When you’re shopping for a new car and know which car you want, then it’s time to go to the dealership that has it. Let’s say you start working with a salesperson at that dealership and you’ve almost come to an agreement, but you ended up having to walk away from the deal for one reason or another, that salesperson should call you back the next day, right? Not always. Here are a few reasons as to why the salesperson might not be trying to contact you after that initial meeting.

Too much negative equity from your trade

Are you planning to trade in your current vehicle and had it appraised when you went to the dealership? If so, and you still have a loan on that current vehicle, then it’s possible that you might owe more than the car is currently worth, otherwise known as being “upside down.” If that’s the case, then you’ll have to carry that negative equity onto the next car loan or lease.

And if that’s the case, then there’s a possibility that you have too much negative equity to carry onto the new car loan, which would in turn make it hard for you get approved for the new loan. And again, if that happens to be the case at all, then the car salesperson will likely pass on the deal altogether.

Challenged credit situation

Did you get your credit checked when you were at the dealership and it turned out that you’re “credit challenged?” If you have a low credit score or a shaky credit history then it can be tough for any dealer to get the deal funded by a lender. And in the case that you’re credit history and income level aren’t enough to get a new loan, then the salesperson won’t be calling you to come back in.

You’re “too far apart”

You may have heard of being “too far apart” on a car deal, which means the price that you want to pay for the car is too far from what the dealer wants to ultimately sell it for. While we always encourage you to negotiate and shop around for the best deal possible, just know that sometimes your lowball offer is simply just too low. And if an offer doesn’t make sense for the salesperson to reasonably get the deal done, they simply won’t do it.

The car you want isn’t available

Did the dealership you visited not have the specific car that you wanted? If not, then chances are that the salesperson told you that they were going to look far and wide to track down the car of your dreams. To their credit, they probably did but came up empty-handed. In that case, they probably won’t call you back even though they should at least ask you for your second choice.

Too many lease payments left

Are you currently leasing a car and have decided that you wanted to get into something newer before your current lease is up? If that’s the case, then you might actually have too many lease payments left to get out of it. Unfortunately, salespeople and sales managers aren’t magicians and they can’t magically get you out of your lease whenever possible.

The reason being is that if you’re getting out of your lease early, then the remaining payments will be tacked onto the next lease or loan, which will increase the new payments accordingly. If those payments are higher than what you want, then it’s likely the dealership won’t be contacting you since there isn’t a deal to be had.

Either it makes sense or it doesn’t

The main point here is that car dealers will make a deal with you if the numbers make sense and they can get you the car that you want. If not, then there’s no point in chasing you down for a car deal that you probably wouldn’t want anyway. As always, take your time and make sure you’re getting the deal that works for both you and the dealer, otherwise, you’ll be left staring at your phone and waiting for it to ring.