2nd hand dealer wont give deposit back

sbrad54201

Hi Guys,
need some advice.
Saw a car I liked and went and saw it at the garage. Agreed I would purchase the car and agreed P/X on my old car. Paid £500 cash as a deposit (got a receipt) and he said the car would need to go for MOT as it was sold with 12 Months MOT.
After a few days, text the guy to see about whether the car was ready, he said it was still booked in.
A couple days later he said car ready to be picked up but I go to arrange and he makes an excuse he's ill. (Fair enough)
Over the next 3-4 weeks he makes excuses why I can't pick the car up (illness, not in the office, broken down picking another car up)
Eventually he agrees to pay the deposit back but he's stalling again on this. First he says he can't pay me back in cash as refunds only go through the bank, then when I give him my details to transfer funds he says he can't find the card reader and will have to go to a branch and do it.

So far he hasn't done anything and it looks like he has no intention of paying it back now.

Whats my best option?
Sorry for the long post!

Tilt

Send him an LBA (letter before action) saying that unless he refunds you the full amount in 7 days from the date of the letter, you will be making a claim through the small claims court which will incur him with additional costs plus interest. Send by recorded means and obviously keep a copy.

Marktheshark

£500 deposit ?
On a second hand car.
This is a wind up surely ?

Tilt

Marktheshark wrote: »

£500 deposit ?
On a second hand car.
This is a wind up surely ?

And the relevance of this is...?

sbrad54201

Yeah I think I'll go the LBA route as he doesn't seem to want to listen to anything else.
And in regards to the deposit, it was put down so I could buy the car. I'm not sure what the going rate is for putting a deposit down but it shouldn't matter how much it is if you intend to buy the car?

arcon5

Visit the dealer in person with the intention of leaving with cash or a car. Easy to fob someone off by text, not so easy in person.

My thoughts are he is a Ltd company and you're about to be spanked.

Tilt

sbrad54201 wrote: »

Yeah I think I'll go the LBA route as he doesn't seem to want to listen to anything else.
And in regards to the deposit, it was put down so I could buy the car. I'm not sure what the going rate is for putting a deposit down but it shouldn't matter how much it is if you intend to buy the car?

Normally around £100 to £200 for a used car but as you say, it shouldn't matter.

Marktheshark

arcon5 wrote: »

Visit the dealer in person with the intention of leaving with cash or a car. Easy to fob someone off by text, not so easy in person.

My thoughts are he is a Ltd company and you're about to be spanked.

Usually, with no assets, the cars on the forecourt can be owned by credit companies.

sbrad54201

Unfortunately he's not always around so even if I do pop there he might not be there. The only other thing I can do is to enquire about another car and arrange an appointment as someone else to make sure he is there.
Only want the money as I've purchased another car as the saga has been going on for so long.

Marktheshark

Did you get a proper receipt for the deposit with the name of who holds the deposit.
Are they a LTD company or sole trader with a real persons name ?

sbrad54201

Marktheshark wrote: »

Did you get a proper receipt for the deposit with the name of who holds the deposit.
Are they a LTD company or sole trader with a real persons name ?

Its a LTD company and the receipt has the company name with VAT number etc