Is it a breach of contract

Sn0ttyang3l

Can someone help me please.  I was left some money and in October 22 ordered an electric car for £ 32,495.  I was left an electric car and was offered £9,400 as part exchange against it.  I was told the new car would be here by 31.3.23 but hopefully a bit sooner.  In my discussion with the salesman I said that I was ok with that and I was happy to wait and get the new 23 plate because they had to order it in and there was a long wait. I paid a deposit of £ 250 and offered to leave the part exchange car as they had now bought it and was told so long as i didnt put more than 2000 miles on it it wasnt an issue.  I explained i had a petrol car at home but they said it was ok. I received a phone call on the 29th December to say a car was expected to arrive the next day but if not it would definitely be there the following week and id be able to collect a week later but i needed to go in the next day and pay the balance.  I explained that i'd said if the car car after December then id wait for the 23 plate and they said that was ok as there were other orders who would have it.  I then chased them for updates in february as i needed the registration number to tax the car ready for collection but was told the MG car company had closed their site and it was going to be out until 13th . i chased on the 13th and it was still out, i chased again on 22nd and again on 24th.  They finally gave me the reg and bought insurance on 28th feb to run from 14th feb after my current multicar insurance expired.  they agreed the 14th as the collection date too. March 1st i received confirmation that the registration number was allocated to my vehicle. 9th March just 4 days before handing over the part exchange to then pick up the new car i received a call to say they were reducing the price of the part exchange by £ 2,900.00 and was told the sales manager had re evaluated the car and was now only going to give £ 6,500 for it.   I visited the showroom on the 10th and spoke with the manager who tried to give all different excuses before agreeing he hadnt followed the correct process and that he should have re-evaluated the part exchange before giving me the registration number and me being asked to get the insurance to be able to pick up the car.  I said he should honour the deal and he had breached the contract because he and i had a signed agreement. I am now out of pocket because I had to purchase more car insurance to use the old car, he still has my deposit, i dont have a new car.  Is there anything i can do about this because i feel he should at least pay my deposit back plus interest and the cost for the extra car insurance.  Has he breached the contract or is he able to just get away with this - after all if i'd signed a credit agreement - id be in debt to a loan, with no car and paying interest.  I dont think this is fair.    Any help will be appreciated

Grumpy_chap

In October you were offered £9,400 for the PX.
In March you are offered £6,500 for the PX.

What can you get for the PX from WBAC, Motorway, Arnold Clark etc?

It won't answer the question about breach of contract etc., but if the car buying services will give you as much for the PX as the original offer (or very near), the pragmatic thing might well be to sell to them and simply buy the new car without the PX in the mix.

Sn0ttyang3l said:

Can someone help me please.  I was left some money and in October 22 ordered an electric car for £ 32,495.  I was left an electric car and was offered £9,400 as part exchange against it.  I was told the new car would be here by 31.3.23 but hopefully a bit sooner.  In my discussion with the salesman I said that I was ok with that and I was happy to wait and get the new 23 plate because they had to order it in and there was a long wait. I paid a deposit of £ 250 and offered to leave the part exchange car as they had now bought it and was told so long as i didnt put more than 2000 miles on it it wasnt an issue.  I explained i had a petrol car at home but they said it was ok. I received a phone call on the 29th December to say a car was expected to arrive the next day but if not it would definitely be there the following week and id be able to collect a week later but i needed to go in the next day and pay the balance.  I explained that i'd said if the car car after December then id wait for the 23 plate and they said that was ok as there were other orders who would have it.  I then chased them for updates in february as i needed the registration number to tax the car ready for collection but was told the MG car company had closed their site and it was going to be out until 13th . i chased on the 13th and it was still out, i chased again on 22nd and again on 24th.  They finally gave me the reg and bought insurance on 28th feb to run from 14th feb after my current multicar insurance expired.  they agreed the 14th as the collection date too. March 1st i received confirmation that the registration number was allocated to my vehicle. 9th March just 4 days before handing over the part exchange to then pick up the new car i received a call to say they were reducing the price of the part exchange by £ 2,900.00 and was told the sales manager had re evaluated the car and was now only going to give £ 6,500 for it.   I visited the showroom on the 10th and spoke with the manager who tried to give all different excuses before agreeing he hadnt followed the correct process and that he should have re-evaluated the part exchange before giving me the registration number and me being asked to get the insurance to be able to pick up the car.  I said he should honour the deal and he had breached the contract because he and i had a signed agreement. I am now out of pocket because I had to purchase more car insurance to use the old car, he still has my deposit, i dont have a new car.  Is there anything i can do about this because i feel he should at least pay my deposit back plus interest and the cost for the extra car insurance.  Has he breached the contract or is he able to just get away with this - after all if i'd signed a credit agreement - id be in debt to a loan, with no car and paying interest.  I dont think this is fair.    Any help will be appreciated

Alderbank

Grumpy_chap said:

In October you were offered £9,400 for the PX.
In March you are offered £6,500 for the PX.

