Financial advice needed on car purchase.

Philly1983

Here it goes then.

I have placed a deposit of £250 on a car that was advertised at a garage.
I was going to trade in my car and pay the remaining balance of £4850 via credit card, when i test drove the car i noticed the clutch was slipping and pointed it out to the garage who said they would have the car serviced and mot'd and have a look at the clutch.
I have signed a sales invoice for the car however i have not paid the remaining balance, on the top of the invoice is the collection date of 31/05/2009
So on Thursday i received a phone call from the garage saying they have to put a new clutch in and will no longer be able to meet the 31st delivery date saying that the part has just arrived and that it might be ready by the tuesday (2nd June)
I phoned on Saturday saying i no longer wish to buy the car due to financial constraints and the fact that im not confident in the clutch and cant afford for the car to start going wrong.
The salesman has now told me that i HAVE to buy the car and that ive entered a contract with the garage stating that they have spent money they would not have had to spend was it not for me and that they have removed the car from sale so they have lost business. When i told them that i felt they had breached the contract when they failed to deliver the car by the date we had agreed this did not go down well, i pointed out that they had 3 days to do a job that would normally take 5 hours to a mechanic.
Could anyone tell me where i stand on this ?
As much as i would like to get it back im resigned to losing my deposit however surely i cant be forced to go ahead with the sale ?

Thanks in advance, Philip

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

You cant be forced to go through but you are liable for their costs.

Say the clutch costs 600 quid but they have to sell it for 300 less than they would to you then they could claim you cost them that 300

pinkshoes

Philly1983 wrote: »

I phoned on Saturday saying i no longer wish to buy the car due to financial constraints

Sounds to me like you no longer have the money to buy the car, so are making excuses on ways you can worm out of it!

You're now getting a car with a brand new clutch for the same price, so this is no reason not to buy. The fact that it's 2 days late isn't much of an excuse either. Quite reasonable seeing as they had to fit a new clutch. Not many garages have a spare 5 hours of labour at such short notice, so they probably tried hard to get it done.

You don't HAVE to go through with the purchase, but as they put a new clutch in for you, and you signed the agreement, they'll chase you for the 5 hours labour, plus other costs...

Why don't you just buy the car and sell it on?

Philly1983

pinkshoes wrote: »

Sounds to me like you no longer have the money to buy the car, so are making excuses on ways you can worm out of it!

You're now getting a car with a brand new clutch for the same price, so this is no reason not to buy. The fact that it's 2 days late isn't much of an excuse either. Quite reasonable seeing as they had to fit a new clutch. Not many garages have a spare 5 hours of labour at such short notice, so they probably tried hard to get it done.

You don't HAVE to go through with the purchase, but as they put a new clutch in for you, and you signed the agreement, they'll chase you for the 5 hours labour, plus other costs...

Why don't you just buy the car and sell it on?

I dont really have the money anymore and tried to explain that to the dealer, we got told at work that things had to tighten up so im prob going to loose some earnings in the from of enhancements and overtime.
If i buy the car there is no way i could sell it on for the price im paying since you almost always pay more from a dealer.

pinkshoes

Philly1983 wrote: »

I dont really have the money anymore and tried to explain that to the dealer, we got told at work that things had to tighten up so im prob going to loose some earnings in the from of enhancements and overtime.
If i buy the car there is no way i could sell it on for the price im paying since you almost always pay more from a dealer.

Well at least we've simplified the problem - there's nothing wrong with the car, it's just you can no longer afford it. If you're paying a premium for a dealer price, at least you're only losing £250 if they agree. How much would you lose if you sell it on?

I would speak to the dealer, be honest and tell them that you can no longer afford it, and tell them that they can keep the deposit. See what they say...

In future, NEVER pay for anything on credit card unless you have the money in the bank to pay it off immediately!!

TonyMMM

Did the garage agree to take the balance by Credit Card ? Most would refuse, or be reluctant at best due to the high charges they would have to pay to the cc company.

Takoda

Just walk away. If the clutch is knackered any potential buyer who test drives it is going to notice and complain so they would have had to fix it anyway. Don't let them kid you that they were doing it especially for you. They will have been more than compensated for their 'losses' by being able to keep your deposit.

Just walk away - you know it makes sense.