Charged more than advertised price for car

Aretnap

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

Well that doesn't stand up to a lot of scrutiny. They are allowed to withdraw the item from sale or refuse to sell it for the originally advertised price - that's correct... and then what happens? Are they allowed to put it back on sale at a higher price at some point? Or do they have to sit there quietly forever hoping that someone will come along and make them a better offer? Are you suggesting that while they're waiting for a better offer they're not allowed to say something helpful like "but if you're still interested I would sell it for £8999" - or that a subsequent agreement would somehow be invalid if they did?

Herzlos

Car dealers can make mistakes, so without a pattern of deceptive signage it'd be hard to do anything.

That said, if you agreed to the price in a fair negotiation then there's no comeback. You could have walked away.

user1977

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

What law are you referring to? I think either your lecturer or your recollection are failing here!

born_again

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

Given it has taken a year to notice. Do you really want to embarrass yourself by going back to the dealer. Should give them a good laugh 🤷‍♀️

The time to complain would have been while sat at the desk & they quoted £1K more then the screen price.

Okell

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

I think my law lecturer - albeit 40 years ago - would have agreed with your law lecturer...

As has already been observed, the advert at £7999 is simply an invitation to treat.  If a customer goes in to the dealer and makes an offer to buy the car then, unless the customer specifies a different price, the customer's implied offer to buy is for the advertised price - £7999.  Unless the dealer refuses and says "No, I'm not willing to sell at the advertised price but I'll sell it for £8999", the dealer has agreed to sell it for the advertised price of £7999.

I don't see how there can be a contract to sell the car at more than the advertised price unless the dealer has explicitly increased the price before the contract was formed, and the OP has accepted that counter offer.

What we don't know in this specific case is whether the OP was "bamboozled" by the dealer into paying more than the OP thought was the agreed price, or whether the dealer made a counter offer and the OP simply wasn't confident and assertive enough to back out (or threaten to back out) of the deal when they realised the price had gone up.

As others have pointed out, it might be possible for the dealer to wihdraw from the deal if they could show they had made a unilateral mistake over the price, but in my experience car dealers always know exactly how much they are selling their stock for and it's more likely the dealer recognised a buyer who they could "persuade" to pay a higher price than that advertised.

(BTW I'm not commenting on the rights and wrongs of the OP's case, which is hopeless. I'm simply commenting on the general principle that @kinger101 posted and the dismissive replies thereto)

Okell

user1977 said:

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

What law are you referring to? I think either your lecturer or your recollection are failing here!

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

user1977

Okell said:

user1977 said:

kinger101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Hi all, 
We purchased a 10 year old Audi A1 from a local dealership last year. The price shown in large numbers in the windscreen & also on the photo advert attached to the car was £7,999. However when we agreed to purchase it we were charged £8,999 - they said the advert was wrong. Is this ok or can we challenge it as we feel we should have been charged the price advertised. I do have a video sent by the dealer showing the £7,999 price as well as a photo of the advert on my phone.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

There is an urban myth that companies have to sell at the price advertised even if there is an error. It's not true. They are perfectly entitled to correct the price, withdraw the item from sale etc. If a pattern emerges that seems its not a mistake then either ASA or TS may consider it false advertising and take appropriate action. 


Even if you'd signed the deal and paid over the £7,999 they can still potentially change it as long as it would have been obvious that it was an error to most people in the market. They'd have to offer the option of cancelling the sale though

Well, my law lecturer taught that myth.

What law are you referring to? I think either your lecturer or your recollection are failing here!

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

Yes, but the advertised price does not constitute an "offer"...

As said, if a retailer seems to be deliberately sticking incorrectly low prices on items, at most it's a Trading Standards matter, not something which customers can enforce by demanding to buy at the marked price.

Okell

Aretnap said:

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

... and then what happens? Are they allowed to put it back on sale at a higher price at some point? Or do they have to sit there quietly forever hoping that someone will come along and make them a better offer? Are you suggesting that while they're waiting for a better offer they're not allowed to say something helpful like "but if you're still interested I would sell it for £8999" - or that a subsequent agreement would somehow be invalid if they did?

I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make(?).

@kinger101 has said that when a consumer makes an offer to buy at the advertised price (what other price can they offer to buy at without specifying a different price?) then it is open to the dealer either (1) to accept that offer for the advertised price or (2) to refuse that offer outright or (3) to refuse that offer but make a counter offer to sell at a higher price.

