Is a John Deere purchase order legally binding?

[Spudland_Dave]

The OP made a deal he was happy with - until the phone rang - and now wants to change the terms to suit himself. What if the dealer wanted to change in mid stream? He made a deal - live with it and honor his word.

CinderSchnauzer said it best and I agree 100% with that post, UNLESS you specifically told the dealer you had it for sale locally and that you'd trade it in ONLY if it didnt sell privately first....which I dont think is the case in this deal......

 

[Scooby074]

CinderSchnauzer: Like i said. Im conflicted on this one. I agree with most of what your post said. ANd I do understand how retail works thanks.....

But there was $4000 in the difference which is a more than fair profit for the dealer. Plus the OP had offered to split the profit he'd make on the deal.

Then theres the otherside of this deal, where the OP accepted the offer, knowing full well what it was, and what he thought he was going to get if he kept it for sale privately.

THe other issue for me, is it leaves a bad taste, thats going to fester... How will this dealership behave for warranty issues or other things that come up?

Heck, we even had a dealer post on here that the OP should walk away.....

 

[Spudland_Dave]

But there was $4000 in the difference which is a more than fair profit for the dealer. Plus the OP had offered to split the profit he'd make on the deal.

IMO That is well within reason...Would you sink that much money into something that MIGHT not sell for a while...having equipment on the lot costs the dealer money every day.

Then theres the otherside of this deal, where the OP accepted the offer, knowing full well what it was, and what he thought he was going to get if he kept it for sale privately..

That is the BIGGEST piece, like I said..if both sides had agreed to terms which stated "IF I sell my tractor first...no trade" then thats the deal. But it sounds to me like it was a "done deal"...trade existing in, pay xx dollars for new one.

The other issue for me, is it leaves a bad taste, thats going to fester... How will this dealership behave for warranty issues or other things that come up?

Heck, we even had a dealer post on here that the OP should walk away.....

While that is true, I think if the tables were turned and the dealer was saying "the price went up by x,xxx because of this or that..we'd all be saying he should walk away, even RUN from that dealer. All this could have been avoided up front by making it clear the machine was for sale privately. Heck i've seen my JD Dealer consign machines for people with the deal "if you sell my xxx i'll buy this new model" most if not all dealers are willing to work with people to do what it takes to get them into the machine they want/need...

 

[Scooby074]

IMO That is well within reason...Would you sink that much money into something that MIGHT not sell for a while...having equipment on the lot costs the dealer money every day.

To me, this is all the more reason why a dealer would WANT to let the OP sell it on his own, especially in these times.

Last machine that i priced used was a B21. In this case there was approx 2000 profit for the dealer. I know because i talked to the original owner and found out what the dealer gave. TO me this is fair to cover any unexpected problems with the trade, and wash/ clean / service it etc.

That is the BIGGEST piece, like I said..if both sides had agreed to terms which stated "IF I sell my tractor first...no trade" then thats the deal. But it sounds to me like it was a "done deal"...trade existing in, pay xx dollars for new one.

I agree. There was a lack of communication here. I would have expressly told the dealer up front that i reserve the right to private sale it up till the new machine was in ( Like a ebay auction). If the dealer didnt like it, id find one that did.

 

[maddog_madden1975]

All is good! ECalled dealer and now he said that he would rather not have my trade anyway. Works better for him if i sell it outright. Hmmm go figure. Thank you everyone for your opinions. I value both sides and can see it from both sides. My biggest problem that i didnt understand is that the total of the trade came up to $51g, or i could of bought the tractor outright for $51g, i just didnt understand why he was wanting to keep my tractor and try selling it for more, essentially getting lets say $53g out of the deal. And being told that the tractor was legally his, which it was not. Now had he said "well you agreed to the deal" then it would of been different. Anyway, all is good. Fair deal for both sides and were both happy. Thats what its all about.

 

[Scooby074]

Its Surprising that the salesman was so hard to get along with in the beginning?
Glad all worked out and the dealer came to his senses. Better then losing a sale.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Its Surprising that the salesman was so hard to get along with in the beginning?

My experiences with salesmen of any type (Car, Tractor, Appliance, etc) is that they are rarely "super knowledgable", he probably didnt know any better, probably thought the whole deal was going south so he tried to strong arm the deal back into reality..
I'll start by saying my tractor salesman was a super nice person...I am not bad mouthing him in any way...but lets just say I was educating him a bit about options & features on my 3520 Cab.... I bet thats true for most of us TBN'ers when we shop.....

 

[JGY]

So im looking at trading my 4120 in on a 5525. I first try to sell my tractor on craigslist and ebay. No luck for 3 weeks. So i go to the dealer and settle on a price after a week of negotiations. I sign a purchase order stating the differences and such. As soon as i get home my phone rings with a cash offer of 4g more then they are giving me for my trade. Of course the question is am i legally bound by this "purchase order"? No contract has been signed nor has any money exchanged hands.

Nope!

Joe

 

[DavesTractor]

I'm a dealer. A trade is just a payment type in theory. Let's say I sell something for $10,000 and the guy wants to pay me $5000 in cash, $3000 in a check, $1000 in trade and $1000 by credit card. I get my $10K. Now if he comes in and says he changed his mind and will pay $6000 in cash, etc and keep his trade, I don't really care. I just want my $10K, he can pay it as he wishes.

If I lowballed the trade-in and was anxious to sell it for a huge profit, I'd be dissappointed. By refusing to let the customer pay cash in full, the dealer is admitting that he offered way too little for the trade.

Occassionally this happens to us. We get a great trade value, then the customer sells it to a neighbor. We regret it, but we just smile and tell the customers that we are happy for him, glad he did so well, and we take his cash.

Now if a customer offered to split the profit on a trade-in that he sold himself, I'd be overjoyed!