Any way to get car deposit back if you change your mind?

stormCat99

Hi,

We've been looking to trade in and get a new (well, nearly new) car in replacement.

Having spent lots of time looking around and talking to dealers we know what we want, and my husband spoke to a dealer on the phone earlier today. They agreed on a deal he was happy with. The dealer is a couple of hours' drive from where we are, so they did the deal on the phone, and my husband paid £150 deposit to hold the car, until we can make the trip down to collect it on the weekend.

Here is the difficult bit. Literally half an hour after he paid this deposit, another dealer that he had spoken to previously and had said he couldn't do as good a deal, called back. This other dealer now said he could beat the deal, and this now looks much more attractive.

Whilst I would feel bad if my husband pulls out of the original deal, we ultimately have to do what is best for us. I was wondering whether there was any way we could get the deposit back on the first deal - I thought maybe it would fall under distance selling regs?? But wasn't sure. The deal was agreed subject to both parties being happy (i.e. the garage inspecting the car we will trade in, and us viewing the car and going for test drive).

Is the £150 lost to us now, or can we do anything?

Many thanks in advance.

hewhoisnotintheknow

hopefully not (in the nicest possible way) thats the whole point of a deposit, he might of had someone else offer to buy the car shortly after he spoke to you

vaio

Don’t think you’ll get your deposit back but maybe try and get your dealer to price match.

Inactive

Go for the test drive, say you don't like the car, ask for your deposit back.

Without sounding harsh I hope, I would never part with any money on a car that I had not seen.

photome

Inactive wrote: »

Go for the test drive, say you don't like the car, ask for your deposit back.

Without sounding harsh I hope, I would never part with any money on a car that I had not seen.

Lots of people do these days when buying cars from internet sites.

I would go and see the car and aargue that its not for you or get them to price match the other deal, assuming the cars are the same

Hintza

A deposit is giving you the option to buy the car in a predefined period of time. If you decide not to buy then you should lose your deposit.

You have put the dealer to a disadvantage over whatever period in that he could not sell it to any other potential customers.

So either deal or accept you have lost the deposit. Blasted rude to ask for it back.

stormCat99

Fully understand the comments. It was just unfortunate - how were we to know that the dealer we had previously spoken to was going to come back with better offer, typical eh?!

Well all sorted now. Got the deposit back - in reply to the person that said about depositing on car we hadn't seen - the agreement was that it was subject to us seeing the car and being happy. If we weren't, they would give deposit back.

Also forgot to mention that the ad said it was full interior leather, which is what prompted us to call them. But my husband found out that it wasn't actually leather at all, so misdescribed.

Anyway, thanks for the replies, thankfully got the money back as would have been a shame to lose it.