Am I entitled to my £500 car deposit back?

gowie45

I made a verbal agreement over the telephone to buy a one year old used Audi with the local Audi dealership.

I had not seen the car, I paid the £500 over the phone purely to ‘hold’ the car until I made it to the showroom on the proviso it would be refunded.

There was never a deposit element to the finance we discussed, it was purely to have the car taken off sale.

Within an hour I suffered buyer’s remorse.

I called the salesman by phone and cancelled. I never entered the showroom.

Five days later he took my credit card details after I complained – but I am still waiting after eight days to get the money back.

What are my rights please?

Would appreciate legal knowledge rather than ‘you made a deal’ opinion please.

Clive_Woody

I would have thought distance selling regulations would apply seeing as this entire transaction happened over the phone rather than at the dealership.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations

loskie

take it up with your credit card co too, they are equally liable and will carry more clout than you with the dealer

[Deleted User]

Surely refunding the holding fee defeats the object of it in the first place. They could have missed out on a sale while they had it held off sale for you only to then change your mind.

Although I wouldn't have paid £500. £100 tops and even then only If I knew 100% I wanted the car unless it turned out to be a lemon on inspection.

Carrot007

Deleted_User wrote: »

Surely refunding the holding fee defeats the object of it in the first place. They could have missed out on a sale while they had it held off sale for you only to then change your mind.

Although I wouldn't have paid £500. £100 tops and even then only If I knew 100% I wanted the car unless it turned out to be a lemon on inspection.

No you often get a refundable deposit which you put down to show you are serious about coming in to see the car, you know as opposed to a rival dealer trying to slow things down!

And if they have said they are going to rufund you really need to wait 28 days before moaning because they usually say it can take that long! Of course there is no need to but refunds are genarelly a differnet department and not a priority for a business.

bazzyb

Clive_Woody wrote: »

I would have thought distance selling regulations would apply seeing as this entire transaction happened over the phone rather than at the dealership.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations

I don’t believe DSR applies in this case as the transaction was never actually concluded, and in any event was due to be concluded on trade premises so would not have been a distant sale.

ROY47

And if they have said they are going to refund you really need to wait 28 days before moaning because they usually say it can take up to 28 days to show on credit card

There's your answer