Overhaulin'

They would not sell us a car for cash?

My husband is a CPA who works from home. He makes very good income he was however, turned down when he went to buy a car today. He wanted to purchase a 2003 Range Rover from a car lot in Santa Monica, Ca. They checked his credit before he went in; they told him that he qualified. But, when he arrived at the lot to inspect the car/purchase the salesman referred him to his boss who was unfriendly. He would not let him finance because, he works from home. So he offered to pay 15,000 down cash on an 18,000 vehicle. And he told him that he needs to check with his boss first. We suspect racial discrimination: he did ask my husband if he planned to send this car to Nigeria. My husband is African but not Nigerian. I would like to have the incident investigated but, I m not sure who to contact.

Public Comments

1. First get a security freeze. No one has any business checking your credit if you are not using credit. go to clarkhoward.com he has the info on his site how to do a security freeze. It virtually eliminates the chances of ID theft on top of intrusive snooping into your credit past.
2. if the car dealership is part of a chain, you may want to contact their corporate office. another good option is to report them to the Better Business Bureau. alternately, you could contact the manufacturers of Range Rovers, and let them know you will not be buying one of their cars ever again, because of the rude treatment received at -insert dealership name here-. even if you are considering buying a range rover somewhere else, the hyperbole will help to get your message across. good luck. from the sound of it, this is a completely unfair situation, and I hope you get it sorted out quickly.
3. Your need to file a Title II complaint ASAP, you only have 3 days by law to file this complaint. You file with the EEOC . You have been denied "public accommodations" ie.e they refused to do business with you do to your race, nationality, national origin, religion, (etc.) That is you allegation due to their comment. It would be like a restaurant declining to take your order "because you might send the food to Nigeria". Same thing. This is a little used federal Title ( law) except in restaurants and innkeeping, but it does apply to retail, even car sales. Do not let this time pass. It is critical you contact the EEOC tomorrow due to the holiday. Email me is you need more specific inofrmation.
4. They probably didn't want to fill out a Currency Transaction Report, they may be riding dirty and not wanting the added scrutiny of alerting the authorities to the transactions or they may just be lazy. All dealers are required to file the report for transaction of more than $10,000 and many avoid such transactions merely because of their laziness in filing the report and/or misgivings about involving the Federal Government in the transaction. Breaking up the transaction with intent to avoid the reporting requirement isn't an option. Doing so is considered a violation of federal law.
5. DUH...he is a CPA?....... Buying a car is two parts. First you argue a price and sign a sales contract. There is nothing in there about where the money is going to come from. It is up to the buyer to come up with the money. There is absolutely no reason that they had to do a credit check. After you have a sales contract in hand you have to figure out where to get the money. You can pay cash or get a loan. You can either get a loan through the dealer, from a loan broker or from your own bank. It sounds to me like he was wanting them to sell the car to him AND give him a loan. Just because he was "pre-approved" means nothing. They will say anything to get you into their lot to sell you a car. It does not sound to me like discrimination but rather your CPA husband does not know how things work. I would definitely think twice about selling to a guy who "works from home" and who clearly is from another nation. Perhaps he did not mention those two facts when he talked to them on the phone? Have him go back again with $18,000 in cash. If they still will not sell to him then you got a discrimination case. There is absolutely no valid reason why a car dealer would not sell a $18,000 car for $18,000.