Legal options when gazumped after deposit paid!?

[scottmiddleton]

Hey everyone,

I'm far from a regular contributor to these forums but I'd be really grateful for anyone's advice who may have been in a similar situation, or knows someone who was a victim of similarly unscrupulous behaviour from a car garage. I'll do my best to cut a long story short...

I put a deposit down on a car almost 2 weeks ago now (£500 deposit on a £20000 car, advertised on Autotrader, Trade seller - reputable at first glance with circa 40 cars for sale). I noticed that the price on Autotrader was raised as soon as I put down the deposit (text message saying not to worry, car is mine for £20k, he always does this to "protect future car prices" - naive of me to accept this, I know now). There was some delay to arranging delivery, and 2 days prior to delivery, the trade seller contacted me to say the car had broken down and it is being towed to another garage for it to be inspected.

I also noticed that the vehicle has now been taxed (whereas it wasn't before when I checked on the DVLA website). I had taken out a £21k loan, insured it, and paid for a parking permit, and I now suspect that the car has been sold to someone else at the higher price when it was left on autotrader after the deposit was put down. The dealer was so quick to offer a deposit return that I knew something wasn't right - a quick check on the DVLA website with the car reg told me that a new V5C has been issued that day prior to him offering me my deposit back. Essentially he was stringing me along as a backup and managed to find a buyer at the higher price.

As a doctor requiring the car urgently for a new job in the NHS, I find this possible unscrupulous behaviour completely abhorrent. I was wondering if there is any advice anyone might have on how to proceed. I've had minimal financial burden as a result (more as a result of luck than anything), but a lot of wasted time and stress. My main aim is to prevent this happening to someone else.

I look forward to hearing your ideas! Thus far, I've written to Autotrader (providing evidence of the price manipulation with texts and dates etc), the FCA, VSTAG, Consumer Advice (Scotland), and actionfraud.police.uk.

Cheers,

Scott

p.s. Hope the story makes sense. Can you feel the anger!?

[cootuk]

Unless it's a particularly rare specification or model, move on. As a Dr you should well know that the stress isn't worth it. Dealers are opening up again, so another much better car is just around the corner.

[jimmyt1202]

Unfortunately as you haven’t signed a vehicle order I don’t think you have anywhere to go

[jgrewal]

Mate that sounds really crap situation and he's definitely had you as a backup in case he can't hit the new price. To be honest chalk it up as lesson learnt and get a better deal somewhere else. It wasn't meant to be this car! Plus if this is how he practices his business who knows what the car would have been like. If you want to make yourself feel a bit better maybe write a letter to him saying you have reported to Autotrader for his bad practice. Might make him think next time.

[ZX10R NIN]

Unless it was a particularity rare car then I'd just go & find another it happens a fair bit, just move on.

[VR99]

Not sure what type of dealer it was but at that price point (£20k) I wouldn't be dealing with a non-franchise/non-main dealer. It won't guarantee that it can't happen again and you may not get as good a deal in terms of spec/model but I'd assume it's at least slightly less likely to happen with a main dealer. Not everyone will agree with my approach and it's not meant as a slight on other trade dealers but once you are in £15k and above territory I'd rather do that.

[stevemcs]

Just leave a review on Autotrader, Google and Facebook, then move on with your life.

[RichardDastardly]

You don’t necessarily need to have signed a paper contract for there to be a theoretical claim, but there is no point incurring legal costs/stress in pursuing this.

You’ve already spent time writing a detailed logical account (on here) so perhaps use that as a basis to contact Trading Standards and leave a couple of negative online reviews to make yourself feel better.

Maybe look at it like this, given that the dealer looks to have been a complete turd, perhaps you’re better off buying from someone less dishonest anyway.

Good luck with your purchase when it happens.

[John Laverick]

Chalk it up to experiance and move on ...

[Dimebars]

Is it totally inconceivable that;

1. The car was taxed to you?
2. The new V5C issued the day before you were offered your deposit back is in your name?
3. The car is actually broken and needs money spent on to make it sale-worthy
4. He's not willing to pay that amount
5. He will dispose of it via the trade and cut his losses
6. You're now no worse off than when you started

£20k cars are everywhere.................

[scottmiddleton]

Hey guys,

Thanks a lot for the advice. It's pretty similar to what my friends and family have said. I think I will save myself the stress and follow the negative advice route, however annoying it may be...

Cheers,

Scott

[Petrus1983]

You’ve also saved yourself the stress of needing to deal with someone like that if something happened to the car.

Certainly leave bad reviews which will help future customers - any legal action would just give yourself a headache that you don’t need.

[PaulJC84]

I agree with others I would move on. If the trader is like that I would not want to give them the money if they are messing people about like that.

Good luck finding another car.