Saturn Of Massapequa Intent to fraud those who sign up for Gap Insurance Massapequa New York

Johnathan,

Finance managers at dealerships usually try to sell things such as gap insurance, extended warranties, life insurace and such along with car purchases to get more money out of you. It is interresting that one chose to talk you out of buying gap insurance especially if your upside down on your car loan. They typically push to sell these items, whether they are needed or not, at a much higher cost than you can get the same thing for from an on-line vendor, sometimes as high as three times the cost.

Bottom line is that unless it is in writing you have no case. Don't ever take any salesman, sales manager, fiance managers word on anything. If they tell you you need to do this or that or you don't need to do this or that, tell them to put it in writing and have both of you sign and date it. If they are not willing to put it in writing that should flag you big time that something is up.

Check the paperwork that you signed, most likely the "Buyers Guide". It will inform you that any verbal statements made by the dealership are not valid if they are not in writing.

Also, check the "Contract of Sale", this is your agreement between the bank and you. It will also state (somewhere in the fine print) that ONLY what is in the contract will be honored, that would therfore disqualify any statement made by the dealer.

Just because they TOLD you one thing, if it is not in writing, it does not matter. Any misrepresentation of facts that was spoken to you was cleared up in the WRITTEN contract. The written contract where you DECLINED GAP coverage.

However, though it was not a Saturn product, it was sold by a Saturn dealership. Saturn has pretty good customer service, try contacting them and see if they can be any help.

Good luck.

I should probably have said that differently.
MY finance company does provide gap at no charge, however, I do not know if it is REQUIRED, meaning, I don't know if the company who financed YOU is required to provide it.

Sorry for the misunderstanding on that point...

Gap does not..."This is the benefit of having GAP insurance. It pays the GAP between what you have already paid and what you owe." Gap DOES pay the difference between the insurance settlement and the payoff. If the finance company does not get a settlement, then gap doesn't pay.

You might want to call 1-800-553-6000 if you haven't already and file a complaint against the dealer with the division.

Again, good luck with this, but remember to just look at what's on the contract, you CAN take it from the dealer to have someone else look at it.

I'd suggest to look at your GAP contract (it should be a seperate form) and contact the insurance company for the GAP coverage. They are responsible for paying the difference between the account balance and totaled loss amount of the car. Your finance company should have handled this.

Good Luck!

To Krista and Saturn of Massapequa:

When you stated that, "My finance company does provide Gap to all New York customers at no charge. I DO NOT know if that is REQUIRED in the state of New York," do you mean that your company is the finance company for Saturn of Massapequa? If not, what is your agenda here?

As per your suggestion that, "It is your responsibility to ask questions and read your contract," that is exactly what I did. I asked questions and read the contract, however I was given answers that were not true.

If I was given honest and truthful answers to my questions in the first place then none of this dialogue would be necessary.

The law states that if you are given untrue, false, misleading, or fraudulent facts from the merchant you are doing business with, then you are not responsible for the requirements and conditions of their contract. The contract becomes invalid at this point. The contract you sign is only valid if you are given the correct facts upon which to make your decision.

That being said, Saturn of Massapequa is illegally in possession of thousands of dollars of my money. These funds must be returned to me immediately.

I'm sorry you misunderstood... I was not replying as an employee.

It is your responsibility to ask questions and read your contract. Never take the dealer's word for anything...

The rebuttal I read from Saturn of Massapequa is completely unacceptable.

It still does not acknowledge that the salesman misinformed me about GAP insurance coverage and cost me thousands of dollars.

It seems they have trouble admitting they were wrong and doing anything about it. If Saturn of Massapequa was an honest and reputable company they would refund the money I lost due to their deceptive and unlawful behavior.

From the Rebuttal I can see that they do not value the customer. Rather they continue to value deceptive practices from the employees of their own company.

My finance company does provide Gap to all New York customers at no charge. I DO NOT know if that is REQUIRED in the state of New York.

Gap Protection IS NOT insurance, therefore, there is NO policy.

Gap Protection is provided ONLY if the finance company receives an insurance settlement.

I would double check the state laws... there may be something requiring companies financing in New York to provide Gap no matter what. New York has some funny laws about stuff like that!

You are responsible for payments UNTIL your insurance company settles your claim...

Good luck