Dealership miscalculated sales tax

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I'm going to have to agree here. Looking at this with an outsiders view you may not hold any cards in your hand. The trucks in your name, and the tax is owed to the state. The dealer could just say they aren't going to pay the bill, or eat the money. And, you may wind up paying monthly payments on a truck you can't drive. And, if you go the lawyer route you'll wind up paying much more than the $1600 tax owed in lawyer fees. I'm not trying to show any disrespect, but just thinking this through to an end that may not be to your liking. Good luck.
All good points.

Shaking down this way as we speak. About to call to have paperwork DMV needs ready for me to pick up from dealership as we speak. Then next week, when the DMV reopens for walk ins I'll be taking said paperwork in to pay my sales tax and yearly tax, get my tags and all.

Going to take the dealership out of the equation and handle business with the state directly.

Will deal with the dealership later.

If I don't post for a while send lawyers, guns, and money.
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I missed the part where the op said he didn't know he was in a municipality and not an unincorporated area - that being the case he is responsible for paying the appropriate tax, and yes you do sign paperwork in CO stating that you've given the correct info. The dealer is not at fault , they just calculate the rate based on information provided. Yes the sales tax can be steep in CO but still people flock to this state.
I know I live in the city. I provided my correct home address. They calculated sales tax.

And looking at it that paperwork is a affidavit from me that their calculations are are correct. A legal cop out that covers their butt.
 

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All good points.

Shaking down this way as we speak. About to call to have paperwork DMV needs ready for me to pick up from dealership as we speak. Then next week, when the DMV reopens for walk ins I'll be taking said paperwork in to pay my sales tax and yearly tax, get my tags and all.

Going to take the dealership out of the equation and handle business with the state directly.

Will deal with the dealership later.

If I don't post for a while send lawyers, guns, and money.
Don't blame you at all Doug. Work them for some floor mats, a truck mat, or something they won't buck at, put it in the past, and enjoy that Ranger.

And, I will go your bail if needed. :)
 

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I know I live in the city. I provided my correct home address. They calculated sales tax.

And looking at it that paperwork is a affidavit from me that their calculations are are correct. A legal cop out that covers their butt.
In defense of the dealership it can happen where whatever SW they use to calculate the sales tax may be incorrect or out of date - I know for a while Rock Auto wouldn't ship to a number of cities in CO because they are responsible for collecting and paying the proper sales tax to state and local governments and didn't want to be liable for undercollecting the tax - which by law they can be held accountable, your dealer and other businesses protect themselves by the clause you mentioned so IMO your should be responsible for paying the proper tax.

A good finance manger though should have reviewed the tax rate before you signed - Brighton Ford did that for me - I think I paid a 8.5% muni tax on my purchase.
 

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Don't blame you at all Doug. Work them for some floor mats, a truck mat, or something they won't buck at, put it in the past, and enjoy that Ranger.

And, I will go your bail if needed. :)

2” inch lift and mud flaps on all 4 ?
 


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In defense of the dealership it can happen where whatever SW they use to calculate the sales tax may be incorrect or out of date - I know for a while Rock Auto wouldn't ship to a number of cities in CO because they are responsible for collecting and paying the proper sales tax to state and local governments and didn't want to be liable for undercollecting the tax - which by law they can be held accountable, your dealer and other businesses protect themselves by the clause you mentioned so IMO your should be responsible for paying the proper tax.

A good finance manger though should have reviewed the tax rate before you signed - Brighton Ford did that for me - I think I paid a 8.5% muni tax on my purchase.
I get that it can happen. I get that it's ultimately my responsibility.

Honest mistake or not I feel they should cover it. I was taught that if you make an honest mistake you pay for it honestly.

They should have caught it.

I live in Brighton. I've tried to buy two new vehicles from Brighton Ford. They don't seem to wanna sell me a car, glad they worked for you. Service department has been good though.
 

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And looking at it that paperwork is a affidavit from me that their calculations are are correct. A legal cop out that covers their butt.
Yes that affidavit is pretty much standard on purchases over a certain amount - because there are people who will give false information in the interest of paying less in taxes - it sounds like thought that the dmv watches that pretty carefully.
 

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I get that it can happen. I get that it's ultimately my responsibility.

Honest mistake or not I feel they should cover it. I was taught that if you make an honest mistake you pay for it honestly.

They should have caught it.

I live in Brighton. I've tried to buy two new vehicles from Brighton Ford. They don't seem to wanna sell me a car, glad they worked for you. Service department has been good though.
For me it was mostly a matter of timing - bought it in May when auto sales were still down, I was looking for several months and was mostly using auto trader and maybe cars.com to try and find a good deal - brighton ford doesn't use those site, but I took a look at Ford dealers that don't and saw the Ranger Lariat advertised as an internet special, went there and bought a demo with 700 miles on it.
Found some of the area dealers were using bait and switch tactics to try and get people to visit them - some of those were up north of Denver and I had a connection with the used car manager for Phil Long dealerships that I tried to use but what he considered a good dealer under their stated selling price was laughable - but apparently people pay it, bottoming line buying a car is still a very unpleasant experience and even more so with what you are dealing with.
 

