Car dealer indemnity insurance - why do I pay?

splinternet

stator wrote: »

Have you already signed a piece of paper agreeing to pay this fee?

If not then just refuse to pay it.

What I've signed implicitly (but not explicitly) assumes so. It's included in the total calculations. However, there's nothing to explain what it is. I'm more concerned that if I want to pull out, I won't get my deposit back. Breaking news: they've offered me a full tank of diesel upon collection! Nice try at a fob-off.

arcon5

You won't get the deposit back if you walk. You've agreed a price. Tough

wgl2014

Slightly different if you have agreed the price which turned out to include the insurance rather than having it added on to the agreed price.

stator

I don't understand what you've signed or agreed.

If you agreed to pay £10,000 and they are trying to charge you £150 on top of that, and you haven't already signed a piece of paper agreeing to pay £10,000 + £150, then refuse to pay it.
If you agreed to pay £10,000 and they are charging you £150 for X and £200 for Y and £75 for Z and £9,575 for the car, then who cares? Just pay what you agreed

debtdebt

splinternet wrote: »

What I've signed implicitly (but not explicitly) assumes so. It's included in the total calculations. However, there's nothing to explain what it is. I'm more concerned that if I want to pull out, I won't get my deposit back. Breaking news: they've offered me a full tank of diesel upon collection! Nice try at a fob-off.

Reading between the lines and the information that you've drip fed us, you've signed the agreement which includes the £150 indemnity fee and paid a £500 deposit. I presume at the time of signing the agreement, you were happy with the total price which included the £150? If you were unsure of any of the fees or what they were for, surely the time for asking was before signing on the dotted line?

splinternet

debtdebt wrote: »

Reading between the lines and the information that you've drip fed us, you've signed the agreement which includes the £150 indemnity fee and paid a £500 deposit. I presume at the time of signing the agreement, you were happy with the total price which included the £150? If you were unsure of any of the fees or what they were for, surely the time for asking was before signing on the dotted line?

Yes, this is about right. By the time I'd examined the car thoroughly, had a test drive, had my own car inspected for trade-in, negotiated the price, had a cup of tea and a soggy biscuit, been to the toilet, haggled over the trade-in value, discussed at length the dealer's warranty, haggled over this, he'd been back to his boss twice, etc.. etc... almost 2 hours had gone by and I was going to be late for my next appointment. We agreed an all-up all-in price (i.e. cost of car, trade-in of mine, cost of warranty) and then he went away for another 10 minutes to get the Vehicle Order Form. He did point out the Purchase Indemnity Assurance (£124 + VAT) and muttered something about this providing protection in the event of the car's history not being correct. Yes in hindsight, it's easy to say I should have queried this at the time but I didn't.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'm not going to walk, I've already got a full tank of diesel on the table, so to speak, I've written back respectfully saying they're missing the point - if they can convince me why I should pay for this insurance and what benefit it provides me, then I'll cheerfully pay it. Otherwise I have respectfully requested it be removed from the Order Form.

splinternet

Glad to say my reasoned approach has worked and they are removing the insurance charge. Clearly they felt unable to explain the benefits (for me) of it. Thanks for all your replies.

iolanthe07

Good result. Clearly calling their bluff worked for you.

KeepOnRunning

Could the 14 day cooling-off period cancellation right have been used to get a refund on the insurance policy? (If the trader didn't back down on the charge of course.)

splinternet

I wasn't aware there's a 14-day cooling-off period. It doesn't jump out of the page at me (neither the Vehicle Order Form nor the dealer's T's & C's for consumer transactions). Is this standard consumer law? Would it return a deposit?