I thought I've seen it all. I was wrong.

[Silverado Steve]

What a bunch of crap! My dealer takes care of everything.....just bought a blazer for my son paid cash and left with

The new plate and title in my hand. Well the title will be mailed from the state of MI.

I NEVER HAD TO GO TO THE DMV AFTER BUY A CAR/truck new or used from my dealer.

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience.

Don't move out of Michigan....in Colorado whether you buy a car from the dealer or from a private party, your ass is going to the DMV...its state to state. However whenever i have bought a vehicle out state (3 times), ive always had to go to the DMV. That includes the states of NJ, Nebraska and Virginia that I lived in.

 

Sounds like you bought through a dealer trade which is not the same as buying out of state.

[music]

It is true that many states, and most banks providing a loan, require the dealer to handle the registration. It's also true that the registration "weight" is usually the GVWR, not what it weighs empty. The truck has a GVWR of at least 7200 lbs (door sticker will say for sure). While the dealer may have "messed up", it sure sounds like the OP is trying to slip around the "law". Do I mind that? No! I'd probably do the same in that situation. The dealer, on the other hand, can't risk their license by lying on paperwork.

 

There's no such thing as "commercial" vs "personal" licenses based solely on GVWR in TN.

[pancepance]

I'm a pretty easy person to deal with normally. I've done so many vehicle purchases in my time so seeing this go this way is beyond my imagination.
I realize that the gmc dealer is in the business of selling vehicles and not registering them but they also made it very clear that they would be "handling" the registration. I was not given a option to do that part of it myself. They started spouting all kinds of rules and regualtions they had to abide by regarding the registration process and they had to do it. By them insisting they had to do the registration doesn't some responsibility fall on them to do it right?

The parking of the truck at home is only one part of the issue. The other issue is the permitted use of the truck as it stands. In NY over 1/2 the roads are passenger plate only. No commercial vehicles are permitted on the parkways. Where I am there are 3 parkways for every 1 interstate. I will have to add an extra 1 hour each way to and from work if I have to use commercial only roads. That's a big problem. Not to mention the bottom line which is the dealer f'ed this up and now is just dropping it in my lap. I have no title or mco paperwork. I have a set of commercial plates and that's it. I would assume that even if I wanted to try to fix it myself I cant do anything until I get the title which in NY takes anywhere from 2-4 months.
I understand the fact that I signed the paperwork but I don't see that I had any other options. They would not have registered the vehicle before I signed the paperwork and now that they have screwed up they are resting on the "you signed" statement. The bank doesn't want do assist as they use the "we are an independent agent" and again they use the "signed" as their resting place. This is so insane. I just don't see how I'm bound by a contract that they were unable to fulfill.
Its almost a situation where the dealer can say they are not responsible yet there would have been no way to do it differently. That just seems very wrong to me. I will now drive to the dealership one more time to try to figure this out. I have very little hope that this will come out well. I'm not taking a truck with commercial registration and the managers statement of "I don't know what else I can do from my end" seems to be what he is sticking with as of 9am this morning.

I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong in this situation so I can at least prevent it in the future. Its going to be an expensive lesson but at least if I can figure out what my mistake was and how to avoid it next time I can consider it just that, an expensive lesson.
Its a pretty nice looking truck. The thousands in parts that were going onto it would have made it really nice. Instead it sits at the dealer lot. What a pisser.
Its one of those bend over situations I think. There seem to be no easy way out. I'm sure I'm going to have to come up with thousands to just get out of it clean which is sad but a fact of life. Next time hopefully I don't have this issue. Trying to fight it legally will cost more than the money they want to get out I'm sure so I'll probably have to just pay the money to walk away.

On the plus side, there will be a nicely set up 6.2 denali available for someone who is looking for one. LOW miles, barely used. Someone can probably pick it up for a good deal if someone is looking. Has sunroof, shaky seat lane notifier thing, trailer brake, second set of wheels, and some other things. Overall a well set up truck. Needs front window tint I think but otherwise pretty sharp.

[music]

I don't think anyone is saying it's "your" fault. I'm not familiar w/ NY laws, but I did a quick search and found this:

 

http://dmv.ny.gov/registration/register-pick-truck-passenger-class-vehicle

 

According to it, the "unladen" weight must be less than 5500 lbs. I'm assuming that your truck meets this requirement, so why not go back to the state registration dept and change the registration yourself? The unloaded weight is published by GM. I don't know a thing about NY, but I've had "wrong registrations" before, and a visit to their office had it fixed in minutes. That said, the dealer should fix it themselves prior to delivery.

[Sooperdave]

"I've been buying vehicles for 20+ years, at a rate of about 8-10 per year give or take."

 

Man you buy some vehicles!! Is that a correct statement?? So my question is have you used this dealership before? With someone buying this many vehicles I can't see why they wouldn't roll the red carpet for you and take care of this or why you think you made a mistake on something if you have that much experience at buying and dealing with vehicle purchases. Was this your 1st purchase out of state? If they made the mistake they should fix it. If the DMV did, they should be the ones to fix but the dealership should be able to handle up on it. Good luck!

