Can I get my deposit back?

Jules1966

Hi, I'm new to the forum and wonder if anyone can help me.

I paid a £500 deposit (by debit card) to a leading BMW dealer in March 07 in order for them to make enquiries to BMW Finance to see if I could obtain finance (their words not mine) against a vehicle I was considering purchasing.

Although I was successful in getting the finance I decided against purchasing the vehicle in question as the finance they quoted was ridiculously high.

I then found a BMW through another dealer and purchased this instead. This dealer (although about 250 miles away and had never met me) didn't request any such deposit and I completed the transaction with finance in May 07.

The original dealer has refused to refund my deposit as they said that the sale didn't go through with them. I've sent them a few letters but they have never been able to give me a satisfactory reply as to why they have kept my money.

The original deal was just not right with huge monthly repayments and yes I opted out but surely this doesn't mean I should be penalised? and I was obviously not a time-waster as I did buy a car from another BMW dealer.

Any ideas anyone? Thank you.

Brian_Bullocks

Jules1966 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to the forum and wonder if anyone can help me.

I paid a £500 deposit (by debit card) to a leading BMW dealer in March 07 in order for them to make enquiries to BMW Finance to see if I could obtain finance (their words not mine) against a vehicle I was considering purchasing.

Although I was successful in getting the finance I decided against purchasing the vehicle in question as the finance they quoted was ridiculously high.

I then found a BMW through another dealer and purchased this instead. This dealer (although about 250 miles away and had never met me) didn't request any such deposit and I completed the transaction with finance in May 07.

The original dealer has refused to refund my deposit as they said that the sale didn't go through with them. I've sent them a few letters but they have never been able to give me a satisfactory reply as to why they have kept my money.

The original deal was just not right with huge monthly repayments and yes I opted out but surely this doesn't mean I should be penalised? and I was obviously not a time-waster as I did buy a car from another BMW dealer.

Any ideas anyone? Thank you.

Did they make it clear to you the £500 is non-refundable? Have you got any paperwork? It is ridiculous to charge £500 just for sourcing finance.

Jules1966

Hi, thanks for the reply.
They said that in order to hold the car whilst sourcing the finance that they needed the deposit. Nothing was put in writing regarding this, although at the time, to be honest, I didn't think anything of putting the money down as I wanted the car - obviously not knowing what the repayments were going to be.

Brian_Bullocks

Jules1966 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the reply.
They said that in order to hold the car whilst sourcing the finance that they needed the deposit. Nothing was put in writing regarding this, although at the time, to be honest, I didn't think anything of putting the money down as I wanted the car - obviously not knowing what the repayments were going to be.

So the deposit was for the car, before the finance was in place to pay for it? This is going to be complicated, as they will say you payed a deposit to reserve the car. The easiest way (which i'm sure you realise now) was to look at the car, then organise finance then leave a deposit (as part of the finance)