Deposit paid to finance, car dealer keeping it

[AbigailLouise0691]

I shall keep an incredibly long stort very short. I am just after some advice before I lodge a county court claim. 

 

August last year i went to purchase a car, paid £300 deposit to the "finance company" - it shows on my finance agreement.

The following day I cancelled as the cost to run the car was far too much.

 

The finance company were 100% happy with this as they hadn't paid out for the car yet. 

The dealer on the other hand had a meltdown, told me they would only refund £150 of my deposit the rest went to "cover costs" of recovering the car and staff that processed my paperwork.  Now if the deposit was paid to the finanace company, as per my agreement. Are the dealer allowed to keep half? 

 

They never gave me any documentation stating the costs should I withdraw, which after reading around they should have.

I never signed an agreement with the dealer, just the finance company. 

 

Legally are they allowed to withhold the £150 when it technically was a deposit for the finance and no agreement was signed with the dealer.

 

The below was not provided by the dealer. 

 

[BankFodder]

Very briefly, if you bought a vehicle in store rather than off-premises, then the contract would be binding at that moment.

 

The image you have reproduced above refers to off-premises contracts. Is that what you did? Or did you buy the car from the showroom?

[AbigailLouise0691]

I "purchased" the car at the dealer but they said I HAD to sign the agreement with the finanace company before they would transferred the car from another store. 

The car was not on site at the time of the signing the finance agreement. They are a cowboy finanace and car dealership, which now I have spoken to a few other people and they have been screwed over in one way or another by the dealership. 

 

I know I am an idiot for signing the agreement without seeing the car but the finanace company had the 14 cooling off period in the contract so I assumed id be safe if the car arrived and it wasnt for me as the contract and deposit were paid to the finanace company NOT the dealership. 

 

[BankFodder]

Was this a straight loan or was it hire purchase in some form or other?

[AbigailLouise0691]

It was a hire purchase agreement 

[BankFodder]

Thank you. The situation is that you bought the car from the finance company – that is you agreed to hire a car from the finance company and then eventually have an option to purchase it once all of the agreed instalments were made.

They had a 14 day cooling off period in their contract – which was regardless of whether or not it was a distance contract. I understand that you paid the deposit to the finance company and because of the 14 day cooling off period they would be required to return it to you.

I have you asked the dealer for the return of the deposit?

[AbigailLouise0691]

I did ask the dealer for the deposit back, they returned  £150 and said the other £150 is to cover the cost of the dealership having to go and collect the car. They are adamant I cant have it back, I asked for invoices ect for the costs that were incurred to collect the car, these were never provided. I have no signed agreement with the dealership. 

 

Which is where my confusion lies, if the deposit was paid to the finance company, are the dealer legally allowed to keep half as it was never intended for them. The £300 deposit shows on my finance agreement. 

 

Would I be wasting my time filing a court claim against the dealership. 

[BankFodder]

Well as I understand situation, I think you should be dealing with the finance company. I think that you should write to them and tell them that there was a 14 day cooling off period and as you cancelled the contract within that period you want an entire refund of your money – unless they can show you something in the contract which gives them the right to hang on to a portion of your deposit.

Give them seven days or else you will start a complaint to the ombudsman. It might be quicker to start this on the telephone – but if you do I suggest that you read our customer services guide and implement the advice there before making the call. If you do make the call then follow our customer services guide advice very closely and then confirm in writing with them exactly what has been discussed and what has been agreed.

If you do begin an ombudsman over the phone then make sure that they read out to you exactly what your complaint will contain and make sure that you correct it as necessary. However they will ask for the initial eight week investigation time before going formal to the ombudsman.

I think that is probably the best way to start – although you could move immediately to a small claim in the County Court if you want it. It's up to you.

 

[AbigailLouise0691]

I contacted the finance company and recieved the below response, the £300 deposit does show on my finance agreement with them. 

[BankFodder]

Have I misunderstood something? I had gathered that the deposit had been paid to the finance company.

 

[AbigailLouise0691]

With it showing on my finance agreement I thought it had been paid to them. 

There was never anything documeting that it had been paid to the dealership. 

They processed the £150 refund but i assumed at the time it was on behalf of the finance company.

 

Shouldnt there have been something that said it was paid to the dealership, a receipt maybe? 

[BankFodder]

Well you pay £300 to somebody. Who was it you paid to?

[dx100uk]

scan up the finance agreement to pdf please read upload carefully

[AbigailLouise0691]

The finance company have said that the £300 was paid to the dealership, which is why the partial refund came from the dealership and not the finance company. 

 

When the £150 was refunded I did question the dealership and they said they were keeping the £150 to cover the costs of the pick up of the car and to cover the wages of the sales staff that worked on my agreement for me then to decide I didn't want the car, it was viewed as wasted time on their part. 

 

This is why I have asked about the claims part, shouldn't the dealership have made me sign something for me paying them a deposit, some form of receipt detailing T&Cs of refunds should have been given to me?

 

I handed over £300 and received nothing from them and then they keep £150 stating its to cover costs that have not been outlined anywhere in any agreement.

 

I asked for an invoice for the costs that the £150 covered and I never received it, they refused to communicate with me via email once the £150 had been refunded, it was like they didn't want anything detailing on "paper" only verbally. 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

Agreement please to pdf

[AbigailLouise0691]

I am unable to remove all my personal information from the PDF doc, I am not comfortable posting all my personal details online for the world to see. I can however screen shot the agreement from the finance company.

 

I have also found and email that I sent to the dealership as they wanted to keep the full £300 to cover costs of drivers, box fittings ect. the email details what was discussed with them on the phone. 

[AbigailLouise0691]

Finance agreement 

 

I have found an email chain with the dealership regarding the £300 payment and what "costs" it apparently covered. 

Finance agreement.pdf

Edited January 12, 2020 by AbigailLouise0691

[dx100uk]

post that up too please

or if you want to message me with them 

click my username and hit message and i'll redact them .

 

dx

 

[dx100uk]

can we have all the figures back in the agreement please!

only need to remove Op's address and car details. like reg/vin 

[AbigailLouise0691]

Hello, 

 

I am incredibly sorry for not replying back in January, I have been poorly so dealing with this matter was not a priority but as I am now in isolation I thought what better time than to deal with all outstanding problems. 

 

What documents did you want me to send over? 

 

Hope you are doing ok during this difficult time!

[dx100uk]

wanted stuff is all detailed in this thread already.