Can a car dealer cancel an order?

SteveMartin52

Do new car dealerships try to sell you non-existent vehicles to get you to buy a more expensive vehicle? 

Also at what stage of buying a car is a contract of sale in place?

I thought that I had bought a new car from a large, branded car dealer. Based on a PCP finance offer for a new factory build vehicle. I visited the dealer to ask then to run through the details face to face. I even asked them to explain to me why the monthly payment worked out less than a similar offer that I'd that also I'd had from them on cheaper model. I was told that the end of finance contract value for the vehicle that I was interested in would be much higher which seemed credible. Before this visit I had already decided that, if I got straight answers to my questions, I was planning to place an order. They had a vehicle in the showroom in the colour that I wanted but it had a few optional extras. The vehicle that they showed my however, I was told was already sold but I was assured that they had an identical new vehicle in stock at another dealership location with a 2-week relocation and prep lead time. I was verbally given the adjusted monthly payment (£12 more a month), signed loads of paperwork and paid a £1K deposit to hold the vehicle. I was told that all the paperwork would come through by email later that day. 3 working days later I've had no emails, so I've called them to chase up. I'm told that unfortunately the 2nd vehicle that they 'thought' was showing in stock at the other location had already been sold and that they had been trying to find me an alternative. Although a little annoyed and disappointed, I was in no great rush, can extend my current vehicle for a further 6 months (the same brand and from the same dealership) and it was agreed that they'd place a factory build order for an identical vehicle. The email duly arrived the following day that allowed me to log on to their dealership portal to download various documents, some that needed digitally signing and returning. Amongst the documents included were a receipt for the deposit and an order confirmation form. The order confirmation form detailed all the costs, all exactly as expected but importantly gave no detail of the optional extras or of the finance offer. I called the dealership to ask them to either include this on the portal or to email something to me. After some umming and erring I was told that there had been a slight mistake and that the finance had worked out a few pounds more than the figure originally discussed when I had placed the order. I was given the new figures over the phone and what had started off as a 'few' pounds difference turned out to be more than £70 a month more. Essentially, I’ve gone from being prepared to pay a £5500 deposit and £322 a month, to ordering and paying a deposit on a vehicle with a few options expecting to pay £334 a month in to almost being conned in to paying in excess of £400 a month. Obviously, I'm now fuming but remaining as calm as I could, I asked them to forget about the optional extras and to place a factory build order for the standard spec based on the offer that I'd originally come in to discuss. Several days later I've heard nothing more from the dealership, so I've popped in to try and get some confirmation and answers face to face. The salesman that I've been dealing with is giving me some feeble stuff like it's out of his hands, somebody who's left the company had made some mistakes and that they've been busy trying to find solutions – clearly too busy to be able to talk to me about it. Eventually I'm sitting in front of the sales manager who’s saying that their very original quote to me was about 7K out due to a computer glitch that hadn’t listed the vehicle at the correct price. He also claimed that they had only, that same morning worked this out. I’ve pointed out that I had questioned the original offer before I placed the order and had been assured that it was correct and that I had seen or been shown 3 different, similar and independent finance offers from them for same / similar vehicle. He’s then trying to persuade me to compromise with him on the price difference saying that they can’t take a £7K hit on my order. I said that I wasn't accepting that it was merely a computer glitch, and that it was feeling as if they were trying to pull the wool over my eyes, especially so as they had failed to provide me with the full vehicle spec and the finance details with my order confirmation. I left it with them to come back to me with a resolution or an offer. I came home and immediately went online to try to check out their claim about the original list price being incorrect. I went on a new car buying site, put in the details of the car that I was looking for and blow me down, one of my first hits is the same colour and spec vehicle that I thought that I had brought 2 weeks ago, listed with the same dealer but at a different location and……. just a few hundred pounds more than my original offer – not the 7K difference. I then recontacted the dealership to say that I think that I’ve found an answer for them, and I’ve even offered to pick up the car from the other location. 24 hours later no call back. Today I contacted the other dealership location myself, pretending to new a new customer inquiring about the vehicle being advertised. After a few unreturned phone calls, I’m eventually told that the vehicle listed has recently been sold (I nearly said, yes to me and I suspect to others!) but would I be interested in a quote on a similar vehicle that they’re expecting to have in 5 to 6 weeks’ time. It’s almost déjà vu and I’m seriously starting to get the hump with these people.

TadleyBaggie

If you want people to read your post, try breaking it up into paragraphs. A wall of text will put off most viewers.

DullGreyGuy

Trying to sell a non-existent car results in a cancelled order and no commission... sales guys dont work for no commission. 

The contract will state when its formed or if it doesn't then its formed straight away on acceptance of the offer and agreement to pay consideration. The contract is likely to also include clauses for termination of the contract, such as if the item becomes unavailable which would frustrate the contract anyway (you cannot sell what doesn't exist). 

Most new cars are on long backorders and so its little surprise that there is a lot of interest in any pre-built models that are available almost instantly 

I have to say that dealerships dont seem to be great at doing the numbers, I was fortunate and mine went the other way... we agreed a price and they called back a few days later and said they'd rechecked the numbers and could knock £50/month off the agreed price and so to resign new paperwork.