Car Finance Help

[Jamiekrux]

Hi, I am having a problem with a notorious car dealer and

I am unable to contact trading standards due to all of the bank holidays

so i have turned to a forum for advice!

 

The problem is they rushed me into the sale of a car without mentioning the hidden charges until i had already agreed,

such as a £100 deposit for a finance check and a risk fee of £8 per month ontop of what the car costs me,

 

they then missold me a guarantee for the car by telling me it covered everything except rubber parts,

which in reality it covers nothing unless something blows up or falls off,

 

The next day i went to get the car, they delivered it to my home and now it is out of the showroom

i can see the bumpers are slightly off colour and there are several well hidden dents etc

meaning it was probably involved in an unreported accident,

not to mention i researched the price of the car

and i am paying more than what it would have cost to buy this thing new

and its 3 years old!

 

i am really unhappy with the process and being led to believe i was getting a good deal.

 

Also they delivered the car without a second form of proof of address which is NEEDED to secure the finance deal,

so im pretty sure if i do not supply this they cannot complete it.

 

When i returned to see them today i brought a copy of a letter i was going to send to their head office,

they quickly resolved the issue with the guarantee and

told me the letter would have only come back to him, im not so sure it would have,

he then assured me that trying to get out of the contract would be a long road to take,

 

basically i want to know if i can legally refuse to give them the evidence and return the car,

or if there is a cooling off period even though the contract says "you have no right to cancel",

 

I signed at the dealership.

 

Thanks Jamie.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Jamiekrux

[IdaInFife]

Ho Jamie,

 

I have moved this to a more appropriate foirum,

 

How long ago did you purhcase the car?

 

Which company? carcraft by any chance?

[Jamiekrux]

yes carcraft, and the first signature i gave was on the 31st of december, however the credit agreement was signed yesterday.

[blackknight]

Under the new consumer credit directive you have a 14 day cooling off period for the finace but this does not include the the car,that is a seperate entity with carcraft

 

The address requirement for finance is just a copy of your driving licence showing your current address.

 

If they do not supply the correct details to the finance company they will not be paid for the car

[Jamiekrux]

What are you trying to say?

 

If they are not paid for the car surely they will have to collect it from me as they have given me something I am not financed for.

 

All I want to know is will the agreement be cancelled and the car returned if the finance is declined.

 

If not then what will happen?

 

and regardless,

 

could I still cancel the credit agreement by using the cooling off period?

 

thanks.

[dx100uk]

you have 14 days

 

cancel the whole thing

 

dx

[blackknight]

The Finance and the car purchase are two seperate items.

Under the new rules you can cancel the finance within 14 days,but you will still have to sort out the car purchase with the garage.

 

If they did not follow the correct identification proceduere,then the finance company would not pay the garage. But this is unlikely as they are an experienced garage

[Jamiekrux]

It may sound unlikely but they already admitted to me that they can not complete the credit agreement for one of the lenders without this evidence of address, basically they screwed up by giving me the car hoping i would have a statement at home i could give them to return with. it has also come to my attention i was mis sold the car right from the start, i arrived 30 minutes before the showroom closed with nothing on me as i had no intention of buying knowing how pushy salesmen can be, i was told i was getting a great offer and that i would not beat the VAT increase unless i bought it that day as it was increasing on the 1st of january. this was a complete lie as it doesnt increase til tomorrow and i was unaware of the exact date. without telling me that, i would have left the showroom to research car prices for myself.

[crem]

it has also come to my attention i was mis sold the car right from the start, i arrived 30 minutes before the showroom closed with nothing on me as i had no intention of buying knowing how pushy salesmen can be, i was told i was getting a great offer and that i would not beat the VAT increase unless i bought it that day as it was increasing on the 1st of january. this was a complete lie as it doesnt increase til tomorrow and i was unaware of the exact date.

 

They also seem to have forgotten to mention that VAT only applies to new items and therefore a purchase of a 2nd hand vehicle is not affected in any way by the change to VAT!

[Jamiekrux]

Researching round they can still charge VAT but only for profit, im not sure if the VAT we pay as consumers would affect that if it rose, i guess ill find out tomorrow when trading standards opens back up, Here is the update.

 

Barclays has already paid out to Carcraft for the credit. im not sure how i stand with the address evidence now, i dont know if they will pull out if they dont get it, I will call them tomorrow and explain the dodgy way they have provided finance, they are using barclays to supply most of the money, then another lender (which they are using the money from barclays to pay the deposit) to provide the rest of the money.

 

I will Inform barclays of this, maybe they will object to it, and explain i will not provide proof of address.

 

I left the car and keys at carcraft and walked off, They claim it will be delivered back to me.

 

The manager of carcraft explained to me i have 14 days to cancel the finance only and will have to provide the money from somewhere else instead, Is this true? if so i am still stuck with the car.

