Well to make a long story short.... Purchased a 07 A6 silver coupe in Aug 06 and in Sep 07 was back at the dealer with a shifter malfunction. Seems that the shifter cable had messed up AGAIN for the third time in 13 months! According to VA law it is considered a lemon. I have been dealing with the Commanwealths BBB and GM did contact me and what they offered me was a replacement vehicle, they would give me back everything that I paid into it, taxes, registration fees and anything else, BUT they are going to charge me a 25 cents a mile usage fee, no problem I'll take it. Now to the loan on the car... MY PROBLEM!!! Am I confused or not getting their deal??? I just don't understand their offer. Why would I keep on paying on a car loan when I don't even have the ride. Am I missing something? I have an arbritation hearing on 12-15 Feb so any help with someone with this type of experiance would be greatly appreciated. The Forum is great with everything and thanks to everyone in advance.

 

What does the lienholder say? Of course you can't keep paying on a loan where the car isn't in your possession. YOu'll need a new loan collateralized by a different car. They have the title; GM can't get it back without asking them for it, and then the lienholder would come to you and ask, what's up?

I don't know when your meeting is ("arbritation hearing on 12-15 Feb"), but you need to talk with whoever's financing your car. Soon.

 

I have talked with my bank, I asked how easy would this be, ie. change VIN # on the loan and they said no. I would have to get a new loan for another Dream Car

 

You are saying that they will refund everything but a .25/mile usage fee? So the mileage fee is your responsibility. You take the purchase price-minus usage=money you owe/pay. So if you have a loan, you subtract the money you get refunded-loan, and thats whay you owe. It seems pretty straight forward. They are not offering to pay off your loan, they are offering to refund-minus use. It's kinda like you drive off the lot, and lose 5k in depreciation. If you are forced to sell the car on day 2, you are gonna lose 5k. Kinda the same principal.

 

I did ask that ? And GM would not give me a straight and honest reply, If thats the case I will have to wait and see how much I will get back/owe,

 

There is no way a bank or any company will just switch vins. It is a whole new loan on a completely different car, and believe me, you wouldn't it want any other way. YOU will not be getting the car. YOu don't own the car. The bank does. They hold title until you finish paying off the loan.

I agree with roth; according to you, GM is going to give you back every payment, tax, registration cost, etc. that you paid PLUS give you a new car. X payments x Y months= subtotal returned + whatever else you paid. This then gets put toward your new "loan" on your new, vin car that the bank will take title to, and you will pay on.

Sounds like a straight up deal to me and that GM is doing the right thing. For your useage, you pay $0.25/mile of use. That's minimal in my opinion. They're making it right with a new car, hopefully, an '08!!!!

Good luck.

 

Yes an '08 is in mind lets just hope I come I come up square in the deal

 

Sorry that you have to go through the Lemon Law process. Hopefully everything will work out for you in the end!

 

Call 1.800.mylemon.......you will not regret it!!!

 

they offered me was a replacement vehicle, they would give me back everything that I paid into it, taxes, registration fees and anything else, BUT they are going to charge me a 25 cents a mile usage fee, no problem I'll take it. Now to the loan on the car... MY PROBLEM!!! Am I confused or not getting their deal??? I just don't understand their offer. Why would I keep on paying on a car loan when I don't even have the ride. Am I missing something? I have an arbritation hearing on 12-15 Feb


""Trust me as Arbritation get close you will get better offer""

WHEN YOU GET 0 CENTS Per Mile Usage ""sign on da dotted line""....

 

I can't believe it's a lemon over a clutch cable...good luck....

 

I fail to see how a simple clutch cable invokes the lemon law. I understand you've tried to get it repaired 3 times, but how long has the thing been out of service? It wouldn't be a total of 30 days yet? Unless VA has a very weird lemon law, that doesn't make sense.

As for the deal, GM is telling you that they will pay off your original loan, including all the costs at closing (taxes, etc.), but minus your usage @$0.25/mile. Example:

Total hypothetical cost w/ fees: $40,000.00
Total mileage driven (10,000 miles @ $0.25/mile): $2,500.00
Total owing you: $37,500.00

Now, that $37,500 is owed to your bank to pay off your note. If your payoff is more than that, you owe the bank the difference. If your owe less, you get the difference. You will then have to get a new loan to cover a new car.

 

This is how I understand the issue also ...

 

If you like the car, and the shifter/clutch problem is the major sticking point...

Get GMs Service Rep involved...Send it to a different dealer and have them repair it properly.

We used to deal with similar situations all the time when I was with Ford as Service Manager.

Your main problem is with the people working on it... not the car.

mardyn

 

I agree. If it's just a shifter cable issue, get it fixed and get on with life.

On the loan question. Yes, paying off the loan is your responsibility. The lemon laws deal with purchase price less per mile use fees. They don't deal with how much you borrowed. You could have rolled over
negative equity from your trade in and that is now lumped into you loan. It wouldn't be anyone's responsibility but yours to pay that off.

I ran into that all the time when I was in the dealer business. Joe Blow pays 35 grand for a 30 grand car because his trade in was so upside down. Then falls out of love with that car and wants a lemon law buyback for 35 grand. No sir. It works just the opposite too, say your loan is only 20 grand on a 30 grand car. The lemon law award would not be 20 grand. It would be the purchase price less mileage, not your loan amount.

The legal folks that wrote the law were a little smarter than that.

You wouldn't still be paying on a car you don't have. In order to complete the deal, you would have to sign over the title to GM. To make that happen, the lien has to be satisfied. The whole exchange is they give you a check, you give them a car with a clear title. Once the title is clear there is no more loan to pay on.

I say roll the dice, turn down the offer, and head to the hearing. Maybe those couple of shifter cable repairs have substantially impaired the value of that car and you luck out and get some corporate hating tree hugger arbitrator that awards you your full loan amount. Or not.

 

As long as you are happy with the current financing, your institution would be crazy NOT to do a Substitution of Collateral. They would be holding title to a year newer vehcle, for the same amount financed. If I understand your situation, I think you just need to ask the proper person for a substitution. GMAC does it all the time, even when the customer doesnt stay with the same kind of car, like you are planning.

 

shifter cable gets a lemon law? How did you swing that?

 

A6=AUTOMATIC

 

To further clarify ... it is not the A6 transmission, it is the SHIFTER.

If I liked the car, I'd badger them hard for a good fix and save the heartache of the lemon law thing. Maybe just me?