Can I get a refund for a deposit on a car

Park_monkey

Hello all. 

I recently went to look at a car at a dealers, it fit the bill for what I needed but needed a few jobs doing before it took it away. The garage agreed to do the work so I paid a £500 deposit (car was £6290) and agreed to give them a week to do the repairs. They struggled getting the parts so it took an extra week which wasn’t an issue. I got a phone call last Thursday to say it was ready so that agreed to collect over the weekend and pay the balance. 

I got a lift to the garage yesterday (Saturday) and was greeted by a confused sales man who wasn’t expecting me until the middle of the following week. The work appeared to have been done so we took it for a drive. The car didn’t run well at all, the whining from the diff had gone but it had developed a running issue. Back at the garage he couldn’t produce receipts for any of the parts fitted or confirm where the parts had come from. The diff is a common fault on these vehicles so I said I wouldn’t be happy with a part off a scrap vehicle. 

I said I wasn’t happy with the work that had been done or the new issues that had arisen. There was still a lot of oil in the area that was supposed to have been fixed and I was generally not happy with it. 

I requested my deposit back and he said I’d have to call on Monday to speak to the owner. My question is am I entitled to a refund? I’m not prepared to wait another couple of weeks and to be honest they are coming across as cowboys, I’ve lost faith in them and their ability to do the work. 

Any ideas where I stand? I’m not expecting them to hand my money back without an argument. 

Thanks

born_again

Could be a interesting one, given they have done some work.

What do the T/C on the deposit say on refund of deposit.

Park_monkey

Stupidly I didn’t get a copy of the deposit sheet where he noted the repairs needed. Surely I can’t be held to an agreement to buy a substandard vehicle, the work they have done is shoddy and bodged. 

bris

If you're still within 30 days of purchase and the car is still a dud then yes you can reject it for a full refund.

The 30 days starts the day you were supposed to collect the vehicle

macman

I think the OP will therefore have to let them complete the repairs and presumably pay the balance owing before he can then reject it under CRA 2015 within the 30 day limit. He can't reject it now, because he hasn't yet taken ownership. he's merely contracted to buy it by paying a deposit. Could be a sticky one...

MarvinDay

bris said:

If you're still within 30 days of purchase and the car is still a dud then yes you can reject it for a full refund.

The 30 days starts the day you were supposed to collect the vehicle

That's incorrect.
As correctly stated by macman above, the 30 day short term right of rejection only begins when the consumer has taken ownership and physical possession of the goods.
If you think about it, having it like that makes perfect sense otherwise a dodgy trader could delay delivery of goods and then if the consumer actually took possession 31 days after they were meant to, their short term right of rejection would have passed.