Cancelled car sale, costs incurred

sheramber

Was there a reason you did not trade your car in against the purchase?

sclondon2018

Aylesbury_Duck said:

sclondon2018 said:

So I have just looked at the 'Vehicle Order Form' which has all the details of the vehicle on and DOES NOT mention that the vehicle must be checked first. 

It also states:

Subject to the terms and conditions overleaf, you (the Purchaser) will purchase and we (the Vendor) will sell the Vehicle and/part(s) described above (the "Goods") for the Purchase Price specified above.

The only parts of the T&C's overleaf that I can see that are even vaguely relevant are as follows...

DELIVERY;

We may give you notice cancelling this Agreement at any time before delivery if the Manufacturer ceases to make the model or specification of goods, or if we are unable to obtain them from the importer or other supplier, and clause 14 will apply. (not the case)

If we are unable to supply any accessory (factory fitted or otherwise) you have ordered as part of the specification, we will contact you and offer at your option either to substitute a reasonable equivalent or to delete the accessory from this Agreement and adjust the Purchase Price accordingly. Subject to this, you shall have no claim against us in respect of our failure to supply any accessory, and shall not be entitled to cancel the Agreement. (also not the case)

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY;

Unless set out otherwise below, we limit our liability for any breach of this Agreement (and for any other liability arising out of or connected to this Agreement) to the amount of the Purchase Price. We expressly exclude all liability for loss of profit, good will or contracts and for any indirect, consequential or economic loss. The limitations of liability in this clause 21 do not apply in cases of fraud, death or personal injury.

There is no mention of them needing to do any checks of the vehicle or that they can cancel it if it isn't suitable. I have been looking at similar vehicles and I can only find them at around £2000-£3000 more expensive for the same specifications, mileage, age, etc from elsewhere.

It may not mention that it would be checked first, but it's much better that it is.  Plenty of threads crop up here where a car clearly hasn't been checked before sale, or if it has, that the check wasn't thorough or results were ignored.  If they'd said to you "Would you like us to check the car before the sale is completed?", what would you have said?

I agree with you that the first two clauses there are not relevant to your situation, but the limitation of liability section is.  Selling your car was a voluntary process, so I don't think you have any rights there when it comes to the price you got versus what you think you might have done, given more time.  That leaves the loss of bargain argument if you have found a genuinely close match that costs £2000 more, but it needs to be genuine.

I agree with the suggestion to go to the auction and try and buy it that way, but personally, I'd be glad I've avoided buying what sounds like a problem car that was perhaps priced accordingly.  I wonder if there was something about it that made it so unusually cheap and which had deteriorated further to the point where they didn't want to sell it to you as a consumer?

Thanks for your reply. I'm coming round to my old car going cheap is a non-starter... however I sold it to buy that make model age spec etc so as long as I can get the same car for the same price (as that's what I was willing to do so its only fair) then I'd be happy. If they was to pay the difference then that would solve everything, it's just IF they would be willing to do that. After all they would have to pay that extra £2000 to make it right. But then again they have what appears on the surface broken the contract. If I was selling something, I'd make sure it was in a condition to be sold before advertising or taking money for it.

I can't imagine they would have even part exchanged it in the first place if they knew they couldn't resell it themselves as they're likely to loose money sending it to auction I would have thought. 

I just think it's grossly unfair that they advertised it and sold it to me without even checking that it was in a saleable condition first. Even other dealers of the same brand have shown their disgust and said that they always check the vehicles BEFORE advertising let alone taking money for them.

I'm hoping they will arrange for a suitable vehicle at the same price.

sclondon2018

sheramber said:

Was there a reason you did not trade your car in against the purchase?

Yes they offered me almost £1000 less than WBAC and needed all the money I could get.

caprikid1

sclondon2018 said:

sheramber said:

Was there a reason you did not trade your car in against the purchase?

Yes they offered me almost £1000 less than WBAC and needed all the money I could get.

Did you ever advertise the car privately ?

How is it even possible to prove you had the intension of selling privately ? You certainly cannot prove the loss.

Best endeavours would be find another car with them, at least you know they are fussy regarding their used cars and hope for a good discount.

Aylesbury_Duck

sclondon2018 said:

sheramber said:

Was there a reason you did not trade your car in against the purchase?

Yes they offered me almost £1000 less than WBAC and needed all the money I could get.

Which leads me to think your expectation of what you might have secured privately is unrealistic.

You sold your car to WBAC for £2500 less than you thought you could get from a private sale.
Trade in was £1000 lower than that, so £3500 less than you thought you could get from a private sale.

If the car was worth c.£100k those differences are marginal, but if it was, say £10k, then they are big differences, which suggests to me that your valuation is unrealistic and your hypothetical loss is overstated.

visidigi

The other side of this is WBAC are absolutely slashing the prices they are paying at the moment - the value drop is coming to the car market (correction, its already here)

So it could be argued the WBAC value you got is better than if you had waited for them to prep the car you wanted to buy.

This is akin to booking a plumber before the parts have turned up. They say in the T&C's they don't cover consequential loss, which is what you would be claiming under as the contract was nulled by the dealer.