Private Car purchase change of mind

joMerlini

Hi all and thanks in advance. 
We've bought a car through gumtree from a private seller. A deposit was paid by bank transfer and a further payment, equating to about 10% of the cost. We have since changed our mind due to personal circumstances. We haven't actually seen the vehicle as it is 5hrs drive away. Do we have any possibility of reclaiming our money? 

Thanks for your advice all, now resolved. 

foxy-stoat

Scratching my head as to why your paying money to a private seller who is 5 hours away without seeing the car - I would ask them nicely to repay the money to you as you cannot complete the purchase and hope that they send it back to you without a fight.  

Stubod

..yes I would guess there is always a possibility, but will very much depend on the attitude of the seller. If it was me (selling) I would keep the deposit unless I was able to re-sell the car for the same money fairly quickly.

cymruchris

Sounds like a scam to me - I’ve never experienced the need to pay a deposit to a distance based private seller. Was the car a ‘bargain’ by any chance? 

AdrianC

You paid 10% as security against you changing your mind.
You changed your mind.
Now you want the 10% back?

Doesn't that kind of negate the whole point of leaving the security deposit in the first place?

By all means, ask him nicely. Maybe he'll say yes, or agree to go 50/50. What kind of figure are we talking about?

If he says no, you could always send a letter before intent and then launch a small claim, but I really don't think you'd stand much of a chance unless we were talking thousands and a very short period of time.

mr_stripey

all you can really do I think is tell them nicely you've changed your mind and ask for your money back.
But is sounds a bit dodgy. I'm sure lots of Gumtree sellers are fine (myself included), but there's lots of dodgy ones out there too.
I really wouldn't recommend paying a deposit for a car on gumtree that you've not even viewed.

macman

Five hours away? So, at least 300 miles? It must be something really rare and valuable if you have to go that far afield to find it. So what is it? And how much?

Still_not_an_expert

Rule 1 of car buying: Never buy a car unseen in the flesh (so to speak). There are a lot of frauds taking place with vehicles during lockdown, particularly camper vans. Inspect in person, take someone with you who knows vehicles. 
Rule 2: Do due diligence - V5C, MoTs (paper and online), HPI, service history etc etc. Any doubts, walk away. Always another one. FWIW, I did my own HPI check on a car I bought from a franchised BMW dealer, just to satisfy myself. Some may view as daft, but for £20, gave me peace of mind as part of due diligence. 

missile

If it were me, I would not give your deposit back.

foxy-stoat

missile said:

If it were me, I would not give your deposit back.

That's the spirit - that'll learn'em next time !