Can I cancel my new car order?
Discussion
Hi Guys,
I recently ordered a new car from a main dealer. I've paid my deposit and the remaining finance is all in place.
I'm out of the country at the moment and the car is due to be delivered to the dealer anytime now, and I should collect it when I get back into the UK in a couple of weeks.
The car will not have been registered yet.
To cut a long story short, this dealer is causing me some real problems with them not responding to any of my enquiries about the car, and it's really p*ssing me off.
To get some action from them, I'd like to threaten to cancel the order for the car and just get another one from another dealer. Can I do this or am I stuck now the sale is agreed and I've given them my deposit and sorted the finance?
If it makes any difference, I ordered the car and paid my deposit about 3 weeks ago.
I've never been in this situation before so I don't know where I stand. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks everyone.
If I was you then I would get the name of the dealer principle, speak to him directly giving the reason for your call and the name of the salesman that has p****d you off. A kick up the backside from the dealer principle will soon get the salesman's act together and try for some sort of freebie to soften the blow.
jjustin said:
Thanks guys.
I don't appear to have anything on my receipt saying "non-refundable", but I'll have a closer look later.
Regarding the dealer principal, what actually is that? Is the dealer principal like an area manager who is responsible for all dealers in his area?
Thanks
No the dealer principle is the guy (or gal) in charge of that dealership, he/she would have the most direct impact on the inept salesman!
If you signed an order and paid a desposit you have most likely entered into a legally binding contract to purchase the vehicle, there will be terms and conditions on the paperwork. Unless the dealer has breached his side of the contracts terms and conditions you cant just cancel because they have annoyed you in some way and expect your deposit back.
I would suggest you calmly as to speak to the salesmanager or dealer principle, put your points over to them and ask them to rectify the situation. main dealers are often paid by the manufacturer to acheive certain levels of customer satisfaction so make it clear in a firm but polite way that unless something is sorted you will be complaining to the manufacturer about the dealership. Keep calm and focused and you will be more likely to get results than picking the phone up and ranting at them.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 14:40
I would suggest you calmly as to speak to the salesmanager or dealer principle, put your points over to them and ask them to rectify the situation. main dealers are often paid by the manufacturer to acheive certain levels of customer satisfaction so make it clear in a firm but polite way that unless something is sorted you will be complaining to the manufacturer about the dealership. Keep calm and focused and you will be more likely to get results than picking the phone up and ranting at them.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 14:40
dick dastardly said:
I had a Boxster on order a few years back which I no longer wanted and they just gave me my deposit back. No quibble, no fuss, all I really lost was interest on a few grand while they had it.
This will often occur if the car you are buying is something in demand with a waiting list, in this case the dealer will have customers biting his/her arm off to get into the car! On the other hand if the car is some horrible thing in the wrong clour or wrong specification the dealer will struggle to sell it on and will be likely to keep the deposit to cover the stocking charges for having the car sat around till it sells.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 14:49
Have you actually signed the finance documents? If not, there is no legally binding contract as such and you would be entitled to a full refund of your deposit. The reason being, the deposit is shown on the finance documents as part payment for the new vehicle, the finance docs aren't enforcable if they're not signed!
If you have signed, you can still cancel provided you haven't received the second set of signed documents from the finance company, (the agreement only becomes 'formal' once you have).
Phil
If you have signed, you can still cancel provided you haven't received the second set of signed documents from the finance company, (the agreement only becomes 'formal' once you have).
Phil
Philhopkins said:
Have you actually signed the finance documents? If not, there is no legally binding contract as such and you would be entitled to a full refund of your deposit. The reason being, the deposit is shown on the finance documents as part payment for the new vehicle, the finance docs aren't enforcable if they're not signed!
If you have signed, you can still cancel provided you haven't received the second set of signed documents from the finance company, (the agreement only becomes 'formal' once you have).
