Lindsey

This case involves the questions whether a contract for the conditional sale of a motor vehicle violated the requirements contained in subdivision (a) of section 2982 of the Civil Code and, if so, what was the effect of the violation.

On October 22, 1954, L. V. Lindsey bought from City Lineoln-Mercury Company, herein called the seller, a new Lincoln automobile. He immediately took delivery of the car and left with the seller a 1948 Packard sedan which he traded in as the sole down payment. At the time of this transaction Lindsey and a salesman of the seller signed a sales order, and Lindsey also signed a blank form of conditional sale contract. The sales order specified a price of $6,047.38 for the automobile, including accessories, sales tax, and license fee, a trade-in of $1,815, an unpaid balance of $4,232.38, and a provision that the “time sale price balance,” the amount of which was not filled in, was to be paid in 30 monthly installments of $166.75. The sales order recited $100 as the cash value of the Packard.

The “time price differential” and the “contract balance,” which are required to be stated in a conditional sale contract by subdivision (a) of section 2982, were…