Deposit advice sought!

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 17 Aug 2019 20:15
Deposit advice sought! - BigRH

Last weekend I paid a £400 deposit against a £4000 BMW 318d Estate (negotiated down from £4300) with a view to collecting it today. The dealer is now telling me that since paying the deposit, the car has a clutch problem & may need a new clutch & flywheel, he's offering to refund the deposit, but I get the impression he's now trying to wriggle out of the sale so that he can re-list it at a higher price to cover the cost of the work that will have to be done. I'd still like to buy the car at the agreed price (obviously with the fault corrected) but I'm unsure where I stand legally. I know that the deposit binds ME to the sale, but does it in any way bind the dealer...?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Edited by Roger Howell on 17/08/2019 at 20:16

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Sat 17 Aug 2019 20:25
Deposit advice sought! - Vitesse6

I think I would take the money and run. If the dealer is a bit dodgy would you want to buy anything from him?

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Sat 17 Aug 2019 23:13
Deposit advice sought! - FiestaOwner
Any thoughts appreciated.

This is likely an expensive job to do properly. It's possible the dealer will try to get the repair done on the cheap and the car will still give problems, leaving you with the repair bill.

I would take the refund.

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Sat 17 Aug 2019 23:51
Deposit advice sought! - Andrew-T

Question seems to be whether there is actually anything wrong with the car. I don't know why any dealer would be interested enough to find this out now rather than earlier? Just maybe they started to prep it for sale to you I suppose. But also maybe you are being gazumped. Did you test drive it, and was there a problem?

If you have signed a contract to purchase and paid a deposit in good faith, you should be able to go through with it - if you want to, of course. It could be that they have realised the car is worth more.

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Sun 18 Aug 2019 00:39
Deposit advice sought! - Avant

You won't want to hear this - but I think you should claim back your deposit and, given your £4,000 budget, look for something that is neither a diesel nor a BMW. You'll have a lucky escape from a big risk.

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Sun 18 Aug 2019 05:58
Deposit advice sought! - SLO76
This is a bullet dodged. The last thing you want at this sort of money is an old BMW diesel. These have a poor reputation for reliability and very likely would c****** you with frequent and costly repairs. Thank the dealer for your deposit money back then go buy a nice reliable petrol engined Honda, Toyota or Mazda instead. £4K is enough to find a nice Civic or Mazda 6 for example.

Edited by SLO76 on 18/08/2019 at 05:58

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Sun 18 Aug 2019 08:01
Deposit advice sought! - gordonbennet

Whatever the real reason for the offer of refund, i too would be getting my deposit back and looking elsewhere.

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Sun 18 Aug 2019 09:51
Deposit advice sought! - carl duck
As a dealer my advice here is always put such a large deposit on a credit card.

It could be that the dealer is genuinely repairing the car in good faith.

If you feel uncomfortable take the deposit back, but it may just be the dealer is repairing the car.


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Sun 18 Aug 2019 10:40
Deposit advice sought! - badbusdriver

The OP has not specified exactly which era of 3 series we are talking about here, but looking at prices on Autotrader i suspect a late E90 ('05-'12). As has been mentioned on here to folk even thinking about 1 of these, they really are not that reliable with the exception of 6 cyl petrols. And 4 cyl diesels (like the car in question) seem to be about the worst of the bunch. The 'good/bad' section of the relevant review on this website makes for pretty grim reading!. Have a look through this,

www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/bmw/3-series-touring.../

And then, if you have not already heeded what pretty much everyone so far has said, get your deposit back and consider your escape lucky!

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Sun 18 Aug 2019 10:25
Deposit advice sought! - Meteiro

Having owned a used BMW diesel with the same fundamental engine I can absolutely say they are great to drive, economical, all the things you'd want...

But it's also death by a thousand cuts, I agree 100%. You will need deep pockets.

It'll be constantly asking to go in for random items, few hundred a pop usually, and having been quoted (and I'm not joking) £2k for clutch and DMF replacement at a main dealer, as much as I loved it I'd not get another one.

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