Car salesman taken money from card

vauxsupertouring

We recently had a bit of trouble with a new (used) car so after having it four weeks, we sent it back wednesday and wanted a refund.
The car salesman charged us £75 for picking the car up (it couldn't be driven 60 miles back to the dealership because the problem was faulty steering) which we accepted to pay because we've had so much trouble with this guy we just wanted the car gone to be honest.

We paid £2995 for the car, accepted that the guy would deduct £75 from the refund to pay for transporting it back, so we should have got £2920 back in refund. The money went in today and he only refunded us £2869. This is £51 less than we expected.
My dad called him and said what's that for, he said two months road tax. (We haven't even had the car for two months and the deal was, we'll only buy it if it's taxed)

This guy didn't even tell us he was planning to take two months road tax off it let alone ask for my dad's permission. As the car was bought off my dad's credit card, the refund was processed by reversing the charge, but as this guy took more money than we agreed to pay,obviously using dad's card details without dad's knowledge, is this card fraud? If so, what to do about it?

jonesMUFCforever

Did you pay the tax seperately (on the invoice)?
If so it is your tax and you should claim the tax back with the disc.

This seems to me to be a case when he is trying to recover his costs incurred by you paying by credit card in the first place.

I think you could try through your father a disputed transaction rather than go through the garage.

PBA

Road tax is based on calendar months, so if you bought the tax disc in February then cashed it in in March you'd have to pay for 2 months. As such this sounds like a fair charge if the tax was included in the purchase price.

Edit: Just thought though, you might get a better response to this in the motoring forum.

CLAPTON

contact trading standards as the car was clearly unfit for usage.

vauxsupertouring

Thanks very much will re-post it in motoring forum. the dispute isn't over us paying for the tax it's the fact that he took the money from dad's card without even telling us he was deducting two months road tax, let alone ask permission to take the money.

vauxsupertouring

Also, that charge for the tax isn't for the two months we've supposedly had it, it's the remaining four months on a tax price that isn't valid anyway. On the receipt he put the tax being £77 but it's not it's £90.75 for that particular car. £51 is the remaining four months worth of tax. Surely he would claim that back off DVLA so why is he charging us for four months worth of road tax? He's a complete scammer. Me and my dad would like to know where to go with it next.

NickX

Unfortunately, some car salesman are can practice some very dodgy tactics when dealing with customers.

The fact that your car developed a steering fault within 2 months of ownership is very poor - all used cars should be checked over for safety items before leaving for forecourt and this should be checked. Under the Sale of Goods Act the products is deemed "unfit for purchase" and you are doing the right thing to return it.

Personally I do not think he should be allowed to apply a £75 charge for picking up the car, when it is completely his responsibility that he sold you a faulty vehicle.

With regard to the tax, I think that it is not unreasonable to say that he is going to lose 2 months worth of tax when if he was to reclaim it, but he should have explained this clearly upfront and taken off the correct amount equating to 2 months tax. He did not explain it up front, and he has taken more than 2 months worth - this is fraudulent in my opinion.

You may get some assistance from the Credit Card company, but because its a refund its not going to be a straight forward "fraudulent transaction" case. It may be worth finding who owns the garage, make an official complaint to them and demand a full refund or you will go to Trading Standards. If they do not comply, then go to Trading Standards. This sort of publicity will do the garage no good at all, I'm sure they would rather refund you the money that they owe to you. Good Luck.