It must be more expensive to do it incorrectly than to do it right, otherwise there is no incentive to do things correctly.  This is what the courts frequently get wrong about “white collar crime”.   If the penalties are less than the gains, they will take the chance that they won’t get caught, and even if they do, it…

Well, the judge seemed to indicate the evidence says it wasn’t the first time.  How much more do they make on the scheme?  How much to the repos cost them?  I only ask because if they make $500 per time they do this on average, then it would take 700 cars to make up the fine.

The question of how much dealers make doing this kind of shit is a very important one. On the one hand, a quick repo doesn’t give the victim much time to hand over payments. On the other hand, it lets you repeat the process sooner.

They make sure their kid attends private school & gets as much financial education as possible, likely to teach them how to do the same thing to future rubes. Then we all hope the kid develops a conscience and doesn’t keep that cycle going (or laws stop them before they have a choice).

He didn't go home that night. He celebrated with his mistress. 

Wonder how that finance manager went home that night and could look their kids in the eye knowing they did this do someone else’s young and naïve child. Or perhaps the more probable scenario is they went home to their lonely apartment after they had been taken for all their worth by an ex with full custody. 

Bingo. Health care, insurance, “long-term care” etc. It’s all designed to hoover up the money of middle and working class people, usually when they’re at a low point. Miss one payment, miss paying a fine, miss some time from work because you couldn’t work, things can go downhill really really fast, even if you think…

It’s not just dealerships. There are entire industries whose basic business model is preying on people who lack sufficient financial literacy.

Car Dealerships around military bases are the worst. Kids with signing bonus are walking targets for these scumbags. The number of BH/PH lots around Ft. Meade filled with E-class, 5 Series and way too many Range Rovers waiting for their 3rd owner tells me they aren’t beating into the recruits about actually listening…

Make it illegal for dealerships to do much of the sh*t they do.

I’ve spent a lot of time learning about personal finance and I’m naturally very frugal. That said, I’m less inclined than I used to be about financial-shaming people. The deck is usually stacked, there’s a power imbalance, and a car purchase is usually not a discretionary luxury purchase for most people. This comment…

there isn’t much that residents of The Meadows can do

Yeah, this is confusing as Hell. I had to look it “Kaufmann Language” and most sites that describe it do so in ways that are thoroughly unhelpful. Best I found was this site:

“Basically, the HOA is saying that the state law lacks the language that would enforce them to not enact the pickup rule against the residents and until the law contains that language, there isn’t much that residents of The Meadows can do.”

It means they stole his car, but because it involves money being made by a business which in our fantastic hellscape of end-stage capitalism trumps most laws, it’s not going to be prosecuted as such.

Ok, yeah, that’s very messed up then. If someone trades in a car as part of a deal for another car that they then do not get to keep, the dealership can’t just pocket a free car out of the deal.

It’s because in any other instance where this happens, the customer is given both their down payment and their trade in back. They sold his trade and pocketed the money when they should have given him the money they made off selling the trade.

When they say “didn’t compensate him for his trade-in” what does that mean exactly?

I’ll tell you I am shocked, just shocked, that dealerships don’t want to change. I could never have predicted.

Whew, yet another sigh of relief that these fearless dealers stand in the breach, protecting us from those predatory manufacturers.