Phil
The finance docs are a secondary issue as the order form is the legally binding contract for the customer to purchase the vehicle, if the customer has agreed to pay a deposit to the dealer and also asked the dealer to arrange finance for the balance and the dealer has done so the dealer has not breached his contract to sell the car to the customer.
Obviously the dealer cannot force the customer to sign the finance docs so has no prospect of getting the customer to take the car!
If the buyer fails to complete the contract the dealer would be entitled to seek to enforce the contract or seek recompense. This would be in the terms and conditions on the order form signed by the customer, all car order forms i've seen contain the following statement in the t&c's,
- "if you fail to take and pay for the goods within 21 days of notification that the goods are available for delivery we may treat the contract as cancelled and keep any deposit paid by you"
By signing the order you have entered into a contract to buy the car and to be bound by those t&c's.
A set of car finance docs are vaild, enforcable and non cancelable the moment they are signed, if the are signed on trade (i.e the dealers) premises which is why the dealer makes you go to them to sign the docs. The exceptions to this are distance contracts and when the docs are not signed on trade premises. It would be highly unlikely that the customer would not recieve a signed set of docs from the finance co as the dealer faxes the docs to the finance co to secure payment on the deal.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 17:49
marcusrx said:
Have you actually signed the finance documents? If not, there is no legally binding contract as such and you would be entitled to a full refund of your deposit. The reason being, the deposit is shown on the finance documents as part payment for the new vehicle, the finance docs aren't enforcable if they're not signed!
If you have signed, you can still cancel provided you haven't received the second set of signed documents from the finance company, (the agreement only becomes 'formal' once you have).
Phil
The finance docs are a secondary issue as the order form is the legally binding contract for the customer to purchase the vehicle, if the customer has asked the dealer to arrange finance and the dealer has done so the dealer has not breached his contract to sell the car to the customer.
The deposit is still classed as part of the finance agreement and will be shown as such on the order form, they legally aren't entitled to keep it if the finance documents haven't been signed for the reasons state above
Obviously the dealer cannot force the customer to sign the finance docs so has no prospect of getting the customer to take the car!
Yup
If the buyer fails to complete the contract the dealer would be entitled to seek to enforce the contract or seek recompense. This would be in the terms and conditions on the order form signed by the customer, all car order forms i've seen contain the following statement in the t&c's,
- "if you fail to take and pay for the goods within 21 days of notification that the goods are available for delivery we may treat the contract as cancelled and keep any deposit paid by you"
By signing the order you have entered into a contract to buy the car and to be bound by those t&c's.
See above
A set of car finance docs are vaild, enforcable and uncancelable the moment they are signed, if the are signed on trade (i.e the dealers) premises. The exceptions to this are distance contracts and when the docs are not signed on trade premises.
A finance document isn't binding until signed by both parties, just as with most contracts
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 17:35
Phil you seem to be confusing the issue of ordering and financing a car?
If you order a car you enter into a contract to buy it, that is what an order form is , a contract to buy the vehicle, you sign it = you enter a contract. End of.
This is why dealerships get a customer to sign an order. The deposit is paid to the dealer as part payment for the vehicle not the finance co, they provide the funding for the balance of the agreement. The deposit is treated as a part payment for the goods thus reducing the outstanding balance due to the dealer from the finance company.
The finance contract is signed on non cancellable docs unless you have entered into a distance contract or signing them off trade premises. Non cancellable does what it says on the tin! If you sign them you do not have a right to cancel them. This is why finance companies can provide cancellable or non cancellable docs depending on the circumstances of where the docs are signed. Car finance is a tri-party agreement between the dealer customer and fiance co, all these parties have rights! The finance co will send the customer a signed copy of the docs by post after they have recieved them from the dealer ususally, this is a natural time lag due to postal service etc it does not confir a right to cancel them.
Im sure at your dealership you get customers to sign an order and pay a deposit before you order a very expensive car (especially if it is a factory order with lots of options) or are you saying you dont get any form of commitment from the customer before you go ahead with a deal??
