What Happens To Vehicle Deposits?

[imageon]

Please don't give math lessons!!!! I never said $7000. You're happy with your deal. Good for you!!! I'm not happy with receiving a $500 increase overnight.

Yep,
A case of bad timing.
Hang in there Julie. Even at 7300 it is a lot less than cars with more tires on them and it looks twice as cool.
You've done a the right thing getting in on this.
MK

 

[bowers baldwin]

I think it's a scam. Before going to bed last night, I made a $100 deposit for this $6800 car. This morning, I woke up to an email stating that since my deposit is so little and the fact that they are in need of money for production, my cost will be $7300. That is NOT what I agreed to. No wonder they state that the deposit is nonrefundable. They reneged on this contract and will not refund my money, so I went down to the bank and closed out my account before they were able to take out my money. I wish you guys all the luck in the world getting this car, but please be prepared to lose the money that you gave them already.

Like they say, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Here we go again, paragraph 2 of the agreement:

This Agreement does not constitute an agreement for the sale of a vehicle and does not lock in pricing, a production slot, or an estimated delivery date. You are under no obligation to purchase a vehicle from us, and we are under no obligation to supply you with a vehicle. If and when we notify you of the availability of the vehicle and you wish to proceed with the purchase, such sale and purchase will be governed by a separate and legally binding Purchase Agreement between you and us or between you and another authorized dealer (Elio).

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

You've done a the right thing getting in on this.
MK

Except she got out of it by the questionable (borderline illegal) method of closing the bank account before the "check" could be cashed.

 

[imageon]

Ya,
I'd overlooked that.
Oh well.
MK

 

[Marshall]

Unless I'm mistaken, something ULTRA important is being overlooked in this entire thread. I've been an "all in" for years, but I always knew 2 things: 1) I wasn't a "depositor", and 2) I could ALWAYS back out when the time came because of any reason, say hypothetically I test drove a production version and didn't like it. The email this morning appears to be something VERY different, an actual Purchase and Sale Agreement which has a whole new meaning. Once I agree and sign I've essentially transacted to buy a vehicle I've never test driven, and as long as they present any vehicle to me, whether I like it or not, I'm legally obligated to complete the sale, or risk being sued for breach of contract. If I don't care for say the roughness of the ride, the fit and finish, the rear visibility, the road noise, it doesn't matter. If they want to exercise their rights, I'm stuck. I personally will NOT enter into a binding contract on a product that not only I've never seen but that technically and actually doesn't even exist yet. The final product still is evolving. " All In" is one thing, Sales Contract is something FAR different.

You are the person who will lock in at $7300 by not signing the commitment to purchase. I suppose that is why you have that option, assuming you went All-In initially. But perhaps you went Want In if you are risk averse. In that case, your money is refundable, but your price might be higher than $7300.

I'm glad we have OPTIONS which meet our personalities. I'm too cheap to pass up a discount for a car I know I'll buy ASAP.

Oops! I overlooked the fact that she welched on her initial reservation payment because she didn't understand what she was doing.

Well now I'm really confused. There are two different people who are upset in different circumstances. One has been all-in for a while and one who just made a deposit and welched.

In any event, you have options, some of which cost money and some of which show bad faith.

 

[Marshall]

Please don't give math lessons!!!! I never said $7000. You're happy with your deal. Good for you!!! I'm not happy with receiving a $500 increase overnight.

Overnight it went from a $6800 target to $7300 firm deal with an opportunity to lock in and get it for $7000 minus discounts.

Personally, I love having a firm price rather than a fuzzy target.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Except she got out of it by the questionable (borderline illegal) method of closing the bank account before the "check" could be cashed.

For her sake, I hope she doesn't live in PA.

Here it is very illegal.

You can go to jail for bouncing a single check.
Mistake or no mistake. No excuses.
It depends on the Judge.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Please don't give math lessons!!!! I never said $7000. You're happy with your deal. Good for you!!! I'm not happy with receiving a $500 increase overnight.

 

[McBrew]

Please don't give math lessons!!!! I never said $7000. You're happy with your deal. Good for you!!! I'm not happy with receiving a $500 increase overnight.

Julie, we can see how this seems misleading to you. However, you have to realize that you just happened to sign up at a really interesting time. You signed up and then got the email a few hours later. Some others here signed up years ago and still just got that email the same time you did. Those of us who have been waiting for months or years have been wondering for a long time what the final price of the Elio would be. Elio always said $6,800 was their target, but had also said recently that if they built it now, the price would be close to $7,500. So, where you are upset at a "price increase," most of us are excited about a fixed price that is LOWER than most of us expected.

Just please realize that the timing is awkward. Most of us have been waiting years for the email that you got the day after you signed up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Elio Amazed]

I think it's a scam. Before going to bed last night, I made a $100 deposit for this $6800 car. This morning, I woke up to an email stating that since my deposit is so little and the fact that they are in need of money for production, my cost will be $7300. That is NOT what I agreed to. No wonder they state that the deposit is nonrefundable. They reneged on this contract and will not refund my money, so I went down to the bank and closed out my account before they were able to take out my money. I wish you guys all the luck in the world getting this car, but please be prepared to lose the money that you gave them already.

Like they say, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I too understand how someone could feel that they were led astray...
If they neglected to read the information that was provided to them.

That email was automatically sent to every person who holds a deposit.
And it's meaning is something totally different from what you got from it.
As many here have already said, it's not something negative EM is doing.

It's something very positive.

Come on now... Did the email really say, "Since your deposit is so little..."?
Contract? Could you direct me to a copy of a "contract" that you and EM "signed"?

Since you brought it up... Yes, we are prepared to loose the money we gave them.
Those of us that went all-in that is. We were on the day we signed up and have been since.

The vast majority of us read the information and acknowledged and accepted the risk.
We also understood that it was made clear that the figures quoted were only goals.

THAT was the deal and it was in the explanation of the forward-looking statements...
At the bottom of most of the site pages, the sign up page, and most of EM's messages.