Getting a deposit back on a car

rachierach_2

Hi All, I put a £200 deposit down on a car at the weekend and within an hour was told that the dealer was well known for ripping people off, selling write-offs without disclosing details, etc. I then went back and asked for my deposit back to which he replied no problem I'll have it for you on Monday.

Obviously come monday he's not working and his underlings get rid of us then phone to say no deposit back.

We obviously don't want the car as we have found out it has been in a serious accident, has faults that they can't fix and a dubious service history (none of which we personally have evidence for), however they are still refusing to give me my money back. Do I have any rights?

maninthestreet

What were the terms and conditions of the contract???

rachierach_2

All I signed was that I'd left a deposit, no contract yet. It literally had boxes for prices and that was it

frothey

rachierach wrote: »

We obviously don't want the car as we have found out it has been in a serious accident, has faults that they can't fix and a dubious service history (none of which we personally have evidence for), however they are still refusing to give me my money back. Do I have any rights?

How did you find that out? - if you haven't got proof of these things, he could argue that he took the deposit in good faith and you've just changed your mind so could keep the deposit - deposits work both ways.

If you pm me the reg I could HPI it for you (if you haven't already)

vaio

rachierach wrote: »

All I signed was that I'd left a deposit, no contract yet. It literally had boxes for prices and that was it

I’d have thought than anything you sign at a car dealers is a contract, otherwise what's the point of signing anything? (unless you are famous and they collect autographs)

They agree to sell and you agree to buy and to demonstrate good faith and avoid customers messing them about dealers normally write in a deposit which gets lost if the customer decides not to proceed.

Anything else, like giving deposits back, sort of defeats the point of the deposit in the first place

rachierach_2

A friend who works across the road saw it brought in wrecked, they have also seen them desperately trying to get it fixed every week for the last year and last week saw them completely take off the undercarriage which tehy described as hanging in bits (wasn't when I saw it). Another customer of theirs saw the service history (not available to us) and said that there were masive inconsistencies. They sold it to me with an RAC guarantee but I've been told that the RAC haven't checked them and would never pass it. Can I demand this and when it massively fails (or they refuse) ask for my deposit back? I know that the rules are there to protect dealers from flighty customers however I cancelled within an hour on Saturday afternoon so they hadn't incurred any cost of mot, service etc.

frothey

What's the mileage? At 3yrs old it would normally only have had 1 service anyway (at year 2) unless it's got high mileage.... so difficult for it to have "massive" inconsistences. There is no "undercarriage" on modern cars? And if it was as bad as described, there would almost certainly have been some sort of insurance write off, but the HPi didn't show one. SEAT should be able to confirm service history, service depts are notorious for not stamping books....

At worst case, pay for an RAC check and if it fails put it down to experience - much better to do that than end up with a "dog". If it fails the RAC check, then you have ammunition to go back to them and get the deposit back as it's not fit for purpose - although that is a massive grey area with used cars.

LandyAndy

It also seems unlikely that they would have been working desperately on it for a year.

jaydeeuk1

LandyAndy wrote: »

It also seems unlikely that they would have been working desperately on it for a year.

I dunno, the MiL's crappy renault grand espace has kept the local garage stumped for nearly 4 years

Inactive

LandyAndy wrote: »

It also seems unlikely that they would have been working desperately on it for a year.

Agreed, this all seems a bit too far fetched to be accurate.

forgotmyname

Do you have a proper report from HPI or other REPUTABLE data check company? NOT the £3 text brigade
who are useless.

How do you know it has faults that cannot be fixed?

Dubious service history with no evidence? It either has a service history which you can check with the garage/dealer etc.
or it does not have a service history you can verify? What makes it dubious?

Sounds to me like you put a deposit down and have changed your mind for whatever reason.

Making false accusations or true ones that you cannot prove wont help you get your money back.