Vehicle Distance Sale

Fatboynotsothin

I did on 19/03/2020 take delivery of a Vw Touareg from from Swansea Volkswagen. I paid the car via bank transfer in full and did not take finance of any kind. I was unhappy with the car for several reasons an on Tue 24/03/2020 @11:38am i sent an email to Simon Lawton used sales manager at the supplying dealer Swansea Volkswagen and informed him that i wished to exercise my right to return the var under distance selling regulations. This was done well within the 2 week period given under distance sales. I had no response to my email. I did then on Wed 29/04/2020 @ 16:38pm send another email as a follow up to my initial email to which again i have had no response. I believe Swansea Volkswagen went into lockdown on 24/03/2020 and subsequently closed the dealership. My question is despite being outwit the two weeks at this point do my rights still stand ?

neilmcl

How have you been using the car during this time, how much had you been using the car before you decided you didn't want it?

AdrianC

Sinclair Garages (Swansea) Ltd are the entity who your contract is almost certainly with. They don't appear to have ceased trading, although they may be temporarily closed. Even if they have, you may have legal recompense against the parent, which appears to be either Sinclair Garages (Port Talbot) Ltd or Sinclair Garages Ltd. I assume you've escalated to the parent?
https://www.sinclairgroup.co.uk/about-us/

The first question is whether it's really a distance sale? You bought it totally remotely, unseen, without ever visiting the supplier's premises to view the vehicle or to accept delivery of it?
If so, then - yes - it is a distance sale.
https://www.themotorombudsman.org/distance-sales-faqs

But if you set foot on their premises, or if they brought the car to you before you agreed to buy, it isn't a distance sale - normal consumer rights apply.

Presumably this is a VW Approved Used? If so, then the 30-day, 1k-mile exchange would apply.
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/used-cars/approved-used-benefits
That would be the simplest way to get out of the car, assuming there's something acceptable in stock at the retailer.

Failing that, you have a 30 day right to your money back - assuming the reason is more than simply changing your mind.

Given that we're way outside all of those periods, then it shouldn't be an issue so long as you can document the message of the 24th March trying to get the ball rolling. That's the point the clock stopped. There will, obviously, be a lot of things that need some unwinding once lockdown is released - Cardiff, of course, is subject to the Welsh Government's lockdown rules, not Westminster's.

shaun_from_Africa

AdrianC said:

The first question is whether it's really a distance sale? You bought it totally remotely, unseen, without ever visiting the supplier's premises to view the vehicle or to accept delivery of it?
If so, then - yes - it is a distance sale.
https://www.themotorombudsman.org/distance-sales-faqs

But if you set foot on their premises, or if they brought the car to you before you agreed to buy, it isn't a distance sale - normal consumer rights apply.

Simply visiting the premises isn't enough to render a distance sale void. It needs a face to face meeting with the staff of the garage to do this.
You could see a car on a forecourt when the garage is closed, have a good look around it then go home and complete the purchase at a distance and it still qualifies as a  distance sale provided that there was no direct communications with anyone at the garage.
This is how the CCRs word it

"distance contract” means a contract concluded between a trader and a consumer under an organised distance sales or service-provision scheme without the simultaneous physical presence of the trader and the consumer, with the exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the time at which the contract is concluded;

Fatboynotsothin

neilmcl said:

How have you been using the car during this time, how much had you been using the car before you decided you didn't want it?

Hi, apologies for the delayed reply, i used the car for a number of days whilst negotiating to have the issue i have rectified, when it became apparent that the dealer would not meet my requests i asked to return the vehicle. This was requested within the two week period given under distance selling regulations. 

Fatboynotsothin

Hi, apologies for the delayed reply. I did not at any point visit the dealer or any dealer associated with Sinclair Garages. The first time i saw the car was on the day the driver empolyed by Sinclair Garages delivered it to my home address. I paid the car in full with a bank transfer. The car was bought under the VW Approved used scheme and came with the appropriate warranty etc. I have emails showing time and the date i sent them to the supplying dealer. Thanks