No Take-Backs

So you’ve spent hours researching on edmunds.com about what car you wanted to buy. You’ve gone to several dealerships and found a great price on the exact specifications (canary yellow paint, your favorite color, of course) you were looking for. You’ve done all the paperwork and then you are handed the keys to your brand new car. And then you take it home.

And then you realize that canary yellow isn’t really your favorite color and, in fact, looks pretty ridiculous. So you take it back to the dealership and ask if you can trade it in for a different color.

Nope … no can do. I kid you not when I say that this actually happened to a former co-worker of mine. It is a widely held misconception that, like many other retail situations, one can usually just go back to the store and return it or at least get store credit. There are no take-backs when you buy a car. In fact, California even explicitly states that there is no “cooling off” cancelation period for vehicle sales.

Now if you have a real grievance about the car and you think it’s a lemon, that’s a different story …