Buying Ferraris from Traders

[hunter 66]

Recently bought a 612 from Bob Forstner in Park Lane , Dan Z was an absolute pleasure to deal with ..... traders earn their keep and it is a tough job .

[hornbaek]

I put doen a 2k deposit for a Vanquish S some time ago with a high end trader (not a franchised dealer) . Over the following week end I talked to a number of Vanquish owners and they all told me about a yellow "check engine light" which the car i had seen on the Friday had. I decided not to pursue this car for that reason and called the dealer on the following Monday. He refused to give me back the 2k as he argued that he could have sold the car the during the Sunday and now had been refused to do so. I never got my money back as i considered legal costs to be higher than the 2k i had invested in the process. I would stay well clear of these non-franchised dealers.

[JMP86]

Did you give the trader a chance to rectify the engine light? something as simple as a flat battery can cause warning lights to appear on the dash, seems a little rash to reject a car purely because of a warning light being present without knowing the cause of the light.

[hornbaek]

If you are familiar with the Vanquish ( -07) you would know that a yellow check engine light is a bit of a mystery and can be caused by many things - i just choose not to acquire the car as result. I don't think that you need to justify why you want refundable deposit to be returned. Change of mind is a fully justifiable reason if your don't delay your answer unduly. In my case it was 48 hours later and the dealer had not done (or for that sake moved the vehicle) in between.

[Stryke]

hornbaek said:

I never got my money back as i considered legal costs to be higher than the 2k i had invested in the process. I would stay well clear of these non-franchised dealers.

Why not just issue a claim in the county court? minimal cost, no initial hassle. Why let the dealer get away with it?

[xxx2]

hornbaek said:

If you are familiar with the Vanquish ( -07) you would know that a yellow check engine light is a bit of a mystery and can be caused by many things - i just choose not to acquire the car as result. I don't think that you need to justify why you want refundable deposit to be returned. Change of mind is a fully justifiable reason if your don't delay your answer unduly. In my case it was 48 hours later and the dealer had not done (or for that sake moved the vehicle) in between.

How did you pay the deposit ?
Did you get anything in writing that confirmed the deposit would be refundable and if so, under what circumstances.