 deposit check but didn't take the car home because I had no one with me to drive my other car home. On the way home I got a call from another salesman saying that he found a car closer to what I wanted equipment-wise. He told me about this law. I went home and called the first dealer and told him I wouldn't be taking delivery of the vehicle afterall and for him to tear up the contract then send my deposit check back to me. I bought the car from the second dealer and a few days later my deposit check from the first dealer came in the mail.

 

The deposit will be refunded. I just bought a used 1995 Maxima as a daily driver and they wanted a $100 deposit to keep the car for me for 72 hours just incase. I picked the car up that afternoon and they refunded my deposit. Either you get the deposit back or you can have it credited towards the purchase price of the car.

 

When I ordered my 06, they asked for a $500 deductible, they just wanted the 500 to make sure they where not wasting time getting me a car I was never gonna buy, I could have got the money back but I wanted the car

 

as a former car salesman ill tell ya.....yes its refundable but u may have a hard time gettin it back. there should be no reason for u to give them one unless ur afraid theyll sell the car to someone else, if u must leave one put it on a credit card.

 

yes, the dealer deposit is refundable. my friend bought a messed up vspec sentra but he retruend it after 2 weeks kuz it was broken. the dealer wanted to give me crap and not return the deposit but when you bring in the court stuff, since they don't want to do to court, they'll give you teh money back. I'm sure there's some state law or sumthin too...

 

As a car dealer, it is refundable but on the contract it says that the dealer may take some of the money to cover "losses" from them holding onto the car. The purpose of the deposit is the show the dealership that you are serious about buying a car and they may be more willing to negotiate more aggressively and part of the reason is that they'll hold the car and get it cleaned and inspected for delivery.