You don't put a deposit down on a car to "hold the car", you actually
do it so the dealership has some control over your actions. Some of
the dealers still work in a world where they will only trust a customer
if they see the color of their money first. With them holding on to
your money you are a lot less likely to walk out of a price
negotiation. They hold on to it to do one of two things:
1. Make you come back at least one more time so they have one more shot
at selling you a car.
2. Make you squirm for "wasting their salespersons time".
If you can, call them up and simply tell them that you will be coming
to pick up your deposit because the deal on the car fell through and
then go there and get it. Be friendly to the people there and talk
about things like "maybe working out something later on", etc. and they
should get you your money back right away.
If you signed a sales contract you should STILL be able to get out of
it because no court is going to hold to something like that and the
dealers know it. They don't want you as a customer if you don't really
want, or for whatever reason, suddenly can't afford the car. They'd
rather sell you something that you want and can afford.
If it gets bad and you gave them a check for the deposit you can always
cancell or put a hold on the check. It usually costs a few bucks to do
but if they are going to hassle you $10 is a small price to pay...
you'd spend more than that in gas and lost time out of work trying to
get it back. Put the hold on the check right away so they don't hurry
up and cash your check.
If they don't give you your money back start by going to the Better
Business Bureau in your area and lodge a complaint then follow what
they say to do.
The odds are though none of these extreme things are going to happen.
Just walking in and being "disappionted" that the deal fell through
should get you your money back quickly and politely.
....And in case you are wondering, yes, I sold cars for a while so I am
speaking for some experience on this.
Good luck.