Mis Sold Hire purchase ?

nanodiamond

Hello,
Last week my partner and I went to a second hand dealer to purchase a 2006 volvo v50. We decided that we wanted to purchase the car on HP with our old car as trade in. The following weekend we went back to the dealer to finalise the purchase and sign the paper work, We had agreed that thee final monthly payment would be £166 a month as that was as far as the budget would go we noticed a print out with the paper work saying a monthly cost of £177 a month we asked the dealer about this and he said it was not the price we where paying that we where pay this amount (pointing to the HP agreement) we went away after signing the agreement with the car.
This morning we received a copy of the agreement through the post from Black horse with a cover letter stating that the agreement is for the amount of £177 a month ! with larger first payment and balloon payment than the salesman said. we worked out that the GAP insurance and warranty was in a separate section of the agreement and was calculated separately so basically the salesman lied :mad: but we have no evidence and the agreement was signed on the premises so no cooling off period. We are worried no that we can't afford the car or give it back and guess we can get our old one back ! could someone please please please help !
the dealer was sparshatts of southampton

Shimrod

Not sure what you can do about the HP agreement, but you can certainly cancel the GAP insurance within 14 days. You don't say how much you paid for it, but you would almost certainly find it cheaper on the internet than a dealer. That would get you some of the £11 per month back. You might want to consider whether the GAP insurance is necessary or if you have bought too much cover - you don't say how much the car is or how many payments you will be making.

If you are concerned that £11 a month is the difference between affording the car or not, it sounds like you are at the limits of your spending ability. You might want to review your budgeting to see if you can save money elsewhere - pop over to the debt free wannabe board for lots of practical advice.

nanodiamond

Our budget is not that tight but we are angry that the salesmen misled (lied) us about the amount we would be paying each month I normally pride myself on being astute and careful about these matters. The HP is over 60 months the amount borrowed £7499 (£200 deposit) plus the GAP insurance (£500 over the same period). could you recommend any companies that offer good GAP insurance. We thought the GAP would be a good idea, is it a good idea ?

The car is in very good condition ( a few minor scratched) with 64000 miles on the clock.
We chose this car for safety as my partner can rack up 2000-3000 miles a month

Shimrod

I bought mine from ala, but another the most popular on here (search the motoring forum for gap insurance) seems to be click4gap. You will also find a number of debates on whether it is worth having or not.

Remember you only need to insure what the difference between what the car insurance company would pay out in the event of a total loss and the amount you want to get back to (in your case a maximum of £7499). Most GAP insurance is 2-3 years - I paid £125 to cover £10,000 over 3 years, which represents the depreciation in car value I expect over that period, not the total value of the car. For me, it is a small amount to pay for peace of mind over that three years, but after that I am happy to cover any shortfall myself.