Cancelling new car sale with dealership?

Question

If you've given a deposit but change your mind about the car within 12 hours, how often will the car dealership take legal action to either force you to buy the car, or to keep all of the deposit money?

Answer 1

If you have given a deposit but have not yet picked up the car, then you can certainly get you your deposit back.  Unless it was special ordered or you had them customize it in some way.

If you already picked up the car, you are out of luck, there are no returns.

Answer 2

There is no cooling off period for car sales. If you have not actually taken delivery, you can kill the deal.  

Answer 3

Difficult situation, and the answer depends on several factors.

Did you take delivery of the car?  There is a term in the car business "OTC" for Over the Curb.. as once the customer has driven the car over the curb the deal is done.  - No refund here.

Did you sign a the paperwork while you were at the office?  If so you may have signed loan paperwork, title paper work, etc.   It's possible they are using electronic systems and have already sent it off.  

The good news here.. car dealers are slow to adapt to technology so you are probably safe.  If you signed paperwork but did not take delivery of the car you can probably get out of the deal.  The dealer may fight you on it though, depending upon why you want out.  (Sad but true)

I do not know of any state that has a cooling off period for buying a car, unless it is expllicitly implied by the dealer via a gaurtunee of some sort.  

For instance - A common misconception is that you have 3 days to bring a vehicle back.  In reality, this only applies to off-site transactions.  Such as if a door-to-door salesman sells you encylopedias.    A loophole for you is if you signed the paperwork outside of the dealership (in your home for instance, they come to you)  Then you may have a case.

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Finally, I don't think you have to worry about the car dealership suing you.   Courts do not tend to favor car dealers in disputes with customers in my personal non-lawyer experience.    Can you say bad publicity?    x*x Ford sues local woman for car she didn't pick up, more at 11!

I think your okay.  The problem with the deposit will come down to whether or not you signed something that said it's Non-Refundable.   As someone else said, if they had to get the car from another dealer or buy it somewhere else.. that deposit is pretty much gone. Sorry.