 

I think i will have to pursue the route of Trading Standards and FSA as they really did pressure me into this sale, I told them many times i couldnt make such a decision on the spot and needed time to think, but they insisted i was getting the last minute deal of the day, missing the vat increase etc etc one excuse after the other that i should buy it, with the odd "its up to you, but...." thrown in there. a phrase they use loosely as they only say it to try and cover themselves.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Jamiekrux

[crem]

Researching round they can still charge VAT but only for profit,

 

Please explain?

[Jamiekrux]

Well any company can charge VAT on pre owned goods but it isn't going to the tax man it will go straight to the business as a profit

[blackknight]

A garageis charged vat on the profit they make when selling the car, so if they make £1000 profit they get charged £175 vat,at the new rate they will get charged £200.

So £25 extra on every £1000 profit made.

They may increase prices by £100 but they cannot pass it on to customers as an extra cost.

[crem]

Well any company can charge VAT on pre owned goods but it isn't going to the tax man it will go straight to the business as a profit

 

Then it's not VAT, it's fraud!

[crem]

A garage is charged vat on the profit they make when selling the car,

 

No they are not. VAT is a new item sales tax, being charged tax on company profits is nothing to do with VAT.

[Jamiekrux]

Well after speaking to trading standards they gave me a template letter to send to carcraft and the lenders, basically saying they misrepresented the sale. Other than that there is no cooling off period or cancellation right as the finance has been awarded and is executed. They tell me it will be hard to prove this case. I called barclays myself in the meantime and they have acknowledged my complaint and are investigating apparently. I picked the car back up as I am still liable and don't trust them.

[blackknight]

No they are not. VAT is a new item sales tax, being charged tax on company profits is nothing to do with VAT.

 

Have been selling cars now for 20 years and the garage pays vat on any profit made on the sale of a used car,it is not vat on the car but vat on the difference between buying and selling the car.

we also pay tax on the profit.

 

Its a hard life!!!!

[crem]

the garage pays vat on any profit made on the sale of a used car,it is not vat on the car but vat on the difference between buying and selling the car.

 

You may pay some type of tax on differences in prices between buying and selling a car (although I fail to see why as this is simply a company profit which are taxed at a later date anyway) but it cannot be Value Added Tax calculated at 20% of the retail price of the car when first sold. If it were the case that 2nd hand cars incurred VAT, then every time any one of us sold our old car for say £3,000, then by your calculation we should send the VAT man £500. I think not!

[blackknight]

Its 20% of the profit made, if we make 3000 profit we pay £600 vat (20% x £3000 = 600)

It has Nothing to do with the price of the car new or used.check with the garage you buy your cars from.

and its only garages that pay it.

There is no Vat on the car itself just the profit we make.

and yes we still pay tax on the profits as well.

[Jamiekrux]

Been in touch with the financial ombudsman who will be investigating also. I'm not hopeful.

I believe this will be a lesson well learnt and a notice to anyone else who finds themselves in this situation.

[blackknight]

Did you actually pay them any money or PX a car??

 

And trading standards are wrong about the finance. you have a 14 day cooling of period to cancel the finance,ring the finance company and ask them the question directly mentioning the new consumer credit directive.

It started on the 25th nov 2010.

[Jamiekrux]

According to trading standards even if I cancel the credit I basically have to pay for the car myself within 14 days. Not something i want to jump into without official proof I can return the car. I paid £100 deposit

[blackknight]

If you have not paid a deposit or left a part exchange car what can they except take you to court and then the whole story comes out.

If you paid a deposit or pxed a carits a different story and out of my knowledge

[Jamiekrux]

Update: They sent me a letter saying they werent going to do anything as they were "undecided" as to whether they were going to increase their prices to combat the vat increase (on the night before they were supposed to do it!!!)

 

I have been advised to ask for a final decision letter from them so i have sent them this

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in regards to a complaint against your company, I would like to cancel the NAC 3 year guarantee accompanying my vehicle. I was told by the general manager of Carcraft Newport he would cancel it for me on the 2nd January 2011 so I am unsure as to why I need to provide this letter.

Furthermore I find it very hard to believe that by the closing of the showroom on the 31st of December, there was no decision made on whether the prices of your cars would increase upon opening the following morning. The salesman was consistent with the fact it WOULD increase, If this was only an assumption he should not have provided me with that information, this is very unprofessional for a self proclaimed #1 car hypermarket and more importantly I believe this to be desperate attempt at an excuse. I will continue to pursue this case with Barclays, The Financial Ombudsman and The Office Of Fair Trading, Therefore if you are not going to provide a resolution I would like a final decision letter to supply to these companies.

[dx100uk]

i have asked the carcraft official rep whom joined us recently here on CAG to pop in to this thread for you.

 

dx

 

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