hi,
my girl friend is about to purchase a car, arranged pick for this saturday at dealer. we arranged the finance and it was accepted with dealer. including signing the finance agreement so all we are doing is showing some proff of address and then picking the car up, but on returning home (long drive) we have realised the flat rate is actually an apr of 12%
this is no good at all but she doesn\'t wnat me ringing them up complaing cos she doesn\'t want to lose the car. (£500 deposit paid).
we want to arrange a loan with her local bank and pay cash for the car at a lower apr.
can we do this as we have signed the finance agreement, cos they still need the proff of address which is part of the finance is it not?
and 1 final question, if the back said no, can we take a cheque from the AA for example down and we wouldn\'t have to wait for it to clear?
we need this sorted asap so help much appreciated?
thanks.
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Were you mis-sold the finance? When the flat rate was quoted, the salesman should have told you that this was flat rate, not APR - although of course it will be difficult to prove it.
It is likely that the finance agreement has been accepted and proof of address is merely a condition for the release of the car, and not for the acceptance of the finance. It is likely that by signing you have accepted the finance company\'s offer of finance and therefore you are in a binding contract with them, so will be bound by any cancellation terms. It is possible that providing proof of address is a condition for the finance agreement, in which case by signing the agreement you would merely have made an offer to the finance company, which you are free to withdraw - but a dealer may contest that analysis and it doesn\'t seem very likely anyway.
The £500 deposit will most likely be for the purchase of the car and on that contract, not the finance agreement - so as long as you go ahead with the car purchase, you don\'t have to worry about that unless the deposit is time limited.
dealer is of course quite within its rights to wait until a banker\'s cheque, or one from the AA, has cleared. Whether they would wish to do so is of course up to them. If the local bank says no (and 12% APR still isn\'t so far off what many high street banks will quote) then the AA is highly unlikely to approve a loan - they are a low rate lender that tends to go for quite a well off clientele.
Work out how much interest you would save by having the other loan and decide if it\'s worth the hassle for you to back out. Apart from anything else, while the sales person may not wish to lose commission on the finance agreement, you can ask if they\'d match the rate you could get from the bank. Bear in mind that the early settlement fee, if any, may only be two months\' interest and you have a right to pay off a loan early (with interest to the point of settlement, plus admin fees). If the commission is structured so that part of it only comes through after say, twelve months of the agreement, it may be in the sales person\'s interest to offer you a lower rate knowing that he won\'t get his second tranche of commission if he doesn\'t.
Having signed on the dealer\'s premises, unless you have been mis-sold the finance (and they must quote you an APR - so why didn\'t you read the agreement?) you have no automatic right to cancel.
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thanks for that response, tough reading though!
i asked hime why it was flat rate and he said that\'s what they work off, i asked for the apr and he said we don\'t work off apr.
we weren\'t mis-sold i just didn\'t work out the sums at the time.
we haven\'t got time to get a new loan from the net and wiat for the cheques to clear, i have been told there will be a cooling off period where you can pay of the loan.
is this always the case because over the 5 years we are paying £1000 over what we could be so really need a solution.
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1. You were mis-sold; it is a requirement that any finance agreement states the APR. They are not allowed simply to work off \'flat rate.\'
If you have any issues with that, complain to Trading Standards and the sales person\'s supervisor because I\'m sure he needs retraining.
2. You only have automatic cancellation rights if you don\'t sign up over the phone (or presumably online) or at the seller\'s premises.
Look at www.compactlaw.co.uk/consumf4.html for more information.
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she did sign the agreement which more than likely had the apr on but because we didn\'t kno what a bad price it was at the time never looked for it.
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There is a lot of complicated law - far too detailed to even begin to go into here - with regard to misrepresentations and collateral contracts, plus it\'s all a bit too after the event.
All I can suggest is that you
a. decide exactly what outcome you want; complaining without knowing what would actually make you happy will get you nowhere
b. phone up the dealer and ask nicely for it, explaining that you feel you were misled as you were only ever quoted flat rate and told that the dealer doesn\'t work off the APR. Explain that the salesman effectively tried to hide the APR from you.
c. if this doesn\'t resolve the problem, speak to the appropriate trading standards people and ask their advice. Calmly inform the dealer that you will do this.
In fact, as your girlfriend has signed the agreement, she should be the one that is complaining as only she has the authority to sign any modified agreement.
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I constantly read threads on here about dodgy dealers and nasty insurance and finance companies.
This is a prime example of what they are up against while trying to make an honest profit.
They\'ve offered a deal and the lady has accepted it.
What would be the reaction if the finance company rang up and said they\'ve found someone who\'ll pay 20% APR and have decided they\'d rather lend the money to them ?
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Not quite the same though is it? Customer asks question \"what is the APR?\". Salesman replies \"I\'m not telling you\". I agree entirely that there are just as many bad customers as bad dealers/insurance companies/finance companies etc, but the story as told here indicates deceit on the part of the salesman.
I\'ve had this \"we only work off a flat rate\" rubbish before, when buying windows i think. What it translates to is \"there\'s no way i\'m telling you the APR pal, because you\'ll laugh in my face\".
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Andy,
Not very helpful I\'m afraid, but let this be a lesson to you and anybody else.
For goodness sakes read every little bit of writing on everything you sign, and don\'t sign it unless you are fully aware of everything about the deal you are doing.
These days to walk away from a finance deal without knowing total cost and APR is somewhat careless.
For sure you have been careless. However, if you do honestly believe that the salesman mislead you, then push it hard.
First work out what it takes to make you happy; be that a lower APR, no finance deal, some discount on the car, whatever. But as someone said [David, I think] you need to know what it is going to take to satisfy you.
Once you are aware of that, then follow the rest of the advice carefully.
You will need to show that it was mis-sold. Not liking the deal will not be sufficient. Be aware of cancellation fees and the like.
As for clearing cheques, nobody will let you take a car with an uncleared cheque. You might look at how it could be cleared quickly, or even pre-cleared.
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Andy...
If you do decide to get a different loan and pay with that, the money can be transferred straight to the account the next working day. Depending on the bank it can take 3-4 days to actually show in the account but that is still plenty of time for it to be cleared in your girlfriend\'s account and for you to take a draft or actual cash with you on Saturday.
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customer > what is APR ?
salesman > I\'m not telling you
customer > where do I sign ?
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i should of known better.
obvioulsy he had the lingo of we match most other banks. etc...
just it sounded a good price.
bear in mind this was a spur of the moment buy 150 miles from home with no internet access.
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We were tricked into what sounded like an okay finance quote about 18 months ago. Only later did it become apparent that they had not quoted APR etc.
I decided to phone Black Horse Finance to get a settlement figure and also found it has a Hire Purchase deal (explains why Black Horse wanted evidence of insurance) and not an unsecured loan.
However, when I asked for the settlement figure they were only too happy to quote me for converting to an unsecured loan at a decent APR rate (comparable to elsewhere) and was no hastle in paying off the original loan and setting up the new one.
Hope this helps.
Rob
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