posted 05-26-2003 09:17 PM         

A northern Illinois dealership must pay $29,853 for refusing to honor a customer’s contract for a high-demand, limited-availability Plymouth Prowler.

The Illinois Appellate Court upheld a trial decision that Crystal Lake Chrysler-Plymouth Inc. breached its contract by selling the promised car at a higher price to another customer.

The damage award represents the extra amount Donald Hessler paid to another dealership for a 1997 Prowler.

According to the court, Hessler signed a contract and paid a $5,000 deposit to buy a Prowler for $5,000 above the manufacturer’s list price after Chrysler Corp. announced the vehicle. The contract listed “ASAP” as the delivery date.

The co-owner of the dealership acknowledged in testimony that Hessler was the first person to place an order.

Despite several conversations between the two men — including one about Chrysler’s expected $39,000 list price — Crystal Lake sold the only Prowler it received that year to someone else for $54,859. The other customer signed his contract more than three months after Hessler.

Hessler then contacted dozens of other dealerships before finding a Prowler for almost $78,000.

“He went to 38 other dealerships to find another car,” says his lawyer, Joseph Gottemoller of Crystal Lake. “It was the best deal he could find.”

At a nonjury trial, a McHenry County Circuit judge awarded Hessler the difference between the contract price and what he paid.

In upholding the award, the appellate court found enough evidence that the dealership wrongfully breached its agreement with Hessler. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Thomas Callum, the appellate court also said Hessler had acted in good faith in shopping for an alternative Prowler.

posted 05-27-2003 06:39 AM         

Upon announcement of Prowler production, Chrysler sent every Plymouth dealer a letter instructing the dealer to NOT take deposits, names or start any lists for the sale of Prowlers. The vehicle was not going to be a dealer-order vehicle; it was going to be an allocated vehicle. Bob's job on Team Prowler was to decide on dealer allocation. There was a list of criteria that Bob developed which was to be followed in his selection of dealers who were to receive the vehicles. The letter stated that not all dealers would be receiving a vehicle the first year and perhaps even the second year. They did not want the dealers promising cars, taking deposits and then not being able to deliver.

A year prior to start of production, I was working an auto show for Chrysler, helping hand out posters, brochures and answer questions (yes, the same one as the picture in my scrapbook on the Prowler roadshow). One elderly gentleman told me that he had put a $10,000 deposit on a Prowler at his local dealer and that the dealer had promised him he would get a car. I told that man that his dealer had NO way of knowing at the current time whether he was even going to get one and that Chrysler had not even begun to make the decisions as to which dealers were to receive the first Prowlers. He said, "well, my dealer promised me". I tried to make him understand that there was no guarantee and told him about the letter to the dealers and that if it were me, I wouldn't be letting the dealer use my $10,000 for a year or more. He was not to be swayed...I hope he got his car.

Around 99, they would remove the Plymouth window sticker and replace it with their own that had "Dealer Allocation Fee" on it with window stickers of $65-100K.

The first one I bought, a 2000 silver, had one of those stickers on it of $55K or $60K. I never pay sticker, much less over it, so I waited and they finally called me.

Someone had asked why there are so many new 01's and 02's being sold now on eBay. I'd be willing to bet those are cars the dealers had marked up significantly not realizing the market for them faded and they got stuck with them for 2-3 years.

posted 05-27-2003 10:32 AM         

I ordered (for some unknown reason) the Dream Cruiser Series 1 from a local dealership and received the phone call that it was in. They did not require me to put anything up front, so I told them I would come in that next day to pay for it and pick it up. No one was more surprised than I when the salesman called later that afternoon to tell me they "accidently" sold it to someone else, but that if I hurried and sent them a check, they could re-sell the car to me, but at a higher price.

I told them where they could place the vehicle (it probably would have fit) and got on Autotrader to look around. The first vehicle I saw was the 2001 Mulholland I bought.

Yes I did call the salesman back and told them not only could they go ahead and sell the PT I ordered, but that I was no longer interested in the Mulholland they had on their lot either! Both sat there for several months!