Help needed - conned into car finance, but my own fault

jules260703

It gives the reg. number, chassis number, type of car, mileage, and date of first registration. Yes, embarrassingly I appear to have bought a car unseen. On the form it says that hubby has signed to say that the car has been inspected thoroughly by himself (as he is the one financing the car). I don't even know how much the monthly repayments will be - vaguely remember him saying a bargain at less than £200 a month. I have driven a different Astra on the test drive (18 months older but higher spec.) but have been told that this car will drive exactly the same, so I will like the drive when I test this one tomorrow. Can't understand that there is a signed finance deal, but he is saying we don't have to go with their finance. I'm just getting very confused about the whole thing.

jules260703

Forgot to say, they are a main Vauxhall dealer.

real1314

Ring vauxhall uk tomorrow. Ask them if it is policy for their main dealers to sell cars unseen.
If you get no joy there, try any regulatory organisation the dealer is part of.
Then see the dealer regarding other finance options - see if you can get something in writing to confirm other offers - this would suggest they are a bit edgy about making this binding.

Final resort would be to refuse to go through with the deal and threaten to sue for the deposit back. You'd have to see what a court says about taking a finance deal on a car that you haven't even seen. For all you know it could have a paint job done by grafitto and dents in every panel. Even if it hasn't, selling a car unseen is well dodgy.

cte1111

If the form says that your OH has inspected it, and he wasn't even there, then I can't see how it can be valid. I think both of you should go back in ASAP, and insist on speaking to the manager and make a major complaint. You were lied to by the salesman, and you at least have to try demanding your deposit back.

real1314

It all sounds very dodgy. Given that you've referred to gap insurance, was it a hire purchase agreement?

see consumer direct here: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/before_you_buy/money_and_credit/hire-purchase/

There's an 0845 number - might be worth giving them a call to see if a hire purchase agreement can be valid on an unseen car?

also, going with what cte1111 says, if they've got you to sign that your hubby has seen the car, and yet it wasn't on site, the fact that it wasn't would probably be covered by transportation paperwork (I'm guessing?) which would prove that the salesman was "happy" to back up signing of an application that was not accurate. This would then throw dubt on any statement he made about not claiming the deposit was refundable imho.

jules260703

Now need to make even more clear just how stupid I am. I'm extremely embarrassed to admit that after relaxing with a cup of tea, I've reread the form, and I don't think I have signed up for finance. Paperwork states "financial details", and gives an amount to finance, but no details on repayments, APR etc, which I'm pretty sure it has to, which would explain why guy is saying we don't have to have their finance, and they can try to beat any offer we have been quoted. I would therefore like to apologize to Drive Vauxhall for stating that they've conned me into car finance when they haven't. Also apologies to everybody else who has given me advice on this. Thank God we haven't signed finance, as trading standards informed me that once it's signed and executed, that's it, no come back if it's signed in a dealership. However, I stand by the rest of my statement about it being a refundable deposit, and if I changed my mind in the meantime I'd get my money back no problem. I will test drive it tomorrow, and see how it goes, but if I'm not happy, I will argue that I want my money back. At the end of the day, if it all goes wrong we'll only be losing £400 instead of getting several years into debt, which should teach us a major lesson on reading anything we sign! Thanks for the advice everybody.

real1314

LOL :rotfl:

At least you had the guts to admit your error. Hope you got on ok today - you might even find you get a good deal after all!

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

The OP is really screwed tbh unless the dealer makes a fundamental mistake with incorrect car details on the form.

Otherwise the OP has purchased the car and agreed to buy it, it doesnt sound like a HP agreement though, just to buy the car.

As for what the dealer did/said - can you prove any of it? I would imagine not and given what they claim is the industry norm I think you would have a battle on your hands.

Maybe worth phoning Vauxhall and threatening to kick up a fuss and hoping they back down, if the car is as desirable as you say it will sell quickly again.