You seem to be totally ignoring the legal implication of the order form itself.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 18:11
If you order a car you enter into a contract to buy it, that is what an order form is , a contract to buy the vehicle, you sign it = you enter a contract. End of.
This is why dealerships get a customer to sign an order. The deposit is paid to the dealer as part payment for the vehicle not the finance co, they provide the funding for the balance of the agreement. The deposit is treated as a part payment for the goods thus reducing the outstanding balance due to the dealer from the finance company.
The finance contract is signed on non cancellable docs unless you have entered into a distance contract or signing them off trade premises. Non cancellable does what it says on the tin! If you sign them you do not have a right to cancel them. This is why finance companies can provide cancellable or non cancellable docs depending on the circumstances of where the docs are signed. Car finance is a tri-party agreement between the dealer customer and fiance co, all these parties have rights! The finance co will send the customer a signed copy of the docs by post after they have recieved them from the dealer ususally, this is a natural time lag due to postal service etc it does not confir a right to cancel them.
Im sure at your dealership you get customers to sign an order and pay a deposit before you order a very expensive car (especially if it is a factory order with lots of options) or are you saying you dont get any form of commitment from the customer before you go ahead with a deal??
You seem to be totally ignoring the legal implication of the order form itself.
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 18:11
Thread hijack.
Hey Marcus, you working over the BH weekend then? If not, get yourself over to Pistonfest, even if its just for one day.
Back on topic, wouldnt have been like this with Daewoo eh Marcus? Customer rings up wanting to cancel? Yes sir, no problem. No need to give a deposit back because we never bothered to take them in the 1st place. And can you remember as a point of principle I never used to get a signed order either, the customer wants it or they dont, so WTF difference does a squiggle on some paper make?
Then we'd find the salesman and all chant "You've had a cocker! you've had a cocker!" Great days eh.
Hey Marcus, you working over the BH weekend then? If not, get yourself over to Pistonfest, even if its just for one day.
Back on topic, wouldnt have been like this with Daewoo eh Marcus? Customer rings up wanting to cancel? Yes sir, no problem. No need to give a deposit back because we never bothered to take them in the 1st place. And can you remember as a point of principle I never used to get a signed order either, the customer wants it or they dont, so WTF difference does a squiggle on some paper make?
Then we'd find the salesman and all chant "You've had a cocker! you've had a cocker!" Great days eh.marcusrx said:
Im sure at your dealership you get customers to sign an order and pay a deposit before you order a very expensive car (especially if it is a factory order with lots of options) or are you saying you dont get any form of commitmnent from the customer before you go ahead with a deal??
As far as i've always been taught, if a buyer is paying cash, the deposit & subsequent signed order are a legally binding contract. Where a (dealer) finance case is concerned as you said, it's a tri-party agreement, the customer has ordered the car but the finance company are going to pay for it. The deposit is shown as a deposit towards the total finance balance (ie invoice price of the vehicle), in this instance you are technically collecting the deposit on behalf of the finance company. With that in mind, it is not *your* money to claim in the event that the customer cocks. In theory the deposit should be payable direct to the finance co, then the full balance paid to the dealer. However, this rarely happens (Bank Of Scotland being one of the exceptions).
I take your point about the non-cancellable agreement, though again, this view differs from what I have always been taught. Not being a lawyer myself, I wouldn't be prepared to stake my life on it.
The deposit is a part payment for the goods paid to the dealer , the fin co funds the balance which is why it is split out on the docs, order form and invoice showing what is due from each party in the contract. The fin co has agreed to lend the customer the money for the balance due not the entirety of the cars value in exchange for which they will take leagl title to the goods until the customer has paid them that remaining balance plus interest etc The consumer credit act confirs 1/2's & 1/3rds to the customer to help protect the customers intrest. In some types of agreement such as contract hire where the customer can never acheive ownership of the car the fin/lease co take ownership of the vehicle and the customer leases it from them , in this case a sum of rentals such a 3 payments ufront is normally paid direct to the fin/lease co not the dealer
>> Edited by marcusrx on Friday 21st April 18:36
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