Thread: Deposit refund on inaccurately described car

Any advice on the following would be much appreciated:

In September I placed a £250 deposit on a car with an independent garage. In between placing the deposit and paying the balance I found out that an HPI check on the car was not clear, as had been advertised, but that there was a discrepancy in the mileage record. I had been specifically told that no mileage information was available and given a print out of the HPI check confirming this. The true HPI information shows that the car was not used for 2 years, no service history was available for this period.
I returned to the garage and said that I was no longer happy to pay the previously agreed price (£2500), but was willing to negotiate with them. They refused to negotiate, and also refused to return my deposit.
After a great deal of communication with credit card companies and trading standards the garage have now offered me £100 of my deposit back. I am inclined to accept this as I know that the alternative is to take them to court, where I believe I have a reasonable chance of winning, but it will obviously be a lot of hassle.
Although general advice would be welcome I have some specific questions:

1) In these circumstances is £100 a reasonable offer?
2) The offer of the £100 refund has come through trading standards, if I accept, but the garage do not then pay up (I have very little faith in their honesty) will trading standards enforce this fine, and if not, will I have damaged my chances of successfully taking them to court by accepting this amount
3) What are my chances of getting the whole deposit back if I do take them to court (I assume small claims court would be the appropriate place to challenge them)

What was the purpose of the deposit and did you gat a reeipt and if so what did it say. Was the deposit paid to hold the car to prevent them selling to somebody else why got the remainder of the money sorted and would be part of the total sale price. If so then you are in the same position as if you had paid all the money and then found something wrong i.e it had been misrepresented and you will be entitled to all your nonies back including the deposit.

Thanks for the advice. On initial discussion with trading standards they told me that the misdescription didn't warrant my rejection of the car, as it wasn't a major matter. I disagree with this on two grounds, firstly, there are 2 years of the cars history that are effectively blank, and secondly, because when paying a lot of money for something I want to feel confident that I am buying it from a company that are open and honest with their customers.
If I did take the case to court, would the size of the misdescription be relevant (to clarify, I was told their is no mileage history, but there were several entries in the HPI check. I have documentary evidence of this).
Finally, as I paid the deposit using my credit card can I hold my bank jointly liable? I have lost all faith in the car dealer and think I would struggle to get the money from them even if they lost the case.

Thanks for your help
Sam