Consumer advice - car garage refused to cancel sale

Harvey129

Looking for some advice or help from anyone who knows more about this or has been in a similar position. 

A few years ago my partner went to a dealership to look at vehicles, he ended up signing an agreement after being forcefully persuaded. 

Within 24 hours he changed his mind & voluntarily withdrew from the finance agreement within his 14 day cooling off period under the Consumer Credit Act.

However, the dealership refused to cancel the " sale " of the car & would not release the funds back to the finance company. My partner has never owned this car, driven it or even sat in it, all he did was look at it at the dealership. 

We have since searched the details of this vehicle & there has been almost 30,000 miles on it since we supposedly " purchased it " & was recently updated in January 2023. 

The dealership have pocketed money for the car from the finance company which my partner is left to pay back & has never owned the vehicle or had it in his possession. 

Are the dealership entitled to sell the car to someone else without legally cancelling the sale of it to my partner? Or should we have been made to collect the car if they were refusing to cancel the sale? 

Sorry it's long winded but any advice would be grateful as seems we have been left with almost £6k worth of debt & a default for something we have never owned whilst the dealership have pocketed the money from us & another person despite them selling us the car? 

BoGoF

If they signed the contract on the business' premises there is no 14 day cooling off period

DullGreyGuy

Cancelling the finance and cancelling the sale of the car are two separate things and doing one doesn't automatically cancel the other.  As this was an on premises sale there would be a cooling off period for the finance but no such automatic right of cancellation for the goods. 

 When you cancel the finance it's up to you to refund the finance company not the car dealership. Normally it's when people always intended to buy in cash but wanted the finance discount hence take the finance, cancel it and repay with the cash and keep the car at the lower price. 

If you purchased it then clearly the dealer cannot sell it on without first buying it back from you and nor should they be using it themselves. Its more likely that the later is happening given the finance is still in place and so would show up on any HPI check. 

DE_612183

are you still paying for the car?

Harvey129

DE_612183 said:

are you still paying for the car?

Never made any payments as never got car 

Nearlyold

If your partner used the right of withdrawal to cancel the finance he had 30 days in which to repay the finance company the amount borrowed. THE 14 DAY WITHDRAWAL RIGHT DOES NOT CANCEL OR WITHDRAW YOU FROM THE ASSOCIATED SALE It was not the dealers responsibility to pay back to the finance company the money your partner borrowed.

Some dealers can be very hardball regarding contract law, you say he never owned it,  however it could be argued he owned it from the time he agreed to buy it and paid for it, so I wonder did the dealer at any point contact your partner asking him to remove his property ie the car from their premises and give him the opportunity to collect it or else they would charge him storage?  Or has there been no contact from them since they refused to cancel the sale.

Harvey129

Nearlyold said:

If your partner used the right of withdrawal to cancel the finance he had 30 days in which to repay the finance company the amount borrowed. THE 14 DAY WITHDRAWAL RIGHT DOES NOT CANCEL OR WITHDRAW YOU FROM THE ASSOCIATED SALE It was not the dealers responsibility to pay back to the finance company the money your partner borrowed.

Some dealers can be very hardball regarding contract law, you say he never owned it,  however it could be argued he owned it from the time he agreed to buy it and paid for it, so I wonder did the dealer at any point contact your partner asking him to remove his property ie the car from their premises and give him the opportunity to collect it or else they would charge him storage?  Or has there been no contact from them since they refused to cancel the sale.

Funnily enough when he withdrew from the finance the company did advise it was up to the dealership whether they withdrew some the sale or not. 

We attempted to contact them constantly to discuss & come to arrangement however, they would never answer the phone & ended up blocking both our numbers... if they had of contacted us to collect the vehicle we could have then atleast sold it & used the funds to pay of the outstanding amount however, it looks like they has since sold it to someone else

DullGreyGuy

Harvey129 said:

Nearlyold said:

If your partner used the right of withdrawal to cancel the finance he had 30 days in which to repay the finance company the amount borrowed. THE 14 DAY WITHDRAWAL RIGHT DOES NOT CANCEL OR WITHDRAW YOU FROM THE ASSOCIATED SALE It was not the dealers responsibility to pay back to the finance company the money your partner borrowed.

Some dealers can be very hardball regarding contract law, you say he never owned it,  however it could be argued he owned it from the time he agreed to buy it and paid for it, so I wonder did the dealer at any point contact your partner asking him to remove his property ie the car from their premises and give him the opportunity to collect it or else they would charge him storage?  Or has there been no contact from them since they refused to cancel the sale.

Funnily enough when he withdrew from the finance the company did advise it was up to the dealership whether they withdrew some the sale or not. 

We attempted to contact them constantly to discuss & come to arrangement however, they would never answer the phone & ended up blocking both our numbers... if they had of contacted us to collect the vehicle we could have then atleast sold it & used the funds to pay of the outstanding amount however, it looks like they has since sold it to someone else

Why havent you simply turned up to collect your car? Why don't you do that now?

The reality is they didnt have to try to come to an agreement with you, you had entered into and completed a contract of sale. Anything else, maybe buy it back from you for 20% of the price, would be a new and separate agreement which they aren't obliged to enter into or even entertain conversations. They may believe they know you wouldn't have accepted what they were willing to offer for the car (they'd have lost the sales mans commission, have to pay another commission to sell it again, staff hours etc) so wasnt worth taking the time over it. 

As above, unless people are happy buying without HPI checks etc then its more likely the dealership are using it as a test driver, courtesy car, company car or something else whilst they are having to store it for you... they shouldn't but is more likely than them selling something they don't own. 

born_again

Harvey129 said:

Looking for some advice or help from anyone who knows more about this or has been in a similar position. 

A few years ago my partner went to a dealership to look at vehicles, he ended up signing an agreement after being forcefully persuaded. 

Within 24 hours he changed his mind & voluntarily withdrew from the finance agreement within his 14 day cooling off period under the Consumer Credit Act.

However, the dealership refused to cancel the " sale " of the car & would not release the funds back to the finance company. My partner has never owned this car, driven it or even sat in it, all he did was look at it at the dealership. 

We have since searched the details of this vehicle & there has been almost 30,000 miles on it since we supposedly " purchased it " & was recently updated in January 2023. 

The dealership have pocketed money for the car from the finance company which my partner is left to pay back & has never owned the vehicle or had it in his possession. 

Are the dealership entitled to sell the car to someone else without legally cancelling the sale of it to my partner? Or should we have been made to collect the car if they were refusing to cancel the sale? 

Sorry it's long winded but any advice would be grateful as seems we have been left with almost £6k worth of debt & a default for something we have never owned whilst the dealership have pocketed the money from us & another person despite them selling us the car? 

In which case the finance co would be chasing for the funds back from dealer. 

Who was the default from?

Could it be dealer is using the car themselves?


But just how long is "A Few Years"?

Ganga

What does your credit file say? have you checked it.

sheramber

Harvey129 said:

DE_612183 said:

are you still paying for the car?

Never made any payments as never got car 

but you said

The dealership have pocketed money for the car from the finance company which my partner is left to pay back & has never owned the vehicle or had it in his possession. 

Is your partner being chased by the Finance Company for the money?