Florida

Man Claims Paperwork Cost Him Money in Auto Lease

Retired UPS driver Steven Cox wanted to lease his dream car, a red Porsche Cayman, with money he had saved.

“I was intent on driving it home and I did,” Cox said about his new car.

But he says a closer look at the paperwork he signed raised questions.

“It was a little more than I expected,” Cox said. “When I got home I looked at the numbers, it just seemed excessive.”

Cox is now suing Porsche Financial Services claiming the auto maker “swallowed” the value of the trade-in he used to reduce the cost of his lease. He’s being represented by Miami-based attorneys Ronald Weil and Mark Schweikert.

“The bottom line is his trade was swallowed which means he was not given full credit for his trade,” Weil said.

Cox says he traded in his paid off Hyundai Genesis and was told the value of his trade-in was $25,000. But on his lease agreement, there is no value listed for a trade-in. The space provided is filled in with N/A or not applicable. Cox and his attorneys say that means the trade-in was not factored in to reducing the cost of the new lease.

“What that allowed the dealer to do was start with that $65,000 cost for the Porsche and reduce by zero,” Schweikert said.

Before filing a lawsuit, Cox says he went to the dealership in Naples assuming it was an error.

“They weren’t really willing to talk about it,” Cox said. “It was a done deal and they said it was fair and there was no negotiation.”

Porsche denies any wrongdoing and says it couldn’t comment because of the lawsuit. However, in response to a complaint Cox filed with the Better Business Bureau, Porsche wrote,” We executed this lease paperwork in accordance with Florida law.”

The paperwork shows the lease was for 36 months, but Cox used some of his retirement from UPS to pay it off at once. In the response to the BBB complaint, Porsche says the one time payoff is another reason why a reduction doesn’t apply in his case.

Cox and his attorneys believe the same thing may have happened to others.

“At the end of the day, we think he is just the point of the spear and this is an industry-wide practice,” Weil said. “Consumers are being deceived and it’s got to come to a stop.

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