Dealer Paid Car Off - Financing Was Not Approved

[AaronJ]

State of Purchase : Florida

I traded in a car that had a remaining balance and the equity was used to pay a down payment for the car i wanted. On that Tuesday i purchased the car, and that following Monday i was laid off and the financing bank had refused to lend. The dealership called me back, was very polite and apologetic and asked to return the car. They also stated they will refund the extra down payment i made ( this was a an additional check i wrote, not part of the trade in's value).

I returned home with my old car, and went online to make my monthly car payment, there i noticed that the dealership has already paid the car off ( $13150.09) and I received an email, stating my title has been mailed to me.

Now what are my options, I plan to contact the dealership and bring light to the situation as im sure they are unaware of the situation at the moment ( not that they wouldnt catch it eventually)

What cant the dealership do? How can they make me pay for the car balance paid? Can they adjust my monthly payment? Will they make me rebuy the car, if so what if i cannot get financing or the financing is different from what i had before?

[Mr. Knowitall]

You agreed to a value of the vehicle when you traded it in.

Nobody here can promise you that the dealership will figure out its error before it sends you the title. What we can promise you is that they will figure out the error at some point in time, they will want your money, and they will have a valid claim against you for their money.

If you choose to keep the car you should anticipate having to pay them the $13,150.09 they paid toward your loan balance.

If you want, you can ask them about returning the car, in which case you can use your agreed trade-in value as a starting point for negotiations; you may still end up owing them money, albeit less than $13,150.09.

What you cannot expect is that they're going to simply forget about the money you owe once they find the error. If they hold title, it's their car. If they do convey title to you and if it comes down to that, a court will enforce your debt to them.