Hi there

I put a deposit down of 100 pounds on a car got a receipt for it and then proceeded to transfer money from South Africa to my British bank. I informed the dealer it would take ten days. it took longer thanks to slow african banking. I informed him again and he was abusive and told me he sold the car and will keep the deposit of 100 pounds. Ha had all my details he didnt contact me to tell me this and it was not mentioned the deposit was non refundable otherwise i wouldnt have given it to him!!

where do i stand? he has in my view broken the contract not informing me and not disclosing this invisible clause?

If it's not in writing, it's difficult to say that you are definitely entitled to your deposit back. The dealer could say that, because you promised the balance within 10 days, you broke your side of things and so forfeited the deposit.

You can write a formal letter threatening legal action in the small claims court but, in my view, if this doesn't get a result, you should consider not taking things further.

Incidentally, you will always get a better deal on a car if you have the money in your pocket to complete the deal on the spot.

Hi. Unless it stated specifically on the order form for the car that you would pay him the balance within 10 days, he has broken his contract. If there is indeed an order form, this is to remove the car from sale and only clauses such as this, written in, would enable him to be able to sell the car to someone else.

As an example - If he 'said' to you that he would give you a set of mats and didn't do it, without the written proof you couldn't claim the free mats. Same thing if you said it would take 10 days...

The strongly worded letter would be good as would a little chat with your local CAB...

As a thought, isn't there another car in his stock that would suit your needs? He would prefer to transfer the deposit to another car than lose your custom (this is if you can bring yourself to do more business with him...?).

JJ