[RyanbabZ71]

Have you called the DMV or BMV as we call it here in indiana.

 

 

Ryan

[ace ventura]

I would PM one of the gm personnel that monitor the forums and provide all the info about the dealer and your complaint. Your contact info etc as well. If that doesn't work the. Someone had emails of some big wigs at gm on one of the forum threads. Your going to need to heard to get what you need. The dealer made the mistake. The dmv just processed the registration from the info they were provided.

[PMattras]

In CT depending on the weight you can get passenger plates. If private use you can get commercial or combination plates. I would check if you can't get passenger plates to see if you could get other plates that would meet you condo rules. I have combination plates which allows me to use the parkways. Commercial plates you can't use the parkways in CT. See if there are other different types of plates available in your state for your truck.

[ram1067]

Don't move out of Michigan....in Colorado whether you buy a car from the dealer or from a private party, your ass is going to the DMV...its state to state. However whenever i have bought a vehicle out state (3 times), ive always had to go to the DMV. That includes the states of NJ, Nebraska and Virginia that I lived in.

Sounds like you bought through a dealer trade which is not the same as buying out of state.

Why?.. Let the dealer do it's job..... Its part of the DOC FEE $224 here Mi

 

Who the hell wants to spend anytime in the DMV.....SURE IN HELL NOT ME! My son and wasted an 1 1/2 getting his license the other day....smelled like a strip club....funny thing is the workers sprayed frebeeze to mask the stank.....

[GMCustomerService]

Hello pancepance,

 

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the dealership that you purchased your vehicle. I understand that you are frustrated with your current vehicle situation. I cannot guarantee anything but I would like to look into this concern for you. Please contact me via private message referencing this thread including your full name, phone number, VIN, and involved dealership.

 

Jennifer T.

GM Customer Care

[Silverado Steve]

Why?.. Let the dealer do it's job..... Its part of the DOC FEE $224 here Mi

Who the hell wants to spend anytime in the DMV.....SURE IN HELL NOT ME! My son and wasted an 1 1/2 getting his license the other day....smelled like a strip club....funny thing is the workers sprayed frebeeze to mask the stank.....

I think you are missing the point. Nowhere did anyone state they love going to the DMV....i would love it if every dealer would do the registration paperwork and save me a trip to the DMV. I simply stated in many states regardless if you purchase new or used, your going to the DMV. You can bitch, moan and complain sideways to saturday to the dealer about should be's and would be's but they are not going to do any paperwork to dave you a trip to the DMV. Also, if you truly buy out of state and register in another more likely than not, you're going to your local DMV. If you read the circumstances of the OP, he bought out of state and is registering in NY...hence the problem....looks like he may be going to the DMV to fix the dealers screw up.

 

Have you lived anywhere but Michigan?

[pm26]

This whole thing is ridiculous. I have bought at least three new vehicles out of state and I never had any issues with registering the new car in Florida on my own. And they never charged me any dealer fees for any paperwork either.

[Silverado Steve]

This whole thing is ridiculous. I have bought at least three new vehicles out of state and I never had any issues with registering the new car in Florida on my own. And they never charged me any dealer fees for any paperwork either.

 

Exactly. You pay the sales tax where you plan to register the vehicle. Ive never had a dealer insist they "had to" do the registration paperwork when i purchased out of state. OP, cut all the middlemen out of this and call the DMV.

[pancepance]

Believe me I have tried. I got the call from the dealer telling me "theres nothing more we can do" late Friday. I tried to call the DMV. No luck. Trying to reach someone at NY DMV is not an easy task. In response to the post suggesting I am trying to "slip" around the law, I am absolutely not. The NY law states any pickup not used for commercial purposes with an unladen weight under 5,500 lbs may be issued passenger plates. The unladen (curb) weight of the vehicle is below the minimum requirements by the state. I'm not attempting to circumvent the law. I know the law specifically. I made absolutely clear when buying the truck that because I have intimate knowledge of the NY regulations they needed to register the vehicle accordingly. I went so far as to bring a DMV reg form with me filled out with as much info as I could put down. Some info had to be entered by the dealership for the lien recording. I explained everything to the finance manager and marked each area they needed to complete on the form. They would not allow me to do the registration myself. They said that was against the rules. I agreed to this because I was not given any other choice. The reason this is such an issue is because of the area I live. In this area commercial vehicles are restricted to specific roadways only. Even though pickups are permitted on parkways, if they have commercial tags they will get tickets. I know this from living here for many years. Its an antiquated system especially now where there are big SUV's that weigh more than the pickup weight max which are allowed to use the parkways and don't have to go through the commercial/passenger plate nonsense pickup truck owners do. I was well aware of all the regulations and figured that because the dealer was out of state they may not be as familiar with them. They don't seem to understand what I'm trying to tell them the problem is with the commercial tags. They seem to think I'm overreacting. Anyone on the forum from lower NY state near the city and Nassau county who drive pickups understand what I am talking about with regards to the tags issue. Its a nightmare. All I am trying to do is abide by the law as its written. I didn't make the mistake, I certainly offered to do it correctly the first time which I was not permitted to do. I'm now stuck with the dealer mess which I don't know if I will be able to clear up or not. I know for sure that its been a week now and I do not have the truck I paid for and yet I still owe the balance of the loan for it. That seems wrong to me if only on principle. At some point there had to be an understood oral agreement which if not completed would make the rest null and void no? It was understood that the dealer would have to register the vehicle. The registration would be implied to be suitable for the customer to the extent the law would allow right? If they had registered it as a dump truck or farm equipment, by mistake would they still be able to just say "sorry not our problem you own it"? I cant imagine they could.

