It depends on whether the court holds that a contract had been entered into or not. Contracts are on the basis of offer and acceptance. There was an offer (of £14k - £15k). But your father e-mailed back, "OK subject to agreeing a final price on inspection." That never happened. A "final price" was never "agreed". Your father could, if he wished, haggle the "final price" to £20,000. The issue is anyway outside the scope of the small claims track because the actual amount in contention is at least £14,000. Your father might want to discuss these points further with his solicitor, and may decide to offer the motorhome to the dealer for £20,000. The dealer won't want it at that, but won't have a leg to stand on over the £4,950 "loss of profit". I should add that the Small Claims Track is now being widely abused by customers who buy a cheap car from a small dealer, find something wrong with it after a couple of months, then sue for the return of the full purchase price having enjoyed a couple of months of free motoring. Small dealers need to get together and establish a County Court case precedent preventing this type of small claims track judgement, asserting dealer rights to rectify faults rather than allow rejection with no right to repair.