Unwanted extras on a new car

jimpix12

Hi all. I bought a new car last week. Very happy with it apart from the fact I wasn't given the right receipt/invoice at the time (not sure if it was intentional or not, but I think it might be)... anyway this did arrive in the post and I was going through some of the paperwork - all this was after signing the contract as purchase is partially on finance. I then noticed the dealer had added the following extras:

Gap insurance £999 (!)
Some sort of crappy tyre insurance £299
Metallic paint 'protection' £399


I didn't want any of these and wasn't notified that they were 'included'. I drove to the dealers and asked to see the manager, and he said the salesman wasn't in and would contact me later. Manager said it was not an issue and they would 'sort it out' since I wasn't aware I was buying them.

I haven't heard from the salesman after 2 days so I wrote a letter (recorded) citing that I legally had 14 days to cancel, this was delivered on Wednesday, still haven't heard anything. Can anyone advise if this adequately covers me? I will be going into the dealers this weekend also, but wanted advice on what other steps i might need to take to get this £1500 refunded.

TradePro

The products you list are okay, and in particular I would personally recommend GAP, however;

a) they have charged WAAAAAYYYYY too much (GAP should be around 30% of that)

b) if they have just added them to your bill without discussing and giving you a choice, I would say it is pure mis-selling, frowned upon by the FSA

chieffy72

Stoneacre?

jimpix12

I have a quote from another company for £299 for the GAP insurance

No, BMW main dealer, don't want to name the company here until my refund is processed

DUTR

spunko2010 wrote: »

Hi all. I bought a new car last week. Very happy with it apart from the fact I wasn't given the right receipt/invoice at the time (not sure if it was intentional or not, but I think it might be)... anyway this did arrive in the post and I was going through some of the paperwork - all this was after signing the contract as purchase is partially on finance. I then noticed the dealer had added the following extras:

Gap insurance £999 (!)
Some sort of crappy tyre insurance £299
Metallic paint 'protection' £399


I didn't want any of these and wasn't notified that they were 'included'. I drove to the dealers and asked to see the manager, and he said the salesman wasn't in and would contact me later. Manager said it was not an issue and they would 'sort it out' since I wasn't aware I was buying them.

I haven't heard from the salesman after 2 days so I wrote a letter (recorded) citing that I legally had 14 days to cancel, this was delivered on Wednesday, still haven't heard anything. Can anyone advise if this adequately covers me? I will be going into the dealers this weekend also, but wanted advice on what other steps i might need to take to get this £1500 refunded.

The paint protection is a waste of money at that price, perhaps 1/10 of the price you paid.

Never heard of the tyre insurance, but I suspect the T&Cs may make it pointless.

GAP can be worth it but not at that price, I remember my GF at the time purchased a near new car and had GAP, I was dubious but a year later she wrote the car off, the insurance paid market rate, but the GAP allowed the difference to purchase another few months old car.

jimpix12

Tyre insurance is a load of cr*p, they only pay 'up to(!) 100% of the tyre cost' if there is more than 6mm of tread left.

The minor repair protection - emphasis on minor - I googled around and the con there seems to be that if you have more than 3 scratches on your car they won't repair any of them!

Most insurance products in my opinion are a waste of money. I'd rather just stick the money in savings. GAP insurance I will probably opt for at £299 though, not least because they pay £500 of my excess also in the event of any accident.

TradePro

spunko2010 wrote: »

Most insurance products in my opinion are a waste of money. I'd rather just stick the money in savings. GAP insurance I will probably opt for at £299 though, not least because they pay £500 of my excess also in the event of any accident.

You're right, MOST of them are. I got offered a £20 extended warranty on a £30 toaster from Argos a while back...

But £299 to potentially get back £3000, £5000, £10,000, £15,000...bit of a different proposal.

scotsbob

Is it possible the salesman also sneaked these items onto an order form that you signed. If he did and you signed it your position is not quite so strong.

That aside, once you have got your refund you should make an immediate complaint to the FSA and Trading Standards, that should make sure they don't try it on with anyone else.

jimpix12

I thought these extras were able to cancel within 14 days though, isn't there some sort of cooling off period?

motorguy

TradePro wrote: »

You're right, MOST of them are. I got offered a £20 extended warranty on a £30 toaster from Argos a while back...

Conversely, i got a 3 year warranty on a Samsung colour laser printer for £15, simply because their warranties are 'banded' based on price and the printer was on offer down from £199 to £99.

Freefall

Car dealers can be an absolute nightmare for this. Reg Vardy in particular. You ask for a quote and they include all this crap in it. Your like look, how difficult is it too give me a simple quote and they are difficult shout going back and working out a monthly price without all this add-ons.

The worse was a £90 "admin fee" which is not mentioned anywhere in the manufacturers price list breakdown and not intended to be added on at all. I was like well you can hardly say your given me a £400 discount on the list price and add on £90 for doing your job. Cheeky sods.