As far as trying to do it myself, that's where I am now. I went there and got all the information they have. I still have not taken the truck off the lot. The problem is, now the vehicle is registered as a commercial vehicle. They have recorded the wrong weight with the dmv. NY DMV is closed on weekends so I read every page even closely related to my issue on their website. One thing that was mentioned several times is that to make changes such as I need the title will need to be presented. Guess where the title is? Nowhere. It will arrive in 2-3 months. So I will try on my own to go to dmv Monday. I'm sure they will tell me there is nothing they can do without the title because to change the class/weight of the vehicle they will have to re-issue a title. They wont re-issue a title until they have a title to take in. They will most likely not allow there to be 2 titles floating around out there. I'm sure they' will say when the title comes in to me I can try to make changes. So what do I do? Accept a vehicle that I cannot drive, park, use as I had originally intended for 2-3 months waiting for a title with no absolute guarantee that I can make the corrections I want to even at that point? The vehicle is useless to me as it stands. I wouldn't be able to use it to get to work, I'd have to find somewhere to literally just leave it for months until a title arrives. Lets not forget that I traded in my truck on the new one. I have no other truck to drive as the dealer owns the trade in. I asked for a dealer plate to which I was told "no, we cant do that, the owner would go nuts". I asked them how the owner will feel when I'm standing the middle of the showroom next weekend and every weekend there after wearing a sandwich board describing my ordeal with them? They still refused to assist me. No dealer plate, no new truck, no old truck, still have a loan payment due at some point, $30k down payment, and thousands of parts in the parts department for the new truck that they also will not let me return without a 20% fee because they were ordered by me and not normally kept in stock.
I'm still trying to be as patient and positive as I can. I am most definitely not asking anyone to try to do something that is in a "gray area' or against the rules. I simply want the vehicle to be registered in the manner most people would expect their vehicles to be.

For those who wonder why I went to an out of state dealer: It was not because I was looking to save every penny that I could by checking every single dealership in the country to save $50. I tried the local dealers who usually sell many trucks. Each one I contacted told me the similar thing, they didn't have what I wanted in stock and they could try to order one but because of how the order system works for dealers based on seniority or something like that the order would take quite a while. The soonest any of the local dealers would even suggest as "possible" order time was late in the summer.
I actually got the GMC dealer out of state as a recommendation from the dealer where I purchase my Toyotas from. That dealer also did not have what I was looking for but did say they had an open order or something which would allow them to get what I wanted in a much shorter time than any other location I tried. Price was never even discussed to be honest. I did a build your own thing online, printed the summary page showing every box I checked and emailed them a copy with a 1,000 deposit and said "order this exactly" when you get it let me know how much it will be. I didn't find out the price until I went to sign for it. So as much as even I would like to say I deserve this because I get what I paid for due to being cheap and trying to find the best deal I cannot. Price was not an issue ever. The only issue was the ability to order the truck. Interestingly, that seems to be the only thing they have been truthful about and from what I understand from reading online that was actually another lie. From what I've learned about GMC ordering the dealer really couldn't have been able to give me such a specific timeline. It seems that although the truck arrived when they said it would that was more luck than fact. I didn't know that at the time I ordered.
I'll see what happens Monday and will PM the GM rep from here to see what they suggest.

I don't have high hopes but at least I have something to do Monday to keep me occupied. I'm planning a long day at the DMV which is oh so much fun.

[pancepance]

I think this comes down to the person they sent to do the paperwork each time was about as bright as an eclipse. I just cannot believe that after all the focus I put on the registration being correct from the beginning that when the person who was actually doing the paperwork at the DMV for the dealer was handed the wrong plates and just must have said "thank you" and left. Not a single call to tell me there was a problem or anything even after I had been so specific. What was the thinking? I have to assume the person sent was just completely incompetent. What else can I think? When something is specifically requested and they are handed something completely opposite how do you not at least stop and question? You just get back in the truck and drive 3 hours to the dealer and hope the customer doesn't notice? Or maybe to give benefit of the doubt, the "runner" wasn't told what to do, but when he gets back and someone in the management level notices something wrong, they also don't think to mention to the customer? They wait for the customer to find out on their own? Crazy right?
I swear, until I stepped foot in the showroom yesterday and saw the wrong plates on the desk that I was in the center of a candid camera thing set up by my friends or something. I really didn't think a business could be so unprofessional, try to pretend nothing was wrong, and then think by saying "nothing we can do" it would all go away.