Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple-Net-Automotive
Malibu Bimmer,
I am not a lawyer and wasn't trying to give legal advice, I was just stating my opinion like hundreds on this blog.
Let's look at this from a different angle; if a dealer advertised a vehicle on a 3rd party website (Cars.com Autotrader, eBay...) for $16,985 and he intended the price to be $19,985 or let's say had a $199 lease in a newspaper ad instead of $299, which happens a lot, this dealer is NOT obligated to honor this price, they simply need to get a retraction letter from the newspaper or that 3rd party website or just claim it was a human error beyond their control. In the case of the $16,985 vs. $19,985 discrepancy most dealers will discount their cars beyond the $19,985 and sell it for cost just to make the customer happy.
The BMW dealer is selling this car for dead cost, this is on a vehicle that commands thousands above MSRP. I believe this is enough of a penalty!
I believe that the law, internet or otherwise must have provisions to protect businesses from such human errors, as long as they are just errors and not malicious and intentional consumer fraud.
If Dooma wins in court, I am afraid this will set a bad precedent and will make dealers weak and turn them away from Internet advertising.
Dealer profit margins shrunk 50% or more in the last 10 years due to the Internet, these people are out there providing a service, working 50-60 hours a week. I agree that some of them have shady ways of doing business but let's stop trying to make a buck off a dealer's ignorance and mistakes and let's try to move forward in good faith !
(I didn't read all 53 pages of this blog and I'm not sure what the status is, I am also not trying to give legal advice, I am not representing the dealer, last thing I want is a blog about me, I know you guys have lots of time on your hand !!!)
Anthony.
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All that typing and it only takes 3 words to totally make you wrong, legal binding contract. When you sign up for ebay thats what they did. They had plenty of time to take it down or fix the listing. They didnt they lose end of story.