Hi,
I'm looking for a little advice from anyone with a similar experience to this.
On 19th September, my mum went to a local dealer and ordered a new VW Polo Twist. She asked that it be registered in October (Road Tax reasons mainly). The salesman said he's prefer it to be registered in September (for sales target purposes). Mum agreed to this on the understanding that she would only pay for the road tax from 1st October.
On 6th October, mum found an advert stating that VW had reduced the list price of the VW by £690. On 9th October, mum went, with a dated copy of the advert to the dealer and asked him about it. He told he knew nothing about it, and she began to suggest she no longer wanted to take the car at the price agreed. He then reassured her that if VW had reduced their price, she would receive a full refund of the £690. She took the car on that basis.
This was a dealer whom she had dealt with before, and her father for 20 years before that so she had no reason not to trust his word.
Cutting a very long story short, the problem is that the car was registered in September and she signed the contract on 19th September. She was reassured two weeks after the car was collected that if she sent in a copy of the tax disc showing a date of 1st October, that would also be enough to get her money back. She has still not received anything.
Now she has had a phone call from the sales director offering a "goodwill" payment of £450 essentially to make her go away. But this is after being twice assured by an employee that the money would be refunded.
Legal advice seems to be the next logicial step, but I wondered if anyone here might have any suggestions/advice or have experienced similar problems?
Thanks,
Laura
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It seems that the contract was made on 19th September and performed when the car was collected. The price dropped after the contract was made but before the contract had been performed.
My view is that you should take the £450 that has been offered as I would suggest that the garage is under no legal obligation to give you the £690.
Bad publicity, though, often works in these situations. You could accept the money, then complain to the newspaper that they told you that you could have the £690, then only gave you the £450...... Not sure morally where we stand on that though!
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Given that, without doubt, had the price had gone up £690 I am sure that your mother would have insisted on paying the extra, I can't see any problem with this.
I'd recommend your mother take the £450 and consider herself fortunate at that.
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After what period of time would you consider the price reduction acceptable? 1 month after purchase? 6 months? A year?
To agree with Phil and Mark, I'd take the 450. I'm amazed you've been offered that as well to be honest.
Sorry
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Adam
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Legaly I would say you dont have a leg to stand on unless the refund was included in the contract of sale or subsequently amended. Ie nothing on paper = no proof.
However, it seems without too much pressure that the dealer has stumped up a payment. Its not beyond the realms of possibility that a little more pressure may result in more.
How about "thank you Mr Dealer but I am still disapointed enough to write to the local newspaper. A free service on top of your £450 may however take the edge off my uspset.
A service costs the dealership next to nothing but is probably worth in the order of £100 quid to your mum.
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I've not had any experience similar to this but after reading your post this is what I understand:
Your mum ordered a new VW Polo an the 19th September, presumably thus making a contract with the dealer. She must have been happy with the price at that time or she would not have agreed to purchase the car.
On 6th October she spots an advert saying that VW had now reduced the list price by £690, so 3 days later she goes and asks the dealer if she can have £690 back.
The dealer didn't know much about it and by the sound of it told her without actually checking that she would be entitled to a refund of £690. This money has still not been refunded.
So the fact remains that she signed a contract to buy the car at the first full list price and becuase it was subsequently reducded you and your mother believe that you should be entitled to some money back. But surely this is not how contracts work. Would this not be the same as going into an electrical retailers and purchasing a TV say, then seeing a couple of weeks later that there is an offer now on, ie reduced in price and you going back to the electrical store and demanding the difference to be refunded? Maybe it would have been wiser to shop around the VW dealers in the first place to get the best possible price on the car.
Your argument seems to hinge on the fact that she was assurred verbally that she would get the money refunded. This could be very hard to prove in a court. If I were you I would take the "goodwill" payment of £450 and put the £240 'deficit' down to experience.
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Okay, cutting the story short wasn't a good idea.
Firstly, this happened in Scotland, so whether or not it was in writing is not the issue.
Secondly, if you went into a shop and ordered a TV at £399 on 19th September, agreeing to collect it on 9th October, and when you went in, the price had been reduced to £299, its likely that is what you would pay, not the £399.
