deposit on a used car - problems with ford dealer

jooki

Hello all;

I need some advice/reassurance please!

On Saturday (2nd) I had a test drive with a ford dealer. I put £100 deposit down for a used car; but asked would we get the deposit back if we found another car? The dealer laughed and said he didn't want us to find another car (understandably so), but did not say the deposit was legally binding.

The next day I rang and asked for our deposit back, as we had found a better deal with another dealer. He said he would ask his manager, as they normally don't give them back; but again no indication we were bound to commit to buy.

I got a call this evening, saying we had signed a contract and they expect to deliver the car, and are wanting full payment. I said we had not signed anything; to which he disagreed. He stated that the contact is pretty air-tight, and expects to hear from us on Saturday, as the manager wants to collect payment.

I have a signed receipt for £100, ticked - deposit. The contract that he gave me was only signed by him; I have not signed anything other than the deposit receipt.

I will contact CAB tomorrow regarding this, but for some reassurance; could anyone tell me that we aren't actually legally bound to buying this car just from giving a deposit; and him knowing we were potentially looking at other options?

Thanks guys, appreciate the help

vaio

what do you think is the purpose of the deposit?

In my mind it's evidence of a commitment to buy from you and a commitment not to sell to anyone else from the dealer

atrixblue.-MFR-.

read that receipt fully and carefully it will state deposits are non refundable unless they are unable to meet the conditions that are set out in the contract.

motorguy

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

read that receipt fully and carefully it will state deposits are non refundable unless they are unable to meet the conditions that are set out in the contract.

True

Probably of more concern to the O/P that the dealer is trying to "force" them to buy.

Generali

You can wave the £100 goodbye.

Did you sign anything?

colino

The deal isn't in dispute, unless the OP happened to lend a stranger £100 for no good reason, but the trader still wants you as a customer (unless you've changed your mind about the new, better deal too). At worst though you've forfeited £100 for being a timewaster.

poppasmurf_bewdley

By paying a deposit, whether it's £100 or £1000, you commit to buying the car.

If you do not go through with the deal, the dealer is entitled to keep your deposit and reclaim from you any losses he may incur in re-selling the car.

Do you not realise that the dealer may have turned two or three potential deals on the same car because you had told him you wanted to buy it?

ILW

I would suspect OP is a WUM.

ontrack

Look at it the other way, you give a dealer £100 deposit for a car and find out he has sold it to someone else. he offers you your £100 back. would you be happy... no? so why moan about doing the same to a dealer

jooki

Thanks for all your posts and knowledge guys.

We were serious about the car as it was a good deal. we had fully accepted and expected if we dropped out, then we would lose the deposit, but the main worry was the pressure of them saying we had to pay the full amount. we hadn't worried about a commitment, as we had talked to the salesman, and he said he would hold the car for a week if we left a deposit, and if we wanted to buy it, come back and negotiate terms/price etc. that is why we hadn't signed a contract. we now know that we were mislead.

dissecting it further, the contract (which we hadn't signed) had a clause in it, that said if we didn't pay within 14 days, the deposit is forefit and also any costs incurred or losses when the car was unavailable for sale. considering that we told them 24 hours afterwards, they could only charge us for that time period. we also looked on the internet site, and it had not changed to unavailable/sold etc; so they would not have lost any interest through the website, because as far as people were aware, it was still available for sale.

so anyway, got advice from the citizens advice bureau, and also trading standards consumer advice helpline. CAB were shocked that they were putting so much pressure on us to pay the full cost, considering no contract was signed. also, apparently you can only ask for a max of £100 of deposit; any more than this is considered a down-payment. also, they said that through the clause in their own contract, regarding asking for costs incurred; if it seems unreasonable, you can challenge it.
trading standards advised that there is no law to state that we can't ask for our deposit back, and no law to state that we can't have it back. they said that if the dealer wants to keep the deposit, and wants additional money for costs/losses incurred; they must provide evidence to us that they actually incurred those costs/customers came in and stated that they were willing to buy the vehicle. so they could only provide evidence between Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon that they had lost a sale from someone else.

long story short, we went to negotiate with the manager. he said that he could take this forward legally to reclaim the full amount of money, but when we asked what section of the law he would use, he went silent. we said we were happy to forfeit the deposit, and any costs incurred if he could provide them to us, as stated in their own contract terms and the issue is now resolved with us losing the £100.

lesson thoroughly learned.

colino

Long story short, contract law. Offer, Acceptance, Consideration. Don't believe a word of those bored volunteers at CAB, they disappear as soon as litigation is mentioned.