Is a handshake (and a deposit) binding?

Hintza

londonTiger wrote: »

A bit harsh, sales clerk made a mistake and the manager overrode his decision, you can't put that on the salesman.

We all make mistakes in life and the manager should not override the salesman's decision. Lack of honour as per.....

NBLondon

londonTiger wrote: »

The salesman was clueless about a new range, one of the cars had all the options and the salesman mistook is for a basic one. And charged him for it. The in law even took a picture of the fully featured car with the basic price on it, with the reg and everything (to show a friend)

I got about £1750 off a brand new Focus the same way.

1) There was a summer offer on the dealer website which had actually expired but I thought I'd try and haggle for it as it was just before the new reg came out. The sales rep didn't notice the deal had run out (or was already keen to make the sale).

2) The sales rep actually wrote down the price for the spec one stage down and used that in her calculations. I was too polite to mention it:rotfl:

3) After we'd signed the paper work and paid the deposit I noticed the phrase ICE PACK 12 and asked what this meant. Turned out there was a satnav pre-installed that they hadn't charged me for...

When the manager tried to re-negotiate the price I pointed out I'd signed to buy a specific car (chassis no) at a specific price and invited him to shred the paperwork and hand back the deposit. I got the car (and satnav), the rep didn't get her commission :rotfl:

So in the OP's case - perhaps you could have said loud enough for any other customers to overhear "Oh - the sales reps aren't authorised to make deals. Right - I'll take my money somewhere else then..."

marlot

lynnemcf wrote: »

I test drove a car today, and offered and had accepted a price £500 lower than the screen price. We shook hands and I then went with the salesman to the cash desk and handed over a deposit. The salesman then walked me to his desk, handed me a cup of coffee and said he would get the paperwork for me to sign. I waited 10 minutes and the salesman returned with a manager who said the salesman had made a mistake and the car was for sale at the screen price only, no deal available.

Legally, verbal contracts are normally just as valid as written ones.

The real problem is overcoming the burden of proof: if you want to sue for breach of contract, then you’ll need to prove that the contract existed in the first place, which can be difficult.

Samuel Goldwyn famously said, “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

Even if you did have a contract, and you could prove it, you can't force them to sell you the car - they can easily get out of it by finding a mysterious fault with it. And returning your deposit.

You could in theory sue for "loss of bargain" if you couldn't find another car quite as cheap, but that is almost impossible to do.

So the only realistic option is to walk away and feel grateful that you've not bought from a dealer who doesn't honour his word.