My experience is that all PX offers are time bound and usually for quite a short period of time.
OP, was £9,400 offered for a fixed time period (eg 14 days) or with no time limit, so for ever?

tacpot12

It's not really a matter of what is fair, it's a matter of what is legal. Does the contract allow them to re-evaluate the price they are paying for the car? 

If you are not sure, and you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, call the legal helpline. They should ask to see the contract and will confirm if they can legally do this. Your trade-in is worth less, but £2,900 seems a lot. 

The advice to sell it to someone else is good advice IF the contract allows you to do this. I would check that you have the offer of £6,500 in writing before selling it to anyone else, and talk to your insurer if you have legal expenses cover. 

powerful_Rogue

tacpot12 said:

It's not really a matter of what is fair, it's a matter of what is legal. Does the contract allow them to re-evaluate the price they are paying for the car? 

If you are not sure, and you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, call the legal helpline. They should ask to see the contract and will confirm if they can legally do this. Your trade-in is worth less, but £2,900 seems a lot. 

The advice to sell it to someone else is good advice IF the contract allows you to do this. I would check that you have the offer of £6,500 in writing before selling it to anyone else, and talk to your insurer if you have legal expenses cover. 

The secondhand EV market has absoutely plummeted in the last 3 months.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/used-electric-car-prices-caught-in-vicious-downward-cycle-as-experts-warn-of-more-trouble-ahead/279724

As you say, depends what the contract says about the agreed trade in price though.

bris

Do you have a contract from the start with the PX and cost of new car etc?

If you have the deal in writing signed by both parties then its a breach of contract.

If it wasn't then the verbal contract would be hard to win as 5 months have passed and cars depreciate as you know.

Have you put the car into we buy any car to see what they are offering, believe it or not its the best tool for the job of finding out what the trade pay for cars.

powerful_Rogue

bris said:

Do you have a contract from the start with the PX and cost of new car etc?

If you have the deal in writing signed by both parties then its a breach of contract.

If it wasn't then the verbal contract would be hard to win as 5 months have passed and cars depreciate as you know.

Have you put the car into we buy any car to see what they are offering, believe it or not its the best tool for the job of finding out what the trade pay for cars.

However not at the moment for electic vehicles. WBAC have a surplus of them at the moment so the amounts they are offering are rock bottom to deter people.

Sn0ttyang3l

Alderbank said:

Grumpy_chap said:

In October you were offered £9,400 for the PX.
In March you are offered £6,500 for the PX.

My experience is that all PX offers are time bound and usually for quite a short period of time.
OP, was £9,400 offered for a fixed time period (eg 14 days) or with no time limit, so for ever?

They told me the car was to be delivered by 31st March so if they were going to reevaluate shouldn’t they have let me know and done it prior to 4 days of collection

Sn0ttyang3l

tacpot12 said:

It's not really a matter of what is fair, it's a matter of what is legal. Does the contract allow them to re-evaluate the price they are paying for the car? 

If you are not sure, and you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, call the legal helpline. They should ask to see the contract and will confirm if they can legally do this. Your trade-in is worth less, but £2,900 seems a lot. 

The advice to sell it to someone else is good advice IF the contract allows you to do this. I would check that you have the offer of £6,500 in writing before selling it to anyone else, and talk to your insurer if you have legal expenses cover. 

Thank you, I’ll look in to this. I think I was more angry that the manager tried to blame the new young salesman but asking me to find another £3,000 I thought extortionate 

Sn0ttyang3l

bris said:

Do you have a contract from the start with the PX and cost of new car etc?

If you have the deal in writing signed by both parties then its a breach of contract.

If it wasn't then the verbal contract would be hard to win as 5 months have passed and cars depreciate as you know.

Have you put the car into we buy any car to see what they are offering, believe it or not it’s the best tool for the job of finding out what the trade pay for cars.

I know I can sell the car privately but I just felt that we made a written agreement, it was signed by the dealer and I. Would he have reevaluated 4 days before payment and collection if the prices had increased and then offered me more money, I really doubt it. I’m sure if I changed my mind about the price I was going to give him for his car 4 days before collection he wouldn’t have let me collect it. 

Sn0ttyang3l

powerful_Rogue said:

bris said:

Do you have a contract from the start with the PX and cost of new car etc?

If you have the deal in writing signed by both parties then its a breach of contract.

If it wasn't then the verbal contract would be hard to win as 5 months have passed and cars depreciate as you know.

Have you put the car into we buy any car to see what they are offering, believe it or not its the best tool for the job of finding out what the trade pay for cars.

However not at the moment for electic vehicles. WBAC have a surplus of them at the moment so the amounts they are offering are rock bottom to deter people.

I’m happy to keep the car and let my kids use it also the ULEZ is coming to the area where I work in August and it’s a brilliant car and perfect for work commuting so maybe will put it up for sale then if the kids don’t need it