Buying and Selling Vehicles - low bid purchase

we are a gated community (property owners asso.) member owned facility. our community voted to become a class "c" city a few years back to stop the next city over from annexing us. the new city and our association are seperate intities. the new city recently purchased a security vehicle for our security department. i also resently purchased a new truck for our roads dept. the dealer mistakenly gave us the same "muni discount" from ford and was low bidder. we have recieved the vehicle and have given them a check for the bid amount. now, one week later the have called and said that they cant honor the "muni discount" from ford as the truck will not be in the cities name. this is brand new info and we have not discussed it with the b.o.d. yet, but i am looking for some opinions. we in no way want to cheat the dealer, but all vendors got the same quotes and only one made the mistake. the security vehicle was purchased from said dealer about two weeks before mine and they thought it was the same deal. they obviously didnt read my specs that were on association letter head and not city letter head. opinions welcome. thanks.

note: the association has a lease agreement on the security vehicle. it is owned by the city.

I think the dealer eats it. Not your fault; the dealer has lawyers and accountants who get paid to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen. I personally would not consider it cheating the dealer. I suppose the other options are pay whatever difference they want (you don't mention how many $) or say fine, write me out a check for the same amount I gave you and you can have your truck back.
Then go buy a Chevy. If you keep the truck and don't pay whatever they want, warranty service MAY be difficult, if you know what I mean.

My $.02 worth

thanks tow guy. we are discussing this with our board today. the difference in what we payed and what they say we should have is around 4000.00. at that price, they become the highest bidder. i believe it is their problem, but i agree that any future dealings with this dealer would be difficult if we make them eat it.

Wow. That is a BIG chunk. I would certainly expect a $4000 difference to change their standing on the bid list.

Has anybody put forth the theory that they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and are simply using the "wrong" low bid to get you on the hook? Regadless of which way you go I would be tempted to ask them if they want to refund 100% of what you paid and simply take the truck back so you can then buy the "new" lowest bidder's. Their answer would be interesting.

i will keep you posted. we have not taken a position yet. cant get our powers that be all together.

Cooperation works both ways - make sure the Ford dealer knows you will not be as willing to work with them in the future because of the way you're being treated now. Put a couple miles on the truck, sell it back to the dealer for exactly what you paid (let them eat the depreciation) and go with the next best bid. Life's too short to screw around with uncooperative people.

When I'm bidding a flooring job, one of my frustrations in the process is unscrupulous competition. They'll bid low, get the job, and then tack a bunch of add ons to the tail end of the job bringing the final cost equal to or higher than my price was in the beginning. And the customer pays it in most instances. I've never understood that. If I give a bid and end up off the mark at the end, it's my baby, not the customers. They hired a professional and I feel they expected accuracy to be part of said professionals credentials. I've had to eat a few mistakes but that's just part of doing business. Were I the dealer and it was an honest mistake, you would never have known about it. The fact that you're being approached about it is suspicious to me and I would back out of it and go with the next bidder.

Happens in just about every industry I would guess.

You are absolutely entitles to give them their vehicle back, and expect 100% refund. IN fact, I wouldn't have it any other way... I wouldn't even consider keeping the vehicle.