Car Shop Deposit

fdl8

Hi,

Looking for some advice...

Paid a £300 deposit for a car last week. Specifically asked the question "does the car have full service history?". Upon going to collect today found that it didn't have full service history and was told that last week the response to my question would have been "95% of our cars have full service history." There was, at least, an implication that it had full service history and we wouldn't have proceeded if we knew it didn't.

This was only disclosed after we had paid the outstanding balance as we were buying the car outright. Apparently the salesman doesn't get to see the screen which shows that it only has a partial history. They've said they will refund what we paid today (although that must wait til Monday when they are finance dept is working) but they won't refund the deposit "because the salesman stuck to our script by saying 95%..." I pointed out that this is misleading and underhand but they stood firm.

Does anyone know if this is legitimate? I enquired about raising a formal complaint and was told to email the person I was speaking yo which doesn't seem right either.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Rappa

fdl8 wrote: »

Hi,

Looking for some advice...

Paid a £300 deposit for a car last week. Specifically asked the question "does the car have full service history?". Upon going to collect today found that it didn't have full service history and was told that last week the response to my question would have been "95% of our cars have full service history." There was, at least, an implication that it had full service history and we wouldn't have proceeded if we knew it didn't.

This was only disclosed after we had paid the outstanding balance as we were buying the car outright. Apparently the salesman doesn't get to see the screen which shows that it only has a partial history. They've said they will refund what we paid today (although that must wait til Monday when they are finance dept is working) but they won't refund the deposit "because the salesman stuck to our script by saying 95%..." I pointed out that this is misleading and underhand but they stood firm.

Does anyone know if this is legitimate? I enquired about raising a formal complaint and was told to email the person I was speaking yo which doesn't seem right either.

Thanks in advance for any help!

So whaht was the specific response you got last week to the question you posed?

Presumably not the one they are suggesting this week you would have been given, otherwise you would have said last week that you thought such a response was "misleading and underhand" and would have walked away from any deal then.

Why did you pay more money today (presumably the balance) if you no longer wanted the car? :huh:

LilElvis

How did you pay the deposit? Debit card, credit card or cash.

wealdroam

Read this post:

Is a deposit ever refundable?

arcon5

Rappa wrote: »

So whaht was the specific response you got last week to the question you posed?

Presumably not the one they are suggesting this week you would have been given, otherwise you would have said last week that you thought such a response was "misleading and underhand" and would have walked away from any deal then.

Why did you pay more money today (presumably the balance) if you no longer wanted the car? :huh:

Read the post and you'll see op paid then was made aware there wasn't FSH

fdl8

Paid deposit by debit card. Happy for them to keep their £99 administration fee but don't see how they can justify keeping the full 300.

When I asked last week I was told that 95% of cars do and that it would be fine. Salesman even said we were not first to experience this. Salesmen don't have access to the screen which shows the service history for some reason. One colleague even said that the salesman should have asked a manager if I had explicitly asked the question but then quickly backtracked on that when the salesman came over.

We feel we were mislead, intentionally or not, and therefore don't feel it is fair to lose out financially. If it had been made clear we would never have paid the deposit.

unholyangel

fdl8 wrote: »

Paid deposit by debit card. Happy for them to keep their £99 administration fee but don't see how they can justify keeping the full 300.

When I asked last week I was told that 95% of cars do and that it would be fine. Salesman even said we were not first to experience this. Salesmen don't have access to the screen which shows the service history for some reason. One colleague even said that the salesman should have asked a manager if I had explicitly asked the question but then quickly backtracked on that when the salesman came over.

We feel we were mislead, intentionally or not, and therefore don't feel it is fair to lose out financially. If it had been made clear we would never have paid the deposit.

I think perhaps speak to citizens advice about whether this may constitute misleading information under the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations.

I'd also be making the point to the dealer that you didn't ask about 95% of their cars, you asked about that specific car and if the salesman didn't know, he should have said so or taken the effort to find out.

NotRichAtAll

Mmmm if it had of been me and he said 95% of the cars do i would of then asked well is this car in that 95%, and put him on the spot for the info. As for not having access to that part of the system i'd of thought that would be one of the bits too have access too. hope you get something back

Brooker_Dave

fdl8 wrote: »

Paid deposit by debit card. Happy for them to keep their £99 administration fee but don't see how they can justify keeping the full 300.

Why should they keep any of it?

Contact your bank to get it all back.