New Car return policy?

[JeremyD]

So I bought a 2006 Lancer Ralliart 2.5 weeks ago or so. I have put 990 Km on it or so, as I wanted to break in the engine and the novelty of having a new car.

Over the course of this time frame I am realizing that I am not all that happy with the car. It is nice and all but for what I am paying it is iffy. My Talon (though old and beat up) out performs it, rides smoother, and (at least for the first half a tank) gets about the same gas mileage. The only thing the lancer really has is that is brand spanking new and has a warrenty.

The near deal breaker started at our last snowfall and driving down James Mckevitt blvd to mcleod. I had slowed to 10Km/h prior to the left turn lane and started to creep down the hill to the lights. There was a car at the lights already ( a good 50' or so ahead of me) and The car would not stop at all. I was lucky and managed to get the lancer into the other lane a mere foot off the bumper of the integra in front of me. With the snow I found that I would have to start in 2nd (at least) and then switch to 4th immediately in order to move at all. Otherwise one tire would jsut spin and spin (no traction control or LSD). Today I took a corner at a slow speed of 20Km/h and ended up hitting the curb because I couldnt get any traction at all. (I didn't have the brakes locked or even active and did slow pulses on the gas pedal while turning the steering wheel to try to change the direction of the car). No damage was sustained here. Then again this morning I am starting off at the lights in 4th gear because I there is no traction at all.

So I look up the brand of tires I have - Goodyear Eagle RS-A. They have shitty reviews. It looks to me like these are an ass raping waiting to happen. The comments are mostly along the lines of no traction, rough ride, wears out fast, oh and they cost around 275 a tire. Ouch my ass hurts...

So I am left with a quandry...
do I spend the 600-800 to get some decent winter tires?
do I puit the same 600-800 into rebuilding the talon instead of selling it and use it as a winter car / project car?
or do I just take back the lancer because quite frankly I didn't buy a brand new car (at least not a fucking lancer. yeah I pick up a sports car sure I dont expect to drive a corvette year round or a to turn around and dump more money into it to make it drivable year round. To my mind the car is undrivable. I worry too much about running into things with it because there is very little control with snow on the ground and the current tires.

So what is the policy on returning vehicles? Can you? Or do you have to sell it back and take that "drive off a car lot" hit to the price? Do I have to sell it privately? Since I got financing how does that affect anything? Hell I haven't even made my first payment.

Cars seem to be like shoes. You can't really tell in the store if they are gonna hurt your feet after you have worn them for 10+ hours a day running around in all sorts of environments.

[Weapon_R]

Not a chance. Once it is registered, you can never sell that car as new again, and there is no dealer in North America that will just take it back.

The dealer will buy back the car, at several thousand dollars less than what you just paid for it. Once you find a buyer, you get the money, pay off the financing and cover the difference from your pocket.

Expensive lesson, but get rid of it while its worth as much as it ever will be. You may be lucky and find someone willing to purchase it for near retail to save a couple thousand dollars while retaining all of the good reasons for buying new.

[max_boost]

Are you kidding me? Next time don't make such a large purchase without considering everything. The only cars you can return are used ones and even those have stipulations you have to adhere to.

[handsomebassman]

If only dealerships had walmarts return policy. lol

[JeremyD]

That is what I thought. Thanks for the help.

[jdmakkord]

Thats why you test drive a car, research the car, and make an educated purchase....instead of an impulse purchase of a "ralliart":rofl: lancer.

[4doorj]

yeah there is no way... but when u sell... expect to looose alot!!!:(

[legacyturbo]

Ya taking it back might be hard although it is possible if you bitched enough..I know a guy that got his Honda ridgline returned and payed back minus $500 the truck whent less places and got stuck easier than his allroad audi wagon so he was not impressed. But as for getting all your money back that might be a bit hard but if you complain enough especially while there are customers around they usually figure somethin out faitly fast.

[heavyD]

My wife has a Ralliart and she complains of the tires also. Eagle RS-A's are used on many cars as OEM because Goodyear gives them to car manufacturers for cheap. They are crap tires as they don't handle all that well and aren't very good in the winter. My wife's been through a couple of winters on the tires though so maybe you just need to slow down a bit. The gas mileage will get better after about 5000 km's but don't expect it to be too miserly as it is a 2.4L engine, not a 1.6L. The rest of the car has been perfect though with no problems at all.

My SRT-4 came with summer tires but I knew that & budgeted for winter tires as the dealer won't mention that if you don't check into it. Your best bet is to invest in some decent winter tires as even the best all-season tires don't even come close to a good winter tire. Maybe you can convince the dealer to supply you with different tires as that may be your best option because they won't take the car back.

[Xtrema]

Didn't Saturn advertised many years back that they'll buy back your car under some circumstances? (Remember the ad with the chick walk in to dealership saying can't afford it anymore....)

[lastprodigy]

^ Yes. I believe saturn used to have a 30 day return policy or something. Not so sure about now :dunno:

[Akagi Redsuns]

Originally posted by Xtrema
Didn't Saturn advertised many years back that they'll buy back your car under some circumstances? (Remember the ad with the chick walk in to dealership saying can't afford it anymore....)

I remembered that feel-good commercial. Now it's the 30-day exchange. I wonder if you can exchange it for a completely different model?


