Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ?

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 01:49
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - ste84

I have taken a deposit of £100 for my car.

The person asked me to get it mot'd before they purchase and i agreed to refund the deposit should the car fail.

Can i change my mind about the sale and return the deposit?

Would this have legal consequences?

Thank you

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 01:57
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - KJP 123

I was just going to suggest you just say it failed but they could look it up.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 01:58
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - ste84

Thank you for your reply, i thought the same....

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 08:19
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - Ethan Edwards

If you removed a wiper blade first it would fail.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 10:36
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - Andrew-T

If you removed a wiper blade first it would fail.

... but that would still be published. The OP could just ask the buyer if he would agree to cancel the purchase, with refund of deposit of course (deposits are sometimes non-refundable if the buyer backs out). Tricky if he doesn't agree maybe, as a sale has been agreed and a consideration handed over.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 08:19
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - Ethan Edwards

.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 26/03/2018 at 08:20

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 08:32
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - SLO76
Did you give them a receipt stating the £100 deposit was towards the sale of the car? If they have nothing in writing then yes you can simply hand their deposit back and tell them the car has failed its Mot or you could say that you put it in for a pre Mot inspection which revealed too much work to pass so you’re doing them a favour by not selling it to them. There would be no record of this and if they ask for proof you could just say that your garage gave you the report over the phone which is what would happen normally anyway.

Next time however don’t waste your time or anyone else’s and make sure you do want to sell it before reaching the stage of letting people view then put a deposit on it. It’s not exactly fair to them. I’m sure you have a good reason though.

Edited by SLO76 on 26/03/2018 at 08:34

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 10:56
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - Brit_in_Germany

You have entered into a contract. Failure to hand over the car will leave you liable to court action to enforce the agreement or a claim for damages.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 11:51
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - madf

You have entered a verbal contract which is not worth teh paper it is written in. If tehre are no witnesses , then if it went to court it would be a case of one person's word against another. No-one will win .And it will cost money.

Just phone the buyer up, apologise return his £100 and give him £10 for wasting his time...

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 13:14
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - NARU

You have entered into a contract. Failure to hand over the car will leave you liable to court action to enforce the agreement or a claim for damages.

But refunding the deposit puts both parties back into the position they were otherwise in.

In theory the buyer can sue for 'loss of bargain' but that's almost impossible.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 13:48
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - FP

"You have entered into a contract. Failure to hand over the car will leave you liable to court action to enforce the agreement or a claim for damages.

But refunding the deposit puts both parties back into the position they were otherwise in.

In theory the buyer can sue for 'loss of bargain' but that's almost impossible."

Yes - unless the prospective buyer can prove some kind of substantial damages or loss as a result of the cancellation of the contract, any legal action would be pointless.

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Mon 26 Mar 2018 20:05
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - ste84
Thank you for your reply’s.
I told the buyer the truth.
He isn’t happy but accepted the deposit back plus 20 quid for fuel.
Afterwards he came back stating that he had paid to transfer his insurance over and sold his other car.
Mine wasn’t booked in to have the mot done until Wednesday and had it failed he wouldn’t have brought it anyway so I find this is probably unlikely.
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Mon 26 Mar 2018 21:57
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - Leif
I have to agree, if he sold his car, and transferred his insurance over knowing it could fail an MOT, that would IMO be foolish. As said, best not to change your mind and mess people about though, even if you have a good reason.
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Mon 26 Mar 2018 22:00
Deposit taken - can i cancel the sale of my car ? - alan1302
Thank you for your reply’s. I told the buyer the truth. He isn’t happy but accepted the deposit back plus 20 quid for fuel. Afterwards he came back stating that he had paid to transfer his insurance over and sold his other car. Mine wasn’t booked in to have the mot done until Wednesday and had it failed he wouldn’t have brought it anyway so I find this is probably unlikely.

Sounds like he was not too happy but accepted your reasons and took his money back and then spoke to a mate who talked him into coming back to you and try and get some more cash out of you. You've done all you can now. If he sold his car and transfered the insurance then that is his problem and not yours.

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