UPDATE: GT-R for $55,100? Dealer Says it Will Honor eBay Auction
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http://wot.motortrend.com/gt-r-for-55100-dealer-latest-to-refuse-to-honor-ebay-auction-105645.html#ixzz1UdnELmvKUPDATE: Honda San Marcos owner Randall Ammons returned our request for a comment. Ammons told us that the dealership plans on honoring the agreed upon eBay auction price. Ammons said over the phone, “Bottom line, the person who listed it did so incorrectly; that’s our fault.” Ammons continued, “We spent years getting a great reputation, and a deal’s a deal, we’re going to honor it.” Ammons said they’ve contacted Vang and are currently waiting to hear back from him. While Honda San Marcos’ initial reaction might not have been the best, we applaud Ammons for making things right. Mr. Vang, if you’re reading this, get in contact with them – Godzilla’s waiting!
Motor Trend forum user Xou Vang, better known as Xoulu, recently won a 2009 Nissan GT-R Premium on eBay Motors for a cool $55,100. Talk about a steal, right? Winning a car on eBay for below list could be considered a dream come true for many people, let alone winning Godzilla incarnate. However, like many so called deals on eBay, Vang’s winning bid on the ’09 GT-R may not be honored by San Marcos Honda in San Marcos, Texas.
Vang’s story is far from the only time something like this has happened, as car dealers getting in over their heads on the interwebs and on eBay Motors unfortunately isn’t anything new. Perhaps one of the most widely reported cases of a car dealer refusing to honor an eBay auction was back in March of 2008. Dooma350 from M3Post.com won a then-new 2008 BMW M3 Sedan on eBay from BMW of Lincoln for $60,000, $6,296 short of the dealer’s Buy It Now price, and (most importantly), with no reserve. Initially, BMW of Lincoln refused to honor the deal citing it as, “a mistake.”
Unfortunately for BMW of Lincoln and many dealers to follow, eBay auctions are considered legally binding contracts. In eBay’s User Agreement, it states, “While using eBay sites, services and tools, you will not use our sites, services or tools if you are not able to form legally binding contracts.” Based on that part of eBay’s User Agreement BMW of Lincoln would seemingly be forced to eat the cost of its mistake.
However there’s still a bit of ambiguity here. Delve further into eBay’s User Agreement and you find this gem, “For certain categories, particularly Motor vehicles and Real Estate, a bid or offer initiates a non-binding transaction representing a buyer’s serious expression of interest in buying the seller’s item and does not create a formal contract between the buyer and the seller.” Based on that wording, it seems as if eBay’s policy is looking out for buyer’s interests – protecting them from purchasing lemons, rather than protecting sellers who are new to the Internet.
Dooma350’s trouble with BMW of Lincoln eventually resulted in lawyers from both parties getting involved, letters to BMW of North America, and involvement from mainstream media outlets like CNN. Long story short, Dooma350 got his M3, although he was legally prohibited from disclosing more details.
A similar incident happened in January of 2010 with GenCoupe.com member McFly. McFly won a used Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T on eBay from Glenn Hyundai in Tennessee. The winning bid? A tidy $16,125 for a Genesis Coupe with less than 5000 miles on the odometer. Not bad. But then McFly tried to put a deposit on his new Genesis Coupe. Much to his dismay, Glenn Hyundai claimed that the car actually wasn’t up for auction, and that it had a Buy It Now price “of around $19-20,000.” After back and forth bickering (including Glenn Hyundai’s then-Internet Manager calling McFly “a little psycho”), and much attention from car forums and blogs, Hyundai North America stepped in. Although McFly couldn’t disclose the terms of his agreement, he did end up with his Genesis Coupe 2.0T.
In March of 2010, yet another incident occurred with a dealer refusing to honor a winning bid from an auction. ChallengerTalk
.com forum member Hitman won a brand new 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 for $29,100 from Glenn E. Thomas Dodge of Signal Hill, California. Much like the men before him, Hitman tried paying for his new Challenger and the dealership refused – even when Hitman showed up in person to try and place his deposit. Rather than risk a public relations nightmare, Glenn E. Thomas Dodge and Hitman started a month-long negotiating process. The two parties were fortunately able to come to an amiable agreement, and Hitman got his brand new Challenger SRT8 for a cool $29,100.
Now we’re brought to the present day. Xou Vang, posted on our forum that he won a 2009 Nissan GT-R Premium with just 36,000 miles on the Odometer for $55,100 from Honda San Marcus’s eBay account (with one feedback). After the No Reserve auction ended Sunday night, Vang emailed the dealership asking how he could make the deposit on the GT-R that he just won. After no response, he went ahead and called Honda San Marcus Monday morning, asking to speak with their Internet sales person. According to a woman named Chelsea, the Internet sales manager, Randy, was refusing to take his call.
An hour later Vang received a call from someone else at the dealership saying that the Internet Sales Manager had made a mistake and is currently out of town, and that the dealership was not going to honor the sale. Vang was directed to a man at the dealership named Ian. Vang said Ian initially offered him the GT-R for $59,000 – a $3,900 markup from Vang’s winning bid, and a $3674 hit from the dealership’s list price on its Web site. Kelley Blue Book value for a 2009 GT-R like the one in the auction is $68,170.
Vang turned down Ian’s offer and pressed on for the price that he won the auction at. After many calls back and forth, Ian, according to Vang, told him,” [That he’s] going too far with this, and will get nowhere,” and that, “In the end [Ian] will laugh at me.” Ian reportedly went further and told Vang that he’s “not going to sell [Vang] the car for the price he won it at…and that is final.”
Vang, who lives in Alaska, has reportedly contacted Honda North America, the Better Business Bureau, and Texas’ Attorney General’s Office. Honda San Marcos responded to Vang’s Better Business Complaint, stating, “Mr. Vang has engaged in slander against Honda of San Marcos and attempted to purposely and unlawfully disrupt the dealership’s ability to operate. As a result of these documented offenses and on advice from counsel Honda San Marcos will not discuss this matter with the BBB.”
We contacted Honda San Marcos but our calls were not returned. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. In the meantime, head over to the Vang’s thread in our forums.
Read more:
http://wot.motortrend.com/gt-r-for-55100-dealer-latest-to-refuse-to-honor-ebay-auction-105645.html#ixzz1UdnB5TJx
Topic: Dealer refuses to honor Nissan GT-R eBay auction (Read 1728 times)