Dealer reduced car trade in value?

doherty81

Hi I’m wondering what peoples thoughts are on this topic. 

I placed an order for a new car in Nov 2021 with a trade in value of say £22500 and outstanding value on the finance of say £16000 (equity say £6.5k)

Now on May 2022 the car is ready and an updated settlement figure for the finance provided which shows outstanding £14500. 

The dealer has therefore updated the finance settlement figure to be 14500 but also reduced the trade in value by 1500 inline with the to 21000. In effect keeping the equity at the same level but devaluing my trade in car to keep that level. 

My question on this is… is this expected behaviour? As they are telling me it is and this should have been explained at the point of sale. 

The terms and conditions however seem to contradict this and state (seller is the car dealer)

“The exchange value quoted by the Seller shall be binding on the seller for one calendar month from the estimated date of deliverv of the Goods and thereafter, on giving notice to the Purchaser, may be

reduced at a rate of 2.5% per month”

The estimated delivery date is the end of June but it is here early. It’s a difference of say £1500 so if they keep the original agreed trade in value it’s obviously in my favour but don’t know how hard to push that they abide by the terms and if I’m being overly fussy in expecting them
to honour that value. 

Grumpy_chap

What trade value can you get from WBAC, Motorway, etc?

The_Fat_Controller

What is the actual settlement figure from the finance company ?

As above, get offers from the car buying companies and work out the equity you have.

Do some research as to the value of your trade-in on the likes of Autotrader.

Go back to the dealer and haggle if selling to a third party is in your favour.

With the market as it is I would not expect any dealer to honour a valuation that is 6 months old.

doherty81

The figure that was agreed originally was very good and even the reduced value is still higher than I can get now from the likes of WBAC etc. 

I think my main concern here is that we had a contact signed that specified a trade in value of 22,500 which would be valid until the end of June and now because I have paid more
of the finance they have taken the opportunity to down-value the car against what tue terms and conditions state.  

If the contract stayed something like ‘we will honour the equity value’ etc then I’d understand reducing the value. But it specifically states ‘The exchange value quoted by the Seller shall be binding on the seller for one calendar month from the estimated date of deliverv of the Goods’ the terms from what I can see does not allow them to reduce it?

iwb100

This is absolutely normal. Your dealer has been very generous here. When you sign the deal they don’t have to lock the equity. But they have. As many have been doing. They could have revalued your car today and I suspect it would have been worse for you.

But end of the day you could check the price on WBAC etc and if you can do better sell it and then pocket the extra left over.

You don’t have to sell to the dealer. So by locking in the equity they protected you in the deal whilst still allowing you to go and sell the car elsewhere if you needed. 

flashg67

The wording seem pretty clear - have you challenged them?

iwb100

flashg67 said:

The wording seem pretty clear - have you challenged them?

I’m not sure it is clear. What does exchange value mean? It could easily mean the value left in the deal after settlement. Also it says binding for one month after expected date of delivery. So does that mean the sellers offer is binding only when they do it as the car becomes available? Certainly doesn’t say the sellers offer is binding until you receive the car. 

Zandoni

Just tell them you can't afford the car now and cancel it.