14 days cooling off period when buying used car online?

Herzlos

Alex9384 said:

They also promised 7 days free insurance over the phone which they then denied "oh no no it's not for this car". They said the car had 2 keys which it didn't and I only found out after I paid them.

I fell foul of this the first time I bought a car too; lots of stuff was promised as part of the sales talk (like service history) and then after paying it wasn't there and the dealer was less than helpful. Lesson learned is to demand to see proof of everything before paying, because at that point you as the buyer hold the power.
Coolant leaks may not even be obvious over a short period of time so the washing may not have hidden it, but again you can always just forget to tell the dealer and go look at it unprepared.

Alex9384

Herzlos said:

I fell foul of this the first time I bought a car too; lots of stuff was promised as part of the sales talk (like service history) and then after paying it wasn't there and the dealer was less than helpful. Lesson learned is to demand to see proof of everything before paying, because at that point you as the buyer hold the power.
Coolant leaks may not even be obvious over a short period of time so the washing may not have hidden it, but again you can always just forget to tell the dealer and go look at it unprepared.

Yeah, but like I said, it was my first year in the UK and my first car. There's a lot of things to look for when buying a used car so it's easy to forget to check something.  I didn't even drive the car home as I did not manage to open my insurance on my phone. My colleague from work sent his friend with a tow truck to pick me and my "new" car.

The dealer were lying about free insurance and they were lying about 2 keys. They guy on on the phone literally said "Yes I will do 7 day insurance for you" and "Yes, the car has 2 keys". Then none of it was true the next day. Why should I think they were not aware of the leak and not lying about it as well?
After all, it was a small dodgy dealer with dodgy individuals, just look at it:  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4471399,-1.4862998,3a,48.8y,248.9h,90.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVuAxnubKX5g9jVGxSZwJMQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192  
Today I wouldn't think even for a second to buy anything from them.

But I was inexperienced and I really wanted the car they had in there.
I noticed a couple days later, it was literally pouring water, leaving a puddle under the car. The red light "Engine coolant low" came up maybe on the third day after some 2-3 litres of coolant were missing. So they topped it up before our test drive, then washed the car and hoped it won't lose too much coolant to trigger the warning on the dashboard.

Alex9384

The car I'm looking for now is over 100 miles away from me.

Buying it online would save me some time and petrol. Some dealers offer free delivery up to 100 miles, so I suppose I would have to pay something but not too much.

Another thing is insurance and vehicle tax. When you are at a dealer and want to drive your car, you need the insurance and tax immediately. If you get the car delivered, you can do it from your home even on the next day if you wish.

So what are the typical ways dealers try to avoid the 14 days cooling off period and can it be somehow prevented?

How does it normally work? You contact them, tell them you want the car and then what? Can someone tell me how it should work, step by step?

neilmcl

Alex9384 said:

The car I'm looking for now is over 100 miles away from me.

Buying it online would save me some time and petrol. Some dealers offer free delivery up to 100 miles, so I suppose I would have to pay something but not too much.

Another thing is insurance and vehicle tax. When you are at a dealer and want to drive your car, you need the insurance and tax immediately. If you get the car delivered, you can do it from your home even on the next day if you wish.

So what are the typical ways dealers try to avoid the 14 days cooling off period and can it be somehow prevented?

How does it normally work? You contact them, tell them you want the car and then what? Can someone tell me how it should work, step by step?

It can't be prevented, as we've pointed out, it's the law. So long as the contract has been conducted via a fully distant means then you are entitled to cancel within 14 days for whatever reason.

cinereus

neilmcl said:

Alex9384 said:

The car I'm looking for now is over 100 miles away from me.

Buying it online would save me some time and petrol. Some dealers offer free delivery up to 100 miles, so I suppose I would have to pay something but not too much.

Another thing is insurance and vehicle tax. When you are at a dealer and want to drive your car, you need the insurance and tax immediately. If you get the car delivered, you can do it from your home even on the next day if you wish.

So what are the typical ways dealers try to avoid the 14 days cooling off period and can it be somehow prevented?

How does it normally work? You contact them, tell them you want the car and then what? Can someone tell me how it should work, step by step?

It can't be prevented, as we've pointed out, it's the law. So long as the contract has been conducted via a fully distant means then you are entitled to cancel within 14 days for whatever reason.

Who is responsible for returning the vehicle? Say it is 4 years old and whatever fault you don't like could be attributed to reasonable wear and tear?

If you "just don't like it" do you have to pay for return delivery (and potentially a mileage cost too)?
If there's a major fault you can return and they have to arrange?

Or something different?

jimjames

neilmcl said:

Alex9384 said:

The car I'm looking for now is over 100 miles away from me.

Buying it online would save me some time and petrol. Some dealers offer free delivery up to 100 miles, so I suppose I would have to pay something but not too much.

Another thing is insurance and vehicle tax. When you are at a dealer and want to drive your car, you need the insurance and tax immediately. If you get the car delivered, you can do it from your home even on the next day if you wish.

So what are the typical ways dealers try to avoid the 14 days cooling off period and can it be somehow prevented?

How does it normally work? You contact them, tell them you want the car and then what? Can someone tell me how it should work, step by step?

It can't be prevented, as we've pointed out, it's the law. So long as the contract has been conducted via a fully distant means then you are entitled to cancel within 14 days for whatever reason.

Problem is "entitled to" and actually getting money back are 2 very different things.

cinereus said:

neilmcl said:

Alex9384 said:

The car I'm looking for now is over 100 miles away from me.

Buying it online would save me some time and petrol. Some dealers offer free delivery up to 100 miles, so I suppose I would have to pay something but not too much.

Another thing is insurance and vehicle tax. When you are at a dealer and want to drive your car, you need the insurance and tax immediately. If you get the car delivered, you can do it from your home even on the next day if you wish.

So what are the typical ways dealers try to avoid the 14 days cooling off period and can it be somehow prevented?

How does it normally work? You contact them, tell them you want the car and then what? Can someone tell me how it should work, step by step?

It can't be prevented, as we've pointed out, it's the law. So long as the contract has been conducted via a fully distant means then you are entitled to cancel within 14 days for whatever reason.

Who is responsible for returning the vehicle? Say it is 4 years old and whatever fault you don't like could be attributed to reasonable wear and tear?

If you "just don't like it" do you have to pay for return delivery (and potentially a mileage cost too)?
If there's a major fault you can return and they have to arrange?

Or something different?

You would have to arrange to return the car. After your bad experience I would only recommend buying from a dealer locally where you can visit and test drive the car beforehand.