Flex Commission Car Loan Advice

Ash-Say on 28/07/2020 - 19:15

This event happened long time ago so I understand I am likely to be out of luck but thought I still ask in case I can still recover some losses. Please be nice as I was quite naïve when it happened and already learnt a lesson.

It happened in early 2010 when I was working as a casual and looking for full time job. I bought a car from big dealer (well known brand) in NSW. The finance person told me to pay $1,000 deposit but he never disclosed it was non-refundable. We agreed that I will look for loan and he will also speak with the brand finance to organise a loan for me. Due to my casual job, I couldn’t secure a loan from bank(I didn’t disclose it to dealer finance guy). He rang me after 4 days to advise that he was able to organise finance at 15%. I said it’s too much and he said he could probably negotiate it down to 12%, however I would lose my deposit if I don’t agree to this lower interest. When I argued about deposit, he stated the deposit was non-refundable. As I was working as a casual, $1000 was lot of money for me to lose so I agreed to proceed with total loan of $18,000 with 5 years term. My monthly payment was $400 which I could easily afford on my casual job. Fast forward by mid 2010, I got full time job and I was able to pay off loan before end of year where I paid total of $2300 in interest and early termination fee.

I came across Westpac’s flex commission car loan news today and I am pretty sure I was victim of this scenario though it was through a car finance company.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-14/westpac-potential-cla…

Is it worth writing to this dealer to recover some money from $2300? It’s well past 6 years so not sure if I can still somehow follow up.

Financial

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 28/07/2020 - 19:17
    +2

    "If you bought a car from a dealership using "in-store" finance for personal use from July 2014 to November 2018, you may have been the victim of a flex car loan rort,"

    So since you were 2010 - no.

    • Ash-Say on 28/07/2020 - 19:20

      Isn't your comment specifically for Westpac loan?

      • Seraphin7 on 28/07/2020 - 19:37
        +1

        Well, that's the source you've cited. Anything relevant to that particular case may have no relevance whatsoever to yours or any other case.

        Realistically, if you call up the dealer cold and try to claim money back for something that happened ten years ago … well, I don't like your chances of a favourable response.

        The only avenue that is likely to yield anything (and that's highly doubtful) would be to contact the lawyers who've handled this matter and see what they have to say.

        The other side of this is that we've all been "ripped off" one way or another when we were young, uneducated, and desperate to be "grown ups". The probabilities are that your $2k is loooooong gone. Unless you can hook yourself up to a class action that is dealing specifically with your situation, write it up to education. Hopefully you've learned from the experience and likely saved yourself a lot more than $2k since as a result of it.

  • netjock on 28/07/2020 - 19:32
    +1

    You learnt about buying "subject to finance" yet?

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