If the dealer takes option (3), but the consumer won't accept the higher counter offer price and pulls out of the deal, then of course the dealer is allowed to put the car back on sale at the higher (correct) price.  What on earth makes you question whether they would be allowed to do that?  What would prevent them from doing so?

I also don't understand why you think the dealer has to "sit there quietly forever hoping someone will come along and make them a better offer".  All the dealer needs to do is to re-advertise the car at the higher (correct) price.  They don't have to sit there twiddling their thumbs.  But if they have no takers they will have to consider lowering the price.

If the dealer says "... something helpful like 'but if you are still interested I would sell it for £8999'..." isn't that the very point that @kinger101 is making?  That "something helpful" constitutes a counter offer at a higher price, which the consumer is free to accept or to reject.  But without that counter offer there can be no agreement to sell at the higher price.

And I also don't understand why you think any subsequent agreement based on that counter offer might be invalid?

I don't see why you think @kinger101's comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny

Grumpy_chap

Okell said:

Basic common law principles of contract?

You know - offer, acceptance, consideration etc

I think the "has to sell at advertised price" is not the complete situation.
The advertised price - £8k - is simply an invitation to treat.
What we don't know is how the OP managed to negotiate the price up to £9k.
It is quite possible that the Dealer offered the car at £8k and then bamboozled the OP with "upsell" so car mats, some super "ducks back" polish, fabric treatment, warranty, service plan, gap insurance and in the moment, the OP agreed the price for the car with all the upsell items added on.
It is quite possible for all the upsell items to come in at far more than £1k - when we purchased my wife's Fiesta (£14k), the Dealer set out all the upsell items, I duly wrote them all down and added them up and the total was another £7k making the car £21k.  We agreed at the original £14k and none of the upsell junk.

Aretnap

Okell said:

Aretnap said:

kinger101 said:

Bobcat_Mushroom said:

Thanks all - I was a bit bamboozled at the time & recently came across the video which reminded me so thought I'd ask! I know I should maybe have argued more at back then but we had such a nightmare we should have probably just walked away but we really liked the car! 

I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer.  They are allowed to refuse to sell at 7999.

... and then what happens? Are they allowed to put it back on sale at a higher price at some point? Or do they have to sit there quietly forever hoping that someone will come along and make them a better offer? Are you suggesting that while they're waiting for a better offer they're not allowed to say something helpful like "but if you're still interested I would sell it for £8999" - or that a subsequent agreement would somehow be invalid if they did?

I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make(?).

@kinger101 has said that when a consumer makes an offer to buy at the advertised price (what other price can they offer to buy at without specifying a different price?) then it is open to the dealer either (1) to accept that offer for the advertised price or (2) to refuse that offer outright or (3) to refuse that offer but make a counter offer to sell at a higher price.

If the dealer takes option (3), but the consumer won't accept the higher counter offer price and pulls out of the deal, then of course the dealer is allowed to put the car back on sale at the higher (correct) price.  What on earth makes you question whether they would be allowed to do that?  What would prevent them from doing so?

I also don't understand why you think the dealer has to "sit there quietly forever hoping someone will come along and make them a better offer".  All the dealer needs to do is to re-advertise the car at the higher (correct) price.  They don't have to sit there twiddling their thumbs.  But if they have no takers they will have to consider lowering the price.

If the dealer says "... something helpful like 'but if you are still interested I would sell it for £8999'..." isn't that the very point that @kinger101 is making?  That "something helpful" constitutes a counter offer at a higher price, which the consumer is free to accept or to reject.  But without that counter offer there can be no agreement to sell at the higher price.

And I also don't understand why you think any subsequent agreement based on that counter offer might be invalid?

I don't see why you think @kinger101's comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny

Kinger101 said "I believe they are not allowed to sell for a higher price unless the buyer makes a higher counter offer. (emphasis mine)" Implying that there's something wrong with this scenario where it's the seller who has offered it at more than the originally advertised price. He seems to be suggesting that the dealer is somehow obliged to wait for the buyer to come back with a different offer, rather than make a different offer himself.

Of course if he meant "seller" rather than "buyer" then his statement would boil down to "the seller is not allowed to sell it at more than the advertised price, unless he decides to offer it to the buyer at a higher price instead". Which would be true... but not something that adds a huge amount of new insight to the thread.