Dealer Says They Shouldn’t Have Sold Us Our New Palisade Due To Stop-sale, Wants Us To Return It

Edit: Thank you all for the advice. I want to clarify that I completely understand the recall/stop-sale is serious, and I’m not comfortable driving the vehicle until it’s fixed. Hyundai is offering rentals to owners until the issue is resolved, and from what we’re hearing the fix could be within about two weeks. The reason we still want this vehicle is that we have very specific needs, and there really aren’t any other large 3 row hybrid SUVs that match the price, size, and features. The complication seems to be with the financing. We left the dealership around 11pm. We were approved and believed everything was finalized, but when the dealer tried to submit the RDR the next day, the VIN had already been locked due to the stop sale, so they couldn’t complete it. What’s frustrating isn’t that we can’t drive the car right now. It’s that we already traded in our old vehicle (which could depreciate in value if we take it back and drive it), had a hard credit check run, spent hours negotiating the deal, removed the old vehicle and added the new on our insurance, and we aren't at fault for this whole situation. Our hope is that the dealer will honor the deal we agreed to, finalize it once the fix is available, and provide a rental in the meantime.

Hi all, looking for some legal perspective on a situation with a dealership. On Friday evening we purchased a 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid Calligraphy from a dealership. As part of the deal we traded in our 2021 Hyundai Palisade Limited. We signed the purchase contract and financing paperwork and left the dealership with the vehicle around 11:00 PM Friday night. We were given temporary registration, the vehicle is insured, and it is currently in our possession. Today (Sunday) the dealership called and said there was a recall / stop-sale issued for the 2026 Palisade on the same day we purchased it, and that they should not have sold the vehicle. They said the stop-sale was not showing in their system at the time of the sale, so they did not know about it when they completed the transaction. They are now asking us to bring the vehicle back so they can unwind the deal. They said if we return it they will give us a full refund and return our 2021 trade-in. They also suggested we could instead switch into a different vehicle such as a Palisade SEL (lower trim), a Hyundai Santa Fe, or a Volkswagen Atlas. None of those are comparable to the Hybrid Calligraphy trim we specifically chose, and we are not interested in downgrading or switching to a different vehicle. They did not offer a loaner or rental vehicle, and they did not offer to lock in the deal we negotiated or guarantee a replacement Palisade once the stop-sale is resolved. Another detail that may or may not be relevant is that during the purchase process the salesperson mentioned our 2021 Palisade trade-in also had a stop-sale or recall, meaning it might sit on their lot for a while before they could resell it. Because of that, we are now wondering if there may have been some internal confusion about which vehicle was actually under stop-sale, our 2021 trade-in or the 2026 we purchased. The dealership said we can let them know Monday how we want to proceed. My questions are whether a dealership selling a vehicle that is under a manufacturer stop-sale automatically allows them to cancel the transaction after delivery, whether the fact that we signed the contract, took delivery, and have temporary registration changes anything legally, whether we are obligated to return the vehicle, and if the sale must be unwound whether the dealer is typically required to provide any accommodation such as a loaner, price protection, or replacement vehicle. I’m just trying to understand our legal position before responding to the dealership Monday. Location: Washington