State senator wants protection for used car buyers

The used car lot may be the perfect place to find the ride of your dreams, but if you come back looking for a do-over you're really dreaming.

"You could walk out the door and turn around and walk back in and you would have no legal right to unwind that transaction, that purchase," Rep Ron Latz told the Capitol press corps Tuesday.

Latz, a St Louis Park Democrat elected to the State Senate last month, unveiled what he's calling the Car Buyers Bill of Rights.

The legislation would allow used car buyers who have second thoughts about a vehicle to return it for any reason within two days and be released from the contract. He's modeling his bill after one that became law in California last July.

"Some people go in to kick the tires on a car, and they get rolled by an aggressive sales person," said Latz when asked why he wants a law protecting consumers who change their mind.

Latz told reporters that two such consumers had planned to take part in his news conference but chose not to join him out of embarrassment.

He said one was a man who bought a pickup truck for $5,000 and then realized he couldn't pay for it. The man actually returned it to the dealer's lot and left it there, according to Latz. But the dealer would not release the unnamed man from the deal.

Another case he cited involved a woman who helped her son buy a $17,000 truck, and signed a deal with a $5,000 down payment.

"And realized that evening they couldn?t afford the $17,000 purchase price," recalled Latz.

"The next day they brought the vehicle back to the dealer?s lot and were informed by the dealership that all deals were final. The purchaser even offered the dealer to keep $2,000 of the down payment. The dealership refused."

These stories are rare exceptions to the types of transactions that take place on most used car lots, says Scott Lambert of the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association.

"I think we?re dealing off old stereotypes," Lambert said.

"I would put our industry?s customer satisfaction ratings against any other retail experience."

A two-day return policy, Lambert argues, is unneeded in a state like Minnesota.

"Two days later, wait a minute, everything?s coming back. And we?ve got to unwind all those different processes," said Lambert.

"And what we?re going to do probably is inconvenience a lot of consumers to take care of those few consumers who are unwilling, or unable, to perform on contracts that they signed."

Rep. Latz counters that most dealers have nothing to fear from this extra layer of consumer protection.

"It?s the dealers that take advantage of vulnerable purchasers, or who aren?t willing to understand that some times there is buyer's remorse, those are the dealers that ought to be concerned about this."

Lambert said most dealers will do their best to make sure customers know what they're getting into when they sign a purchase contract and a financing agreement.

"We of course want happy customers, and satisfied customers," said Lambert.

"Purchasing a car is not a spontaneous act. People have got to be happy with the car. There?s a lot of talk with the salesman, with the finance people. It?s not like buying a toaster."

Latz conceded Minnesota's Lemon Law is strong, but it applies to new cars and to manufacturing defects for which automakers, not dealers, are responsible.

The reason he's not yet including new cars in this legislation is because of the complications that result from new cars losing value if they become classified as "used" after leaving the lot.

By John Croman, KARE 11 News

Check out our KARE family of Web sites:
	takeKARE		Metromix
	Moms Like Me		Minnesota Bound
	Showcase Minnesota