Can we sue car broker for breach of contract?

oxford1035

I ordered two cars from an online car broker through Blue Light card. The cars were ordered last July for March 1st 25 plate. We asked if we could pick the cars up from a Ford dealer and were told we could. We also asked for consecutive No. plates and was told this was also okay. After sending us the contracts, l noticed in the small print that they charge £250 commission per car. This wasn’t mentioned in any email or phone call. They stated they usually mention it on the phone, but it must have slipped their mind. Everything was sorted and we signed the contracts.

at the beginning of December, we received an email confirming the cars had been built. I decided to check if the agreed No. plates was still okay. I was then told it wouldn’t be possible. After some back and forward they said it should be okay. 

3 weeks ago, the sales person phoned my partner, despite the fact it was me who had conducted the deals l and asked if she wanted to pay for a service plan etc, and if she wanted a value for her current car. They did not contact me, so l emailed them and asked why they hadn’t offered me a valuation etc. They ignored me, so l contacted one of their colleagues. It was at that point everything began to unravel. They are now saying we can’t pick the cars up from the dealer. I made a complaint, which they gave a final response to last Friday. They admitted the salesperson had given us the wrong information, and listened to all phone calls and read all the emails which confirmed what we signed for. 

In the meantime, l phoned the dealer who is supplying the cars and asked if l could speak to whoever handled the sales on behalf of the broker. I stated l needed some straight answers as the broker was telling me different things depending on who l spoke to. On Thursday, they said they would get the person dealing with the sale to email me. They didn’t respond, so l called back on Friday and spoke to the sales manager. Both times l asked for them not to inform the broker of my calls because I wanted to avoid anything wrong being passed back to the broker. 

In the final response letter, they said the dealer had told them  l had phoned twice and accused me of saying l had been deliberately misled, which l did not say. I contacted the dealer again yesterday as l feel they have breached GDPR laws by disclosing my conversation when asked not to. They are saying that when l signed the contract that l agreed for the broker to share all information with the dealer. 

The broker stated in their final response letter that l should consider strongly if l wanted to cancel the contracts. I emailed them on Sunday saying we intended to honour the contracts and would not be cancelling. After no reply yesterday, l emailed and asked if they had received my email. They have ignored me. 

When we signed the contracts, they state if we cancel, they will charge £400 plus vat plus 10% of the options for each car h oh are £2000 per car. So they’d be charging us nearly £1400 if we decided to cancel.

i would like to know if we can sue them for breach of contract if they cancel our orders please?

Alderbank

What does the contract say?

The contract should specify the circumstances under which they can cancel, such as if the variants you have ordered are no longer available in the UK, and what you are entitled to if that happens.

oxford1035

It doesn’t mention anything  about cancellation after the order is signed. It only mentions if something changes before the contract is signed. The cars are actually with the dealer who are supplying the cars.

Grumpy_chap

oxford1035 said:

I ordered two cars from an online car broker through Blue Light card. The cars were ordered last July for March 1st 25 plate. We asked if we could pick the cars up from a Ford dealer and were told we could. We also asked for consecutive No. plates and was told this was also okay. After sending us the contracts, l noticed in the small print that they charge £250 commission per car. This wasn’t mentioned in any email or phone call. They stated they usually mention it on the phone, but it must have slipped their mind. Everything was sorted and we signed the contracts.

at the beginning of December, we received an email confirming the cars had been built. I decided to check if the agreed No. plates was still okay. I was then told it wouldn’t be possible. After some back and forward they said it should be okay. 

3 weeks ago, the sales person phoned my partner, despite the fact it was me who had conducted the deals l and asked if she wanted to pay for a service plan etc, and if she wanted a value for her current car. They did not contact me, so l emailed them and asked why they hadn’t offered me a valuation etc. They ignored me, so l contacted one of their colleagues. It was at that point everything began to unravel. They are now saying we can’t pick the cars up from the dealer. I made a complaint, which they gave a final response to last Friday. They admitted the salesperson had given us the wrong information, and listened to all phone calls and read all the emails which confirmed what we signed for. 

In the meantime, l phoned the dealer who is supplying the cars and asked if l could speak to whoever handled the sales on behalf of the broker. I stated l needed some straight answers as the broker was telling me different things depending on who l spoke to. On Thursday, they said they would get the person dealing with the sale to email me. They didn’t respond, so l called back on Friday and spoke to the sales manager. Both times l asked for them not to inform the broker of my calls because I wanted to avoid anything wrong being passed back to the broker. 

In the final response letter, they said the dealer had told them  l had phoned twice and accused me of saying l had been deliberately misled, which l did not say. I contacted the dealer again yesterday as l feel they have breached GDPR laws by disclosing my conversation when asked not to. They are saying that when l signed the contract that l agreed for the broker to share all information with the dealer. 

The broker stated in their final response letter that l should consider strongly if l wanted to cancel the contracts. I emailed them on Sunday saying we intended to honour the contracts and would not be cancelling. After no reply yesterday, l emailed and asked if they had received my email. They have ignored me. 

When we signed the contracts, they state if we cancel, they will charge £400 plus vat plus 10% of the options for each car h oh are £2000 per car. So they’d be charging us nearly £1400 if we decided to cancel.

i would like to know if we can sue them for breach of contract if they cancel our orders please?

