Purchase of used car from a dealer - refund of deposit

GabGab*mum

Since many weeks I was looking for a quality used car to buy and today (Saturday the 23 July I meant ) I found few interesting cars at the Auto Trader. I was enough lucky that the 3 cars I was interested in were placed at the same location - local quality used car dealer.

In first moment, I was considering having finance, as the cost of one of these cars was £2700 (Citroen C2). However when I got to the store I realised that the other two cars probably could be better choice as I was able to make a purchase by cash as the level of prices was £1290 - £1500. I was very excited, had a look around, and short conversation with an employee of the dealer. He assured me that car is quite new stock, is very popular and the price £1290 is just perfect for Peugeot 206, 1999, automat, 1.4 glx. The atmosphere was a little bit pushy (make a fast decision, ect) and I was with my 4 year old son, but the car in that moment seemed to be good solution for my needs. When we went to the office, I have negotiated lowering the price to £1200 and thought it was a good deal. While the employee was preparing short invoice I was informed that car need to have done MOT and I will also have to purchase road tax which for this car could be around £70 per year. I have been asked to give deposit and I have paid £500 by debit card toward it. I must to mention that I was not informed at any stage that the deposit is non-refundable or so. That man told me that because it was Saturday, the car MOT will be prepared not before Monday afternoon, which gave me a chance to look for cheap insurance properly. The outstanding amount of money ( £700 ) I suppose to bring on Money or Tuesday (after receiving a phone call) when the MOT would be finished.

I took proof of payment toward deposit and short invoice and got back home. Shortly after I have found out that the road tax will be twice as the amount mentioned by the guy. Then after having a second look at the Auto Trader I found out that the car actually was priced (and is still on the website) as £1200 ( meaning I was misinformed at the dealer location and the price tag was since first moment of my visit incorrect and there was no deal at all).
Do I have to mention that I got p****? Unfortunately, it was already after 6 pm and I could not return to the dealer at the very same day.


My question is - are there any consumer law rules in place to get my deposit back in full?
Is there any chance for that?
Do you have any idea how to proceed which such case and what kind of arguments (if any) use to make sure that the dealer will pay deposit back?

I will be grateful for every comment and suggestion as I am planning to go to the Dealer first thing in the morning.

pcombo

Is the MOT and car tax included in the price, Or are they charging extra.

To be honest any garage should really MOT a car before selling it and "offer" to tax it(to save you waiting for insurance documents to come in post).

I would ask them if the mot and tax is included in the £1200 if they say no, Then i would ask for a refund since it would be illegal for you to drive away even with an mot and not tax.

If they say no question there decision if they still refuse, Go to the bank and start a chargeback claim, explaining your inaccurate information.

arcon5

pcombo wrote: »

I would ask them if the mot and tax is included in the £1200 if they say no, Then i would ask for a refund since it would be illegal for you to drive away even with an mot and not tax.

That doesn't void the contract -- it just means if the cars told without TAX (as op says they are MOTing the car) so op has to buy it before he drives the car away.

Op... the dealer likely has different prices for his website and dealership. Nothing wrong in that -- I actually price my products more instore than online, reason being online everythigns automated, instore you take 10-15 minutes of my time.
If you was happy with £1200 and felt it was a good price then I don't see the issue.


The seller is legally allowed to deduct from your deposit reasonable provable costs to cover any losses they may have made as a result of you breaching contract. I can't find the link now.. maybe somebody else will find it.

I think this is buyers remorse tbh.

visidigi

having an online price versus a showroom price is nothing unusual - its not illegal and comes down to your research etc before buying.

the road tax cost, the dealer will just say he quoted the price for six months.

I am very surprised you agreed to a near 50% deposit on the car - that seems very high indeed.

Flyboy152

pcombo wrote: »

Is the MOT and car tax included in the price, Or are they charging extra.

To be honest any garage should really MOT a car before selling it and "offer" to tax it(to save you waiting for insurance documents to come in post).

I would ask them if the mot and tax is included in the £1200 if they say no, Then i would ask for a refund since it would be illegal for you to drive away even with an mot and not tax.

If they say no question there decision if they still refuse, Go to the bank and start a chargeback claim, explaining your inaccurate information.