The replies seem to assume that my mum collected the car and then later saw the advert. That wasn't what happened. She saw the advert before she collected the car. At that stage, she would still have been able to reject the car. However, she chose not to do so on the assurance of the salesman that she would get her money back. That hasn't happened.
The purpose of my post was not to establish whether or not she should accept the £450 (Trading Standards don't think she should), but more to find out if any other people had had any similar experiences, and what they did to try to resolve the situation.
Thanks anyway.
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A few things here. I'm not well up on Scottish law (or English law) but are you saying that when she ordered the car and agreed to collect it, there was no binding contract? If so then surely it would have been best to cancel the order, walk out of the door, come back in a place a new order. If not, then a contract is a contract.
Had she actually BOUGHT the car before the advert?
I can see your frustration. I bought a Playstation a number of years ago for £299 and the week later they reduced the price by 100 quid! Not quite the same amounts but bearing in mine £100 is a lot of money for a kid!
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Adam
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>>Firstly, this happened in Scotland, so whether or not it was in writing is not the issue.
Actually it doesn't have much bearing on the matter in the UK.
As for the rest, if the price had gone up rather than down but all the rest remained the same, would your mother have been happy to pay £690 extra ?
I can understand her being peeved, but this stuff happens.
>>She saw the advert before she collected the car. At that stage, she would still have been able to reject the car
Before she collected, but after the deposit ? In which case she could not have rejected the car, although she could have refused to accept it. That would have broken the contract where the garage would have been entitled to not only retain her deposit but under certain circumstances also sue her for any additional loss as well.
Trading Standards are nice people. But unless you're dealing with one of the [few] experts you'd be better off asking the tescobury delivery driver what type of grain the cows been fed on.
Take the £450 and be thankful.
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Lets restate the facts first:-
Mrs LauraJS (!) agrees to buy VW Polo for £X,XXX on 19th September 2004, and says she will collect it on the 9th October 2004. Thus, contract formed (Offer - VW Polo for sale, Acceptance, yes please mr salesman, consideration is both deposit and guarantee of £X,XXX, intent - I want a new car, I'm over 18).On the 6th October 2004 she sees advert for VW Polo with £690 reduction.
Mrs LauraJS goes to collect car on 9th October, taking with her said advert. "Mr Salesman, I know I've agreed to buy the car, but I've seen this advert for £690 off. Can I have my discount now???" Mr Salesman - "I'm sure I can sort something for you (guessing at the conversation here)" Mrs LauraJS takes the car away.
So the key question is was the £690 an accepted variation of the contract, or did the salesman offer the £690 as a goodwill gesture? If the latter, as is likely, then no chance. If the former, well, prove it would be the case.
Take the £450, and ask for a free service (probably worth about £200 given VW prices).
Legally - no chance of holding the garage to the £690. Morally - slightly stronger chance of getting more. Sorry, but thats life.
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I'm looking for a little advice from anyone with a similar experience to this. ... Legal advice seems to be the next logicial step, but I wondered if anyone here might have any suggestions/advice or have experienced similar problems?
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sorry, as i do not meet your critieria, i do not qualify to give advice as such. however, my two pennies worth opinion:
1. opinions given above by others are just that.
2. you do need to go to a scottish cab (citizens advice) or a solicitor to seek clarification.
3. most car sale contracts contain a term to the effect that the price is subject to change to that which applies on day of delivery, and not necessarily that on date of signing contract.
check what your contract says in this regard.
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3. most car sale contracts contain a term to the effect that the price is subject to change ...
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here is just one typical example i found by googling uk:
jamjar.com/general/purchasetermsandconditions.jhtml
"
3.2 We may vary the purchase price by an amount attributable to any increase or decrease in the rates of car tax, road fund licence and/or value added tax between the date we accept your order and the date we notify you that the car is ready for delivery.
3.3 We may vary the purchase price by an amount equal to any increase or decrease in the manufacturer?s (or relevant concessionaire?s) price for the car or any optional equipment or accessories specified in the order between the date we accept your order and the date we notify you that the car is ready for delivery.
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