I am fairly sure that there is nothing I can do however I am really frustrated and needed somewhere to vent my anger.
My partner and I visited a used car dealers a fortnight ago to view a car which we were interested in. We had a discussion with the salesman, and we asked him what he would give us for the trade in of our car. He replied £600. We enquired whether he would accept of £6,500 plus the trade in of our car. When the salesman refused, we asked him what he would accept, and he replied £7,000. We took the car for a test drive and when we left, we advised the salesman that we were very interested and would get back to him shortly once we have checked our banking arrangements. He told us that if we are interested, we should telephone him and a £200 deposit would secure the car.
On the Monday, my partner telephoned the salesman who confirmed that he remembered us. My partner told him that we would like to proceed with the purchase of the car at the agreed price of £7,000 plus the trade in of our car, and the salesman took a £200 deposit paid by credit card. We arranged to collect the car the following Saturday.
We then of course made arrangments to transfer our car insurance, breakdown cover etc.
On the Saturday when we went to collect the car, all the paperowork was completed and signed, and we handed over the keys and paperwork for our own car. Our debit card was in the machine ready to pay the balance, when we noticed that the amount was wrong. The salesman showed us an invoice, which he wrote out whilst we were there, which had the original asking price of the car (£8,600). We reminded him that we had agreed a price of £7,000 to which he simply replied no, the price is £8,600, and his manager would be along shortly.
When the manager came in, he too insisted that the price is £8,600, and he said would never agree a price of £7,000 as our car is not worth more than £600. We told him that we did not dispute what our car was worth, however we had negotiated a price of £7,000 with the salesman, that this was a legally binding contract, and he should honour the agreement. He refused, denied that a verbal contract was binding, and told us there had been a 'misunderstanding'. I told him that there was no misunderstanding on our part and told him he was trying to pull the wool over my eyes, at which point he accused me of slander! The salesman remaind sat at the desk, with his head down, and he did not say a word.
We could not believe it. It was the salesman who suggested the price of £7,000 in the first place, and it was confirmed again when the deposit was paid over the phone. How could there have been a misunderstanding ??
We demanded the return of our deposit, which he gave us in cash, we made sure that any signed documents were destroyed and we left.
My partner was extremely dissapointed, we had been planning to buy a car for weeks and once he had decided on the car he wanted, he was really excited about picking it up. We had already transferred the insurance on our own car and had paid the difference in the premium, and had the money for the car ready and sat in the bank. Not to be beaten, we found another car on auto trader which was the same make and model, but had less milage, was an injection sports (which the other was not), and had more features. We spoke to the dealer on the phone, agreed a price subject to inspection, and travelled 60 miles to go and see it. We bought the car for £8,000 and still have our own car which we intend to sell privately in due course.
What had started out as a really bad day ended up being a good day, and on reflection we are glad that the purchase of the first car did not go ahead as we feel we have got a better car, and once we have sold our old car, it will work out roughly the same price that we had agreed originally.
However we cannot help but wonder what possessed the first dealer to blatentaly lie to us. We have two theorys:-
1) That they do this on a regular basis, with the hope that people will either not notice, or be too embarassed to dispute it given they've already signed all the paperwork
2) The manager was not happy with the price that the salesman had agreed, and instead of being honest, they thought they'd take a chance and see if we would notice if they upped the price! We think this is the more likely theory, given the salesman was sheepish throughout, the manager came into the office at the appropriate time without being called, and their willingness to return our deposit.
Either way, they have tried to pull the wool over our eyes, and in my opinion, are in breach of contract. Of course, because they have returned the deposit to us, there is no basis on which we can take a civil action against them. It frustrates me something rotton how they are able to get away with it, and could do so again.
Anyway, rant now over. If you have taken the time to read this, thank you, and I would be interested to hear your opinion.