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Tactics like this is why outfits like Carvana are getting popular.

You may pay more but there is no dealer bickering BS.

You see the price, pay the price, enjoy your vehicle.

Hope you get this worked out OP.
 

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All good points.

Shaking down this way as we speak. About to call to have paperwork DMV needs ready for me to pick up from dealership as we speak. Then next week, when the DMV reopens for walk ins I'll be taking said paperwork in to pay my sales tax and yearly tax, get my tags and all.

Going to take the dealership out of the equation and handle business with the state directly.

Will deal with the dealership later.

If I don't post for a while send lawyers, guns, and money.
1610656888443.png
 

dtech

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I know a bit about the sales tax issue as I had part ownership in an IT firm where we sold all over the state of colorado - taxes were paid to the state - straightforward - but calculating and paying taxes to all of the various munis was sometimes a pain as each one has their own rate and the business is responsible for collecting and paying the correct tax rate, if we didn't and we audited we would be liable. With autos the dmv serves essentially to audit those transactions to ensure the proper rate is collected - some people will go to extremes to avoid paying the proper taxes.
Back in the 70s and 80s taxes and fees were much much lower in CO but gradually they have been raised - especially on fees like vehicle regs but munis have also progressively increased their sales taxes and the state income tax ain't exactly cheap either.
But as some have suggested you might approach the dealership about giving you some freebies for not making an issue of this , but in the ned I think you are going to be liable for that miscalulated tax. Must be a smaller dealership if the sales manger also functions as the finance manger, your larger dealerships have a dedicated finance manger and some of those are pretty sharp and experienced and they try to sell you all kinds of add ons -x warranty, coatings, and so on.
 

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I just bought my truck 3 weeks ago. I actually specifically asked the dealer about the sales tax because I thought they had the wrong amount on there. His words:

"the dealership is responsible for paying the correct amount to the state for every vehicle sold. If we put the wrong amount on your paperwork that's our problem not yours".


DO NOT PAY ANYTHING EXTRA THAN WHAT YOU AGREED ON THE CONTRACT. Consult a lawyer immediately. Shady dealerships probably do this to everyone to see who bites. They are fishing.

 

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No way in hell I'd bite the bullet. Once you pay that tab they aren't paying for or giving you jack.
 
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I know a bit about the sales tax issue as I had part ownership in an IT firm where we sold all over the state of colorado - taxes were paid to the state - straightforward - but calculating and paying taxes to all of the various munis was sometimes a pain as each one has their own rate and the business is responsible for collecting and paying the correct tax rate, if we didn't and we audited we would be liable. With autos the dmv serves essentially to audit those transactions to ensure the proper rate is collected - some people will go to extremes to avoid paying the proper taxes.
Back in the 70s and 80s taxes and fees were much much lower in CO but gradually they have been raised - especially on fees like vehicle regs but munis have also progressively increased their sales taxes and the state income tax ain't exactly cheap either.
But as some have suggested you might approach the dealership about giving you some freebies for not making an issue of this , but in the ned I think you are going to be liable for that miscalulated tax. Must be a smaller dealership if the sales manger also functions as the finance manger, your larger dealerships have a dedicated finance manger and some of those are pretty sharp and experienced and they try to sell you all kinds of add ons -x warranty, coatings, and so on.
Pretty small Barbees Freeway Ford. Happened upon them internet price shopping, similar to Brighton Ford for you.

At the time thought it was refreshing that I only had to tell dude once that I was not interested in all that dealer add on stuff. Hindsight, right?

I just bought my truck 3 weeks ago. I actually specifically asked the dealer about the sales tax because I thought they had the wrong amount on there. His words:

"the dealership is responsible for paying the correct amount to the state for every vehicle sold. If we put the wrong amount on your paperwork that's our problem not yours".


DO NOT PAY ANYTHING EXTRA THAN WHAT YOU AGREED ON THE CONTRACT. Consult a lawyer immediately. Shady dealerships probably do this to everyone to see who bites. They are fishing.

Sounds like your dealership has some ethics. Wish mine did. Hope they stand by you if any problems pop up.


No way in hell I'd bite the bullet. Once you pay that tab they aren't paying for or giving you jack.
How would you propose I get tags to drive the truck that I have 5 years of payments scheduled for then? Deal is done. They don't want any money. The state/county/city does. At this point I'm left with no options other than to pay my taxes and attempt to collect from the dealership on my own.

Love my truck, not taking a bigger loss on selling it out of spite. Just gonna suck it up, call it the cost of doing business with scumbags and plot my eventual revenge.

Really hoping they make me wait a while when I go pick up my paperwork. I can quietly do a lot of damage to their business while waiting just by sharing my experience with would be buyers.
 

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How did you get the truck off the lot without a tag?
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