Odisseas

You will find my story very amusing... Please read it and HELP out in any way you can. I desperately need some advise from you

6 months ago I arrived in Dubai. I decided to buy a car from BMW!! Bought a one year old car direct from the dealer. I also asked them to sort out some finance for me which they did. So we agreed on financing the full amount, with 4.25% interest over a loan period of 5 years. However when BMW applied for the loan on my behalf one of their employers screwed up the paperwork and tick the "brand new car" box. The bank (Emirates Bank) offerered the above Terms & Conditions thinking this is a loan for a brand new car. We signed everything, I gave them 60 signed cheques and got the car delivered and registered to my name. When the bank realised the mistake they refused to pay BMW. BMW promised me that they will sort this out and that this was going to be done soon. It went on from weeks to months of disputing between Emirates bank and BMW. I was still driving the car so I was happy but of course at the same time I spent months of stressing as I had to deal with the fact that this bank had all my signed cheques and I had no way of stopping them if they wanted to cash them. And then there was the incompetency of the BMW stuff who had no idea how to resolve this (can companies such as BMW really be so unproffessional and incompetent- YES THEY CAN!!) .

A month ago BMW convinced Emirates bank to cancel the whole loan. They returned my cheques and my contract and BMW started looking for another bank to finance my car. THIS IS WHERE IT ALL GETS MESSY. We agreed that they will try to find a Bank that offers the same Terms as the initial agreement. It turns out that no bank would offer the same T&C for a used car. After a lot of searching they now found ADCB bank that they offered 5 years and 4.99% interest. I agreed with BMW to go with this bank. I have now received the initial "Car Loan Approval Confirmation" from them. It turns out that BMW in the evaluation paperwork that they provided to the bank has increased the value of my car by 30% and said that I have payed them a down payment of 30%. So the remaining amount (which is the real price of the car I am buying from BMW) is to be financed. BMW told me that this is the only way that they can get the bank to pay 100% of the price of the car. All banks offer a 70% only finance on used cars.

before you tell me... I know I know, welcome to Dubai!! HELP PLEASE!!!

I am not really after screwing BMW up, they want to be payed but I am just scared as I do not know the implications of what they are asking me to do...

My questions are:
- Is this illegal? Basically am I getting myself in more troubleif if I sign this new contract?
-Do Car Dealers usually do this kind of law bending or you think this is totally out of order?
-What are my options? BMW is getting aggressive on me telling me that I have to sign this or that they went sent the police on me!!!!!
- Do you know of a good laywer in Dubai?


THANK YOU !!

shiva

hmm seems we are popular with the powers that be these days

Millsyisland

As long as they give you some sort of invoice that clearly states that you have 'paid' this 30% downpayment and all is left to pay is the 70% balance through the loan, I don't see a problem.

TGFKASE

Dont know if there would be a fundamental difference between UK finance law and UAE law but...

In the UK this is a pretty standard set-up.. The BMW dealership would actually be taking a hit as they would have to pay tax on the additional 'profit' of selling the car for 30% more than they bought it for (dunno how that works over here, in 'tax-free Dubai!!)...

Ethos83

Is there a way to walk away from all this and return the car to the dealership?

From what I understand the dealership never actually completed the process of selling the car to you? Or is the car already registered in your name via the Dubai authorities?

What was the down you put on the BMW? Divide that by 6 months, is that the equivalent of 6 months' basic car rental? If so, I'd walk away and wash my hands of this mess.

Robbies

I had exactly the same issue with buying our Cayenne at Porsche... We can do for 4.1%... after paying the deposit, I'm sorry this is a used car, so best we can offer is 4.75%... Aye right. Anyway, worked out the difference in the total loan cost, and got an additional 6 months warranty, next major service for free, and window tints for free.

Seems this is a common "mistake"??

If the loan amount you are now liable for is the same as what you previously had, then I can't see a problem - the bank will not come looking for the loan amount plus the additional 30%... I'd be fine with it if it were me.

meonline

Your story does not surprise me. It is typical of what goes on this place. No consumer rights mean that companies can do pretty much whatever they want. As for companies being incompetent. It's not the companies that are incompetent but the staff. I have had numerous run ins with the people providing so called customer service in this place... it is shockingly appalling. They can't even get the simplest things right.

Odisseas

Thanks for all the replies guys!!!!

Good things:
- I never did put down any deposit for the car, a small amount I did pay to book it BMW returned it to me when they arranged the 100% finance with Emirates bank thinking that they will soon be paid by them.
- Car is registered to myself albeit the registration card still mentions (in Arabic) that the car is financed with Emirates bank (which is not the case any more)

Bad things
-Tried to get out of it by simply returning the car, BMW simply wont have it
-Tried to agree on returning this car and getting a new one instead. They are saying that we have to complete the sale of this car first and then do a trade in (which means they will buy it back off me probably much chepear than I bought it off them )
-Last bad thing is that I dont know whether they have agreed all this with ADCB. In the "Car Loan Approval Confirmation" the bank sent to me it clearly stated that the approval of this loan to me is subject to certain clauses. One of them says that I have to provide evidence that the car is insured for the price that BMW has mentioned in the evaluation form. My car is insured for the price I bought it for and not for the 30% increased price BMW has put in the evaluation form they sent to ADCB. What would happen if the bank realised and then refuse to pay BMW? we will be back where we started

Meow

Actually there are consumer laws here, but most companies and residents are not aware of them. There is a federal law, no 24, issued in 2006.

See here for infor:

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20...ate=columnists


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lionheart

Just to say that the "send to a friend" facility at the foot of the page doesn't seem to work for me.

Roadking

Wonder why...

hehehehe

Meow

It never seems to. I have pointed it out numerous times but the paper hasn't fixed it yet.


What is wrong with people around here? You offer help and/or useful info and just get complaints.

I have had enough.

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Eva

I think it's a British thing.
Highlight the negative and put someone down(or try to), bit of a green eyed monster thing imho ..........

Robbies

For you to have an insurance document that shows the higher value, you will have to pay more for insurance (as insurance is a % of the value).

Any money out of your pocket in relation to this should be coming from BMW...

J0nah

Nightmare, how did you get yourself into this position!! Thats irrelevant as its in the past...but you are in a real dilema here of what to do and how. I didn't know about the consumer protection in the UAE, that is certainly knowledge that we can all benefit from in the future when dealing with Managers and 'Customer Service' (strange concept when majority give cr*p service), a good one to throw into your ranting conversation with them though.

Has the money now been sent to BMW from ADCB and has one of your cheques been cashed? If not, I would consider the advice of Meow and contact the Department of Consumer Protection, and importantly the Bank also...blame it all on BMW for shoddy business practices etc and make out you didn't know what you were signing and it was only upon receipt of the Loan Confirmation that you realised and are now taking action and owning up to your ERROR and BMW's dishonesty.

If the money has been paid from ADCB to BMW then I think it is a very different scenario and any action you take could end up with you being in more trouble...at the end of the day you signed the application form and declarations of accuarcy/truth, so in effect you have made a fraudulent loan application....that can't be good in the UAE hey! In this instance I would keep the car, make sure there is money to cover the payments, hope you don't have an accident and write the car off and insurance not payout...and other things I am sure.

Sorry mate, not sure there is a 'solution' that will definately work, I would think very carefully before doing anything, but very quickly!

Good luck