The point that I'm making is that some of us uneducated peasants have to worry about our money. If you pay a lot for a used vehicle and buy it from a main dealer, it is as likely to be a lemon as many other vehicles. Most people would be devasted if they ended up spending their savings on a Land Rover at the stage in its life between being dragged by a chain and the chassis breaking. The best way to reduce the likelyhood of such a problem is to inspect the vehicle properly before parting with any money in my opinion.

Well done, which school is it you attend? Secondary school a little problem for you.... not quite made it there yet?

To be fair if you are a peasant and cannot to buy a decent car and therefore have to worry about 'lemons' as you like to use cliche then good luck....

As long as you would be happy to end up with a car with a chassis that is about to break, that makes sense.

Any car, however much you are paying for it, can be trashed with a year of determined abuse.

To be fair if you knew much about cars you will understand that actually cars that are high performance, are supposed to be driven hard, they are designed for that.... Also as long as the car has been maintained it is going to be of sound standard, so if you have agreed with a dealer verbally and the car is not as described you have every grounds to obtain a full refund etc... you are pretty safe. You should see the kind of tests manufacturers undertake for their vehicles, for example Land Rover drive their vehicles at full speed attached to a chain until the chassis breaks to test its durability etc etc.

I used to run a dealership so I know all about it.

Car dealers buy cars in the trade all the time without viewing them... no different.

I do agree you should be more careful with a fred in the shed garage.

I would never buy a car from someone who lives overseas or poses that the car is overseas and have to pay the shipping company, etc... that is just simply stupid.

AstonMan:

I don't think you were daft buying a car you haven't seen.... as long as the dealer is a main dealer you can be pretty happy that they prepare their cars to a certain standard.

I might just go along with that if, for example, you were buying a new vehicle and had to order a preferred set of options (colour, trim, extras, etc.), but not for anything used. Personally I am more careful with my money than that.

Without seeing, inspecting and testing a vehicle, you can't tell if it's been flogged by a boy racer for a year or not. Any garage worth it's salt can make a worn out car look neat and tidy. Agreeing to buy and paying a deposit without pysically checking the vehicle risks ending up driving home a lemon or, as has happened many times where the vehicle is unavailable for inspection because the owner is overseas/busy/ill/etc, ending up with no car at all.

It is quite common for a dealer to buy a car that they have to settle the finance on... and yes there can be a delay....

I don't think you were daft buying a car you haven't seen.... as long as the dealer is a main dealer you can be pretty happy that they prepare their cars to a certain standard.

I bought my V8 Vantage from a dealer without seeing it.

If you havent had a signed order form from both parties i.e. you and them, they have no legal rights....

Also as you are over 200 miles away and have not met the dealer you have distance selling contract in which case they had to inform you that you had 7 days to cancel for a full refund. Did they do this?

If no you can have your money back without delay....

Good luck

As per the above yes you are covered, however if its the car you want and the finance company whom placed the finance on the register it may just be a crossover between the dealers headoffice paying the car off and the removal etc. If you have it in writting then to be honest theres nothing to worry about.

It happens often with garages

Pesonally I think that you have been very foolish with your money by paying £500 deposit for something that you haven't even seen, let alone tested. Before you even talk about money, you need to kick the tyres, inpect and test the car and check the documents. If you don't lose your money here, you will lose it somewhere else.

As it happens, yes, because you "bought" the car over the phone, you are covered by the distance selling regulations so you are entitled to a full refund if you notify the garage that you are cancelling within 7 days. You should write a recorded delivery letter mentioning your wish as well as the date that you phoned to cancel if you anticipate problems. I would expect the garage to refund as soon as you mention the distance selling regulations but, if they don't, you can involve consumerfocus/consumerdirect and the small claims courts.

Hi guys,

I finally found the car I was looking for on Monday on Auto Trader, 200 miles away from me. The advert stated 'HPI checked'. Phoned the garage, it seemed ideal so I paid a £500 holding deposit using VISA over the phone. I have not seen the car yet, and am due to go buy it on Saturday and pay the balance in cash. No finance involved.

On Tuesday I ran a HPI check myself for peace of mind only to find an Outstanding Finance alert with the following details, 'The vehicle is owned by a Leasing / Hire Company and ownership will not pass to you unless the finance is settled.'

I rung the finance company and they initially said they still had an interest in the car, but then the advisor put me on hold and came back saying they actually they no longer did have an interest in it. She kindly emailed me a letter confirming they no longer had an interest in the car.

However I rung HPI but they cannot remove the Outstanding Finance alert, only the finance company can do that.

All of this palaver has put me off buying the car. I rung the garage today to try and get my deposit back but they said no because the car has no outstanding finance on it, despite HPI still saying that it has. They said if I didn't proceed with the sale I would lose the £500 deposit and also may incur 10% charges for lost trade on the car whilst it was taken off the market - but that was only 2 days ago!

Where do I stand with my rights to get this £500 back if I no longer want the car? Can I use the distance selling act? There is no finance involved, so the only two parties are the garage and myself.

I can also ring CAB tomorrow.

Thanks.