Trader promised to keep the car for me for a couple of days......then sold the car from underneath me

[nick7602]

Hi Guys

 

I opened a whats app dialogue with a trader and struck up a good rapore......I was Px my car against his car....and with the Whats App Dialogue he sent me a voice mail to confirm he would hold the car for me for a couple of days, and that he wasn't into taking deposits, but was happy to keep the car for a few days......... I confirmed this morning that I would be viewing the car tomorrow....with a view to purchasing on Saturday.......later this morning the trader confirmed he had sold the car?........surely the whats app conversation is a written document confirming the identity of both parties and forms a contract 

 

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Nick

[nick7602]

Please can somebody advise so I know where I stand

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

Please bear with us until the right advisers are able to look at your thread. We're doing this as volunteers so nobody is around all the time. 

 

I'm sure you'll have a reply soon. 

 

HB

[nick7602]

1 minute ago, honeybee13 said:

Hi.

 

Please bear with us until the right advisers are able to look at your thread. We're doing this as volunteers so nobody is around all the time. 

 

I'm sure you'll have a reply soon. 

 

HB

Thank you Honeybee, no problem, and thank you for your kind help

[Homer67]

If you didn't leave a deposit then it's still his car and he can do with it what he likes.

 

I think the legal principle of a slower transaction can be overruled by a faster transaction applies here, otherwise known as 'you snooze, you lose'.

 

Don't give yourself the grief, mark it down to experience and find another car.

[Ethel Street]

I doubt this is a contract in law.  For it to be a contract both you and the trader would have had to have exchanged something of actual cash value, not just a promise that you would come along and have a look at it. You hadn't committed to buy the car and he hadn't committed to sell it to you or accept yours in Px. (Lawyers would say there is no 'consideration').  If you had paid a holding deposit that would have been different. Then it would have been a contract.

 

I don't believe you have any comeback against the trader. I agree with the previous poster, mark it down to experience and find another car.

 

The old saying 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' applies to these situations. If someone pitches up at a trader's premises cash in hand and says 'I want to buy that car now and here's the money" any trader is going to take the money and sell it to the definite purchaser standing in front of him. Not refuse and wait for you to come along when you might decide you don't want his car after all.  Or not come along at all. That's why he doesn't take deposits. He knows there would be a contract if he did.

[nick7602]

Ok guys thank you so much, I will mark this down to experience, and next time put a holding deposit down......it is quite sad because I did want the car......but his voice mail confirmed he would hold it and there wasn't any need to give a deposit.....had he have said because of the interest its advisable to put a deposit down I would have done.....

 

Anyway it obviously wasn't meant to be.........thank you all for coming back to me it is very much appreciated

 

 

 

Nick

[Ethel Street]

@nick7602 Putting a holding deposit down has its own issues of course. It might mean a trader can't sell it to anyone else for a period of time but what happens to your deposit if you see the car and change your mind? Or the trader won't give you as much Px value as you had hoped and you can't afford to go ahead?

 

The advice is if you pay a holding deposit make sure you ask first what happens if you decide not to buy? Do you get all of your deposit back? Or only some of it? Or none of it?