When buying a car, most people don’t pay for the vehicle outright. In fact, of new car sales, 85% have some kind of financing attached to them. For used cars, that number is a lower but still considerable 53%.
This can be a problem for buyers, not only because of issues with debt, but because of how tricky dealerships can be when it comes to financing. Numerous internet users have shared guides for avoiding the pitfalls of car negotiation and securing the best financing from dealerships. Other internet users have simply lamented how much they have to pay monthly to finance their car.
Sometimes, a car buyer doesn’t realize the extent of their deal until long after they’ve purchased their vehicle. This appears to be the case with TikTok user Riley (@rockstarrileyyy), whose recent post with over 160,000 views has the internet talking about car loans.
What happened with this woman’s car loan?
Across several posts, Riley explains her situation. In her initial post, she writes, “Um I was looking at my car payment loan and just realized they never put my 2k down payment onto my account. I’m sorry what? THAT IS 2,000 DOLLARS WHERE DID MY MONEY GO?”
She soon followed this up with two more posts. In the first, she writes, “Confused because my purchase agreement from the dealership I bought my car from says I bought it for 7,995 but my loan company is telling me that my dealership says I bought it for 10,094.”
“Somethings not adding up here and I’m concerned I may need a lawyer,” she adds.
In her most recent post on the subject, she says that, following a two-and-a-half-half hour phone call with the loan company, she clarified that the $2,000 did not go to “warranties, insurances, taxes, tags, nothing like that.”
Where did this woman’s down payment go?
Given that the down payment seems wholly unaccounted for across the TikToker’s paperwork, it’s difficult to determine what exactly happened to Riley’s payment.
In general, there could be a few things that are happening here. First, there could simply be an error. For example, the dealership might have misallocated or failed to apply Riley’s $2,000 down payment to her loan. This could happen if the payment wasn’t correctly recorded in their system or if it was mistakenly applied to a different account. Alternatively, the loan agreement could have been prepared incorrectly. Or the financing company could have been misinformed about the nature of the loan.
Second, and more concerningly, the dealership could have scammed Riley by intentionally misappropriating her funds. However, without seeing her paperwork, it’s impossible to say exactly what went awry here.
When users have shared similar situations online, experts generally advise attempting to work out what happened with the loan company—something that Riley says she is already doing.
Commenters have theories
While Riley says that the down payment is unaccounted for in paperwork, commenters say that there are other ways that the payment could have been utilized without Riley realizing it.
“I used to be a manager at a dealership for yearss,its sad but they prob used it for ‘some maintenance plan’ or similar. basically the sales person,sales manager or finance manager took it as commission,” speculated a user. “I hope this isn’t the case but dealerships are sheisty. you can call the manufacturer you bought it from or demand to speak to the GM at that dealer. have all your paperwork! so sorry.”
“Basically when they ask you if you have any money down and you proudly tell em ‘2k or 3k or 5k’ they begin to brainstorm all kinds of fake fees to add to the sale and tell you theyre all necessary to make the sale,” offered another. “Basically if its taxable then it is negotiable.”
“Probably put it towards a warranty you never even used,” wrote a third. “Thats where my juicy $4k down payment went despite declining.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Riley via TikTok direct message and comment.
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