Car deposit refund

Okell

I assumed that the OP had seen the car while on holiday in England and had paid a reservation fee on it.

I don't otherwise see the point of paying a "deposit" while on holday at a car dealership 5 hours from your home(!).

saajan_12

Logmar said:

MyRealNameToo said:

Deposits arent generally refundable, if they are they serve no purpose at all because someone could put a deposit on every vehicle for sale and then cancel them all leaving the dealer massively out of pocket. 

What gave you the impression you could get the deposit back? 

You could go through the process of arguing that the deposit is excessive and exceeds the dealers losses but it could be a long hard fight with no certainty that you would win. 

Does the dealer have any alternative vehicles you're interested in? They may be more amenable to you switching the deposit to another vehicle.

This is what the seller said before I left the deposit - 
"Yes a £250 deposit will reserve the car until you come and view. The deposit is refundable if you’re not happy with the vehicle on inspection"

Normally a deposit isn't refundable but the above changes things. Was that verbally or in writing? As it'll be hard to prove given its not th enorm.

Rationally, you could go to view, declare you're not happy with it, and get your £250  back. Given the distance, you might want to negotiate with the dealer that it'll cost you £50 to travel to see it, why dont you split the difference and agree say £200-225 refund without viewing. Saves you the time / partial travel cost, when the dealer wasn't going to get anything else.  

eskbanker

Isn't "The deposit is refundable if you’re not happy with the vehicle on inspection" open to interpretation - the dealer could potentially argue that it relates to faults found, or 'not as described' scenarios, rather than giving the customer the unfettered right to walk away from the deal on a simple change of mind basis?

Alderbank

eskbanker said:

Isn't "The deposit is refundable if you’re not happy with the vehicle on inspection" open to interpretation - the dealer could potentially argue that it relates to faults found, or 'not as described' scenarios, rather than giving the customer the unfettered right to walk away from the deal on a simple change of mind basis?

No, it's not open to interpretation.

The T&Cs in a consumer contract have their ordinary English meaning unless specifically defined.

Car salesmen are usually just as happy as their customers to refund the deposit if the customer has made the effort to travel to the showroom even if they don't buy that car. It has cost the dealer nothing to pull a mark into the showroom and it gives them the opportunity to use their selling skills on a 'lovely little car which just came in yesterday and I shouldn't really be showing you.'

They know that the further the customer has had to travel, the better the prospects of a sale.

eskbanker

Point taken - I was thinking about all the places that dress up such offerings with 'for any reason', 'no-quibble guarantee', 'no questions asked', etc, but perhaps such terminology is redundant.  Also the old First Direct leaving bonus, where it was necessary to justify not being happy with the account.

Arunmor

Calling on the 7th and then not planning to see until the 19th is not great either.  Did you tell them your time schedules?

Undervalued

Logmar said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

But you were initially happy to travel to see it with no commitment to buy, so if you now do so and determine that it's not what you want, you'll get your deposit back.  That might be less hassle than what could be a lengthy process to try and get it back by other means.

I know what you mean. 
To me it's about being reasonable. I could understand if I didn't stay far from the seller. 
I just don't think he's being reasonable keeping the full amount. 

Reasonable works both ways!

The terms were......

"Yes a £250 deposit will reserve the car until you come and view. The deposit is refundable if you’re not happy with the vehicle on inspection"

You have not been to view the car so you cannot possibly have a reason to be unhappy with that particular vehicle.

daveyjp

Its a reservation fee (which removes the car from being available to others) not a deposit (which confirms the sale).

However the expectation with a reservation fee is you are going to turn up in a timely fashion to view the car.  If you don't want it the dealer can then refund you and can get the car back on the market.  Waiting weeks to go and view isn't IMHO reasonable.

I once saw a car advertised, called to say I'd be over to view the day after (about an hour drive), no mention of reservation option and when I turned up on time the day after the vehicle had been reserved overnight so it was no longer available.

However we have also just purchased a car from a dealer minutes away.  There was interest from another party from some distance away who were due to view the same day, but hadn't paid a reservation fee, so they missed out,