It is a bit confusing exactly how this escalated to such an impasse apparently so quickly. 
What is the actual issue here - is it simply about the number plates being consecutive, so you were hoping for AB25ABC and then AB25ABD but you are receiving AB25ABC and XY25XYZ?

I can see that there could be a difference here whether there is one order for two cars, or two orders for one car on each order.  Which is it?

How do you think GDPR has been breached?  I suspect the contract does say that information can be shared with the Dealer.  Even if the contract does not, GDPR allows for information to be shared in relation with delivering the services.

Amongst this confusion, there is a possible interpretation that your desired outcome is to be so obstructive that your force the Broker to cancel the contract.  That is highly unlikely to happen, but any future relationship or goodwill with either the Broker or the Dealer is now lost.

You have the choice to cancel and then pay the £2k per car.  Then find alternative cars via another channel (which may be without the Blue Light Card benefits) - even if the Blue Light Card benefits are available when purchasing the cards via the alternative channel, the cost of the alternative cars may be higher.  That increase is on top of your £2k penalty for each car from these orders.

What does the contract(s) say with regard to you cancelling?  The supplier cancelling?

What outcome do you want?

Mildly_Miffed

Is this really all just about having consecutive plates...?

As for the service plan - is one of the cars being purchased in your partner's name?

Why are you that bothered about picking the car up from the dealer or (presumably) having it delivered?

Herzlos

I think it's unreasonable to assume the dealer wouldn't check with the broker on a query about a broker car; you almost certainly agreed to that in the contract and they may need to exchange information.

There shouldn't be any GDPR violation since they both presumably have the same personal info about you and you presumably agreed to both having and using it for legitimate purposes.

What breach are you wanting to be compensated for? The consecutive plates? The collection location?

cw8825

As above
the 2 things you seem to be complaining about are both quite trivial.
the issue is the number platers - you can always buy 2 private plates that are 'consecutive'
its because you cant collect - it will be delivered

neither of these things are going to inconvenience you

Oxford312

Thank you for the replies. Rather worrying that some seek to trivialise the issues raised. 

Rather than reply to each reply, to clarify

1. I liaised with the company. The cars are on 2 separate orders.

2. The salesperson did not at any time state they charge £250 commission for each car until l read the small print in the contracts they sent over to be signed. I would say that is underhand.

3. We have two contracts where the delivery method clearly states collection from a Ford dealership’s premises. 

4. We were told we could have consecutive registration No.s with no problem when ordering the cars.

5. On the basis the cars were built and delivered on time, we were told we could collect the cars on 1st March, again, this was at the point of placing the orders

6. The cars were ordered at the beginning of August.

7. I asked the two individuals l spoke to not to divulge my conversation with them to avoid the exact situation that happened. The people l spoke to had nothing to do with the relevant sales department. They spoke to the sales department who then contacted the broker and told them l had said something l did not say. By relaying false information, they have caused further issues between myself and the broker. They were asked not to divulge my conversation on the days in question. As they did not have permission as per my request they have broken GDPR laws.

Four months on, in December, we were initially told we couldn’t have consecutive registrations. This is conflicting with what we were told at the point of order.

Three weeks ago, we were told we couldn’t collect the cars, that they don’t deliver on a weekend and that we can’t collect the cars.

They have had five months to tell us none of what was promised wouldn’t happen. 

To those making assumptions, regardless if you think it is trivial, l was under the impression when you sign a contract that it is legally binding. The method of delivery and delivery date are written in the contract. They have admitted and confirmed that everything stated is what was on the contract. Do I assume that those trivialising the issues would think it would be okay if they delivered a car not on the contract? I think not.

I have already stated the contract states the penalties we would face if we cancelled the orders. There is no mention in the contract what they would be liable for, other than to say we would have the right for any issue to be dealt with in an English court. 

To the person who assumes we only want to cancel the contract, you are way off track. Having placed orders in August after negotiating since July, we have waited months for these cars and want them as per the contracts. 

As for the outcome, I thought it was quite clear by the last question l asked. On the basis we are being ignored, can we sue for breach of contract if they do not deliver the cars as per our contracts?

lincroft1710

Oxford312 said:

. 

 

As for the outcome, I thought it was quite clear by the last question l asked. On the basis we are being ignored, can we sue for breach of contract if they do not deliver the cars as per our contracts?

Suing for breach of contract isn't an "outcome". If you want to sue you can sue, but you may not win and the process you follow will depend on what outcome you want if you sue

daveyjp

You can sue whoever you want, but you need to quantify your loss.  What is your loss?  Can you evidence it?  Can you convince a Judge that you are right and the well funded legal team of the company your are suing are wrong?

I'd start looking at the issue as the molehill it is, rather than a mountain you are seeing and start having an adult conversation with the broker and negotiate an ex gratia payment.  The problem is those bridges may have already been destroyed.

HillStreetBlues

cw8825 said:

As above
the 2 things you seem to be complaining about are both quite trivial.

It might be trivial to some people, but having a certain conditions written into a contract can't make it trivial to one party of the contract.
For example OP go to dealer A states what OP wants dealer A states they can't met those terms, so OP goes elsewhere, dealer B claims they can so OP signs with them of the basis of what is written in the contract.
Now dealer B states the terms can't be met now, dealer B could then be libel for inducing a contract on false promises.

Clearly there is a breach and OP can sue, but what the remedy is for that breach I don't know.