And how could they tax the car without the customer's insurance documents?

Flyboy152

GabGab*mum wrote: »

Since many weeks I was looking for a quality used car to buy and today (Saturday the 23 July I meant ) I found few interesting cars at the Auto Trader. I was enough lucky that the 3 cars I was interested in were placed at the same location - local quality used car dealer.

In first moment, I was considering having finance, as the cost of one of these cars was £2700 (Citroen C2). However when I got to the store I realised that the other two cars probably could be better choice as I was able to make a purchase by cash as the level of prices was £1290 - £1500. I was very excited, had a look around, and short conversation with an employee of the dealer. He assured me that car is quite new stock, is very popular and the price £1290 is just perfect for Peugeot 206, 1999, automat, 1.4 glx. The atmosphere was a little bit pushy (make a fast decision, ect) and I was with my 4 year old son, but the car in that moment seemed to be good solution for my needs. When we went to the office, I have negotiated lowering the price to £1200 and thought it was a good deal. While the employee was preparing short invoice I was informed that car need to have done MOT and I will also have to purchase road tax which for this car could be around £70 per year. I have been asked to give deposit and I have paid £500 by debit card toward it. I must to mention that I was not informed at any stage that the deposit is non-refundable or so. That man told me that because it was Saturday, the car MOT will be prepared not before Monday afternoon, which gave me a chance to look for cheap insurance properly. The outstanding amount of money ( £700 ) I suppose to bring on Money or Tuesday (after receiving a phone call) when the MOT would be finished.

I took proof of payment toward deposit and short invoice and got back home. Shortly after I have found out that the road tax will be twice as the amount mentioned by the guy. Then after having a second look at the Auto Trader I found out that the car actually was priced (and is still on the website) as £1200 ( meaning I was misinformed at the dealer location and the price tag was since first moment of my visit incorrect and there was no deal at all).
Do I have to mention that I got p****? Unfortunately, it was already after 6 pm and I could not return to the dealer at the very same day.


My question is - are there any consumer law rules in place to get my deposit back in full?
Is there any chance for that?
Do you have any idea how to proceed which such case and what kind of arguments (if any) use to make sure that the dealer will pay deposit back?

I will be grateful for every comment and suggestion as I am planning to go to the Dealer first thing in the morning.

First of all, to address the deposit: The dealer has the right to only retain any provable and reasonable costs incurred in the transaction; they must refund the balance. If they cannot prove the costs, they must refund the whole amount.

Secondly, I can't see what issues you really have with the price. The difference in advertised prices is really here nor there, you agreed the price and was happy with it. If you had seen the online price, how would you have proceeded when at the dealership?

Thirdly, the road fund licence; are you sure that the dealer didn't quote the six month rate, or that they have agreed to fund half of the cost? Are you sure you are looking at the correct model on teh DVLA site?

visidigi

Flyboy152 wrote: »

And how could they tax the car without the customer's insurance documents?

You dont need to have customer insurance docs to tax a car, you just need insurance docs - the garage can use the traders insurance to get a tax on the car...

pcombo

Flyboy152 wrote: »

And how could they tax the car without the customer's insurance documents?

Just shows you how much you know regarding the topic.

It's impossible for the garage to lose any money.

Giving the fact it was 6PM and on a saturday, I hardly think they had time to even do anything with the deposit/ or anyone else was coming to buy that car.

But we will see when the OP actually replies.

daveboy

You were with your 4 year old son?

What difference does that make exactly?

Staggered really how people cannot deal with this situation themselves. You allowed yourself, it seems, to be bounced into something. Tough luck.

Next time use common sense.

scheming_gypsy

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Thirdly, the road fund licence; are you sure that the dealer didn't quote the six month rate, or that they have agreed to fund half of the cost? Are you sure you are looking at the correct model on teh DVLA site?

it's a 1999 so it's pre emissions testing which will be a standard rate. So he probably gave a quote for 6 months, or if it was anything other than £115 or £210 then he was probably lying.

Flyboy152

visidigi wrote: »

You dont need to have customer insurance docs to tax a car, you just need insurance docs - the garage can use the traders insurance to get a tax on the car...

No they can't, not uless they own it.