30 Day Vehicle Exchange program
We understand that a vehicle purchase is an important one so we want to make sure you get the most joy out of your Saturn. So, you have 30 days or 2,500 Km (or whichever comes first) to exchange your new Saturn for another 2004 model.


As for the original poster, I would just drop some money and get some decent tires. Pretty much any all-season tire coupled with a light FWD is going to suck in the snow.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by legacyturbo
Ya taking it back might be hard although it is possible if you bitched enough..I know a guy that got his Honda ridgline returned and payed back minus $500 the truck whent less places and got stuck easier than his allroad audi wagon so he was not impressed. But as for getting all your money back that might be a bit hard but if you complain enough especially while there are customers around they usually figure somethin out faitly fast.
If your friend was dumb enough to buy a ridgeline then he deserved whatever he had coming to him. They shouldnt have bought it back.

[JeremyD]

Originally posted by heavyD
My wife has a Ralliart and she complains of the tires also. Eagle RS-A's are used on many cars as OEM because Goodyear gives them to car manufacturers for cheap. They are crap tires as they don't handle all that well and aren't very good in the winter. My wife's been through a couple of winters on the tires though so maybe you just need to slow down a bit. The gas mileage will get better after about 5000 km's but don't expect it to be too miserly as it is a 2.4L engine, not a 1.6L. The rest of the car has been perfect though with no problems at all.

My SRT-4 came with summer tires but I knew that & budgeted for winter tires as the dealer won't mention that if you don't check into it. Your best bet is to invest in some decent winter tires as even the best all-season tires don't even come close to a good winter tire. Maybe you can convince the dealer to supply you with different tires as that may be your best option because they won't take the car back.

The gas mileage doesn't really irritate me much though I figured it would be a little better considering it didn't have turbo but whatever. The tires bug me however. I will talk with mitsu and see if we can do a swap or something get a discounted rate on tires or something. I think I can keep the summer kuhmo's I had for my talon for this thing but I am not 100% sure.

I didn't think I was pushing the hard hard at all I just touch the gas and the tires spin. Of course I have already noticed idle surge so who knows what is going on. It is irritating.

oh and it wasn't an impulse decision I test drove over a dozen vehicles and this was the best car I could find (with in my price range of course). But ultimately it is a downgrade from the talon and maybe that is the problem. I didn't think it would be as much of one as it is.

[phreezee]

You can't get all your money back, but it can be done, and has been done. However, if your only reason is the tires, I don't think that will fly.

[00CivicSi]

Wouldn't it be a better idea for him to bring it in and trade it. Like he wanted a 06 civic he could trade it?? Shouldn't lose out on coin and another dealer would love to have the sale and maybe give ya what you are paying for it... Just a thought maybe.

[lastprodigy]

trade in would be horrendous expecially at another dealership

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by 00CivicSi
Wouldn't it be a better idea for him to bring it in and trade it. Like he wanted a 06 civic he could trade it?? Shouldn't lose out on coin and another dealer would love to have the sale and maybe give ya what you are paying for it... Just a thought maybe.
Initial depreciation of the new vehicle is huge plus the dealer will only give him wholesale for his lancer because the dealer has to flip it, sell it and make money. And what about the negative equity if he financed it? The dealer is going to have to hide that negative equity somewhere so they will roll it into the new vehicle and hell be upside down on his trade in right off the bat.

[l8braker]

Caveat emptor

[00CivicSi]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2

Initial depreciation of the new vehicle is huge plus the dealer will only give him wholesale for his lancer because the dealer has to flip it, sell it and make money. And what about the negative equity if he financed it? The dealer is going to have to hide that negative equity somewhere so they will roll it into the new vehicle and hell be upside down on his trade in right off the bat.


Gotcha :thumbsup:

[JeremyD]

yeah were I to keep it as a trade in I would like be better off to park it in a garage for a year or two, with it being under 1500km I might just break even. hard to say.

Likely i will just get tires and be done with it - I will suck it up for now. Next time I will screw the test drive and see if I can't rent one for a week. a test drive seems to be like proposing marriage based on the quality of the first blow job.

[That.Guy.S30]

Originally posted by heavyD
My wife has a Ralliart and she complains of the tires also. Eagle RS-A's are used on many cars as OEM because Goodyear gives them to car manufacturers for cheap. They are crap tires as they don't handle all that well and aren't very good in the winter. My wife's been through a couple of winters on the tires though so maybe you just need to slow down a bit. The gas mileage will get better after about 5000 km's but don't expect it to be too miserly as it is a 2.4L engine, not a 1.6L. The rest of the car has been perfect though with no problems at all.
.

hmm you didnt get re92's? cuz thats what my gf has. man are those crappy for calgary weather haha

it would be decent with some winter tires.

[rage2]

Originally posted by JeremyD
a test drive seems to be like proposing marriage based on the quality of the first blow job.
:rofl:

[RUQUIKR]

Originally posted by max_boost
The only cars you can return are used ones and even those have stipulations you have to adhere to.

This isn't right, you can't return a car after purchase. The absolute only way you could ever return a car is if the car was misrepresented or was sold as saftied but was not properly up to spec. (with the exclusion of companie's that advertise a trial period) Jeremy, the fact is you kissed a curb and if they find that out your going to get it even worse.