I bought a new car and the dealership immediately demanded a return – we were told there was a ‘problem’, it wasn’t mine

A DRIVER picked up her dream car from a dealership, but the dealership demanded she return it days later.

In a series of TikToks, a driver claimed that a mix-up at the dealership forced her to return her newly purchased Kia Telluride.

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“We bought a new car a week ago and the dealership told us they want the car back,” Brooke (@brookebohannan_) said in video.

The driver said a dealership representative called and said the previous owner wanted the large SUV back.

A paperwork issue led to confusion, the TikToker said.

In the first phone conversation, the dealership offered to put Brooke in a similar Telluride model.

But she rejected the offer.

Brooke purchased the 2023 Telluride with brown leather interior.

The car had exactly the color scheme the couple wanted, she said.

However, the dealership offered her another version of the three-row SUV with a black interior.

According to the TikToker, the dealership claimed they needed the car back because the previous owner, reportedly an older woman, had purchased a new EV and was confused by the technology.

“You don’t call new vehicle owners and say, ‘We have a problem,’” she said in response to the dealership’s alleged allegations.

“We have no problems. It looks like you have a problem.”

From there, the situation gets even stranger, the TikToker said.

The car’s original owner found Brooke when the TikTok series went viral.

The car’s first owner found Brooke’s neighborhood because of the houses in the background.

It turns out that the previous owner was not an older woman. Instead, she was an owner still paying for the vehicle.

According to TikTok, the dealership mistakenly sold Brooke a car that belonged to another driver.

Expert car rental advice

Ray and Zach Shefska, the father-son duo that make up CarEdge, spoke with Sun Motors USA reporter Kristen Brown in an exclusive interview about their top tips before signing a new car lease.

Leasing a car may be a more viable option for some rather than financing with an auto loan.

Leasing a car for 24 to 36 months can be attractive to many because the monthly payments are typically lower than loan payments, although there are some restrictions, such as a mileage allowance.

At the end of the lease, people can purchase the vehicle at a reduced price or they can return it to the dealership and lease another car.

Before entering into a lease, Ray offered some important tips to consider, drawn from his 40 years of experience as a sales manager at various dealerships:

1. Learn the interest part of the rent — or the “money factor” — to understand how much interest you’ll pay and how much that adds up to in total.
2. Negotiate the sales price before discussing monthly payments – the cheaper the car’s sales price, the cheaper your payments will be.
3. Accept the premise that you will always have to make a payment, so you can have a good car for a cheaper price or a smaller car for a higher price.

Read more here.

Eventually, Brooke responded and returned the Telluride to the dealership.

But she managed to find a better solution.

Another dealership stepped in as soon as it saw the TikTok series and offered the owner the same model in the same business.

“I literally can’t believe it,” Brooke said while sitting in the new Telluride.

“It looks like a dream.”