Can I get my deposit back?

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:12
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
I found a car I wanted. The Mercedes dealership was closed. I had not seen the car. No paperwork was signed. I changed my mind about the car within 24 hours of placing a deposit. The car is in Lancashire and I am in Portsmouth. Can I get my deposit back?
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:26
Can I get my deposit back? - mcb100
If you’ve made an online payment via their website, was it called a deposit or a reservation fee?
A deposit is part of a contract, whilst a payment to reserve a car just takes it off sale for x days to let you decide.
Having said that, I’d expect a dealer to refund a deposit, given that you have 14 days to return a car following purchase under distance selling regulations.

Edited by mcb100 on 21/02/2021 at 17:32

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:32
Can I get my deposit back? - Bromptonaut

How much?

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:38
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
£250
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:38
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
It said reserve online. Thanks
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:40
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
I wasn’t happy with the service. In the week discussed a trade in value for my part exchange. The dealer said they would send a personalised presentation. Did not. We agreed a virtual viewing. I waited online. No salesman. Communication was very poor. It’s all been in the span of 5 days. I eventually lost faith in the dealership and found a better deal elsewhere.

The hope was deposit and find a different salesman to complete the transaction.

Edited by _G_ on 21/02/2021 at 17:42

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:48
Can I get my deposit back? - mcb100
Sometimes they’re their own worst enemies, but unusual circumstances at the moment and we don’t know how many staff are working currently.
There is also the possibility that they didn’t want the deal because of the potential delivery distance involved. Unless they are set up to deliver stuff on a regular basis, click & collect is always preferable to click & deliver to a dealership.

Edited by mcb100 on 21/02/2021 at 17:49

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 17:52
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
That’s a good point. The delivery is £500. Which wouldn’t leave much a margin. The salesman responded this afternoon and said he would put the request forward to the head office. I hope as a dealership they won’t want the bother and transfer it back. Thanks for your input.
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 18:06
Can I get my deposit back? - mcb100
That’s potentially a sales exec out of the showroom for two days, maybe an overnight stay.
The question is how many nice local deals could he/she do in 18 hours on the phone/email/video call/live chat?
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 18:36
Can I get my deposit back? - RT
That’s potentially a sales exec out of the showroom for two days, maybe an overnight stay. The question is how many nice local deals could he/she do in 18 hours on the phone/email/video call/live chat?

Dealers don't use sales staff to deliver cars - they employ drivers to do that, at least the ones I've used have.

Distance selling under Covid restrictions is no different logistically to buying through an online broker.

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 20:14
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
Most likely yes they do use delivery companies. I once bought a Mercedes though from Beaconsfield and the sales guy drove it to me. Then asked me to point him towards a train station. He had a night bag incase too and said if it would take him more than 3 hours he’d be booking into a hotel.
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 18:38
Can I get my deposit back? - Andrew-T
That’s a good point. The delivery is £500. Which wouldn’t leave much a margin.

Be cheaper for you to get a single train ticket ....

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Sun 21 Feb 2021 20:19
Can I get my deposit back? - _G_
True. The car required four new tyres, an MOT and, oil change. When I called it was off site and had not been prepared. Based on that their margin would be even less. So let’s see. I managed to track down details for someone in their head office. Having read horror stories of how a refund can take six weeks it would be worth keeping the contact in mind.
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Sun 21 Feb 2021 23:27
Can I get my deposit back? - Avant

"The car is in Lancashire and I am in Portsmouth."

Just don't do it. If you're buying from a dealer, go to one near enough to you that you can go back there of anything goes wrong within the period where you're protected by consumer law.

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Mon 22 Feb 2021 08:43
Can I get my deposit back? - mcb100
In addition, if a customer does change their mind within the first 14 days it’s return at customer’s cost.
The way click & collect, or click & deliver, is working is that typically the first 20 miles a customer does in their new car are the test drive they couldn’t take. After that, it may be £1 per mile deduction from the amount to be refunded.
So that’s the cost of taking it back, plus £263 mileage deduction from Portsmouth to, say, Preston.
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Mon 22 Feb 2021 10:35
Can I get my deposit back? - Deryck

Ordinarily, I like to see a car I am buying but in 2019 I needed a car and bought unseen from Arnold Clark in Scotland delivered to a branch in the Midlands. Luckily, the dealer has this branch not too far from me and I did have th opportunity to reject when I did finally see the car. I think it was the salesman who actually brought it down to me.

So far so good and I have not had any problems with what was then a 4 year old car with 22k on the clock. I was quite happy with the whole thing

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Tue 23 Feb 2021 07:42
Can I get my deposit back? - barney100

If you used a credit card # as against a bank card # then if it was a reservation fee then the credit card company ....if no joy from the dealer.... would be my first port of cal. We had a drive installation lot messed us about one, I paid quite a bit on credit card. Within two days all was resolved and I got a goodwill paymeant of £250 from the credit card people, I have no idea why but didn't complain.

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