Question About Car Payments

[Crashfan3]

My mom's previous car, a 2001 Hyundai Sonata, was having problems for months, so last Tuesday she traded it in for a 2003 Range Rover. At the dealership, she signed an agreement saying her payments would be $254/mo. for 84 months.

Today she gets a call from the dealership saying that suddenly she needs to refinance to a 60 month loan at $314/mo. She cannot afford that. She would have had the option of trading back, but they've already sold her Hyundai.

Just earlier, she talked to her own bank, and they offered a 72 month loan at $277/mo, but that's still a little more than she can afford (she could barely afford the $254/mo).

My question is: can the dealership force her to refinance the loan even though they both signed a contract agreeing to $254/mo for 84 months?

[who_cares973]

What does the fine print say?

[~HentaiXXX~]

Read that f*cking fine print... People are always like, "oooh no it's fine" but F*CK NO IT'S NOT GAAAH

[HoneyMelonCalibrator]

The dealership can't force your mom to refinance her car loan without ending the contract. If they did, I'm 99 percent sure the contract would be void. But like who cares and Hentai said, what does the fine print say?

[dore]

they can't force you to refinance but if the finance contract likely said that they could change the payments if they wanted to. check the fine print

[TC_Halogen]

From Kayla (who used to work at Saturn):

The dealership can't force you to refinance, considering that the car is no longer under the possession of the dealership, but rather the bank.

The way that I see it: a contract binds not just you, but the other party - you agree to make the payments, they agree to fee you for THAT amount. They shouldn't be able to pull control of the payment amount without voiding the previous contract.

[~HentaiXXX~]

This is all assuming his mother trusts a bunch of people on the internet. Which I hope she does.

[Aldentron]

If she couldn't afford a Range Rover, then why did she buy a Range Rover?
(Yes I know that it wasn't until after she bought it that the dealership tried to jack up the rate.)

My solution: Sell the car back to the dealership, commute by bike.

[Cenright]

I don't want to sound sexist, but I know that some of the people who do these things can be. Make sure she takes a guy with her if she has to go talk to the dealership. They don't need to be a lawyer, just firm and smart enough to see if something is attempting to be pulled. Places can get away with this because no one seems to actually call them on it, because they are "official" and are experienced in what they do, and going against them can be intimidating.