Recent Answers to Car Dealership Law Questions

I just lease a new car. I went to the dealer 2 weeks ago, met with a lease specialist and signed a sketch lease agreement and paid $300 for deposit. The important thing is that we agreed on 0 down payment and $253 monthly payment. So on the lease agreement, the item "down payment" was written as "taxes + fees", but not specified how much will be charged. After 2 weeks, the car arrived and I went to pick it up. The original lease specialist was not there and another person took care of my lease. I trusted them and paid as they said, though more than I expected. However after I carefully read the new lease agreement later, I found that the down payment was not set to be 0, while the monthly payment remained the same. Besides taxes & fees totaling to $910, they set up "capitalized cost reduction" $2819, minus some rebates $1175, and charged me $910 + $2819 - $1175 = $2554. Later I called the dealer for an explanation but they said yes this is just 0 down payment, the amount I paid was due to blablabla. I don't believe them now - that $2819 "capitalized cost reduction" is used to calculate the residual value of the car at the end of lease. Doesn't that just mean down payment? I wonder if I can argue with the dealer and get my money back, add it to the residual value of the car. I have both copies of the lease agreement. Maybe I need the help of an attorney.

Jane C.

Answered Mar 4, 2022

It seems that you paid the capitalized cost reduction to reduce you monthly payments.