Bought car: now they are looking for more after payment

higster

Need some advice. I purchased (and paid by cheque) for my company car from a fleet management company that looked after comapy cars for the comapny I used to work for (make sense?). Got a price of €27.7k in an e mail, I handed over cheque and got a receipt. A week later they ring me to say that they forgot to add VAT which is going to add about €5k to the price and the car is not worth that as far as I'm concerned but is in good nick. They have not cashed the cheque and the fleet management company has still got the cars log book. Anyone know where I stand?

gerrycollins

does the receipt show VAT on it.

My opnion is that they accecpted the money from you, its their fault, they made a maistake its up to you to be honest and pay it or hand it back and get your cheque back

Do you deal as a company or a private individual because when companies speak they use ex. Vat figures so you can state (if your a private individual) that the price quoted would be the same as what you would get on the forecourt when buying off a dealer so thats what you went with as the price of the car

higster

Nope doesn't show VAT but was bought as a private deal i.e. not as a company...as far as I was concerned was total price for car...

jhegarty

higster wrote:

Nope doesn't show VAT but was bought as a private deal i.e. not as a company...as far as I was concerned was total price for car...

Do you have a "paid in full" receipt ?

antoinolachtnai

what is the car actually worth? You can get a valuation on the revenue website, I think, you'd need to ask about that on motors.

It sounds to me like you have a strong legal case, but if they haven't transferred the ownership of the car, it sounds like you would be in for a world of pain arguing with them over it. You might have to bring them to the circuit court to get them to transfer the title, and that's just not worth it.

Savman

higster wrote:

Need some advice. I purchased (and paid by cheque) for my company car from a fleet management company that looked after comapy cars for the comapny I used to work for (make sense?). Got a price of €27.7k in an e mail, I handed over cheque and got a receipt. A week later they ring me to say that they forgot to add VAT which is going to add about €5k to the price and the car is not worth that as far as I'm concerned but is in good nick. They have not cashed the cheque and the fleet management company has still got the cars log book. Anyone know where I stand?

Hmm, they're obviously so used to dealing with business they just quote everything ex-VAT. Dunno where you stand though, it may require legal advice tbh.

RainyDay

higster wrote:

Nope doesn't show VAT but was bought as a private deal i.e. not as a company...as far as I was concerned was total price for car...

If the car is your company car, how come you were paying for it personally?

higster

Receipt says "Settlement Amount" with €27.7k "in the box" with another section saying "Payment Date/Method with the original payment date and cheque in the details.

Was leaving the company and decided to buy it. It is worth ~€32k but typically they do give a good deal through the fleet management company so I thought fair enough.

I have the car...just not the logbook.

To be honest I'm more pissed off with the fact of trying to get a new car/insurance/tax all over again.

mcaul

In 5 weeks time the car will be another year old and thus another 15 - 20% of the current value will be wiped off.


Take the car to a garage and ask them what cash price they would offer for the car. (They will quote you 2007 figure) - Use this as bargaining tool with the fleet company as this is the price they will achieve if they don't sell to you.

whippet

mcaul wrote:

In 5 weeks time the car will be another year old and thus another 15 - 20% of the current value will be wiped off.


Take the car to a garage and ask them what cash price they would offer for the car. (They will quote you 2007 figure) - Use this as bargaining tool with the fleet company as this is the price they will achieve if they don't sell to you.

mcaul ..???? 15-20% .. rubbish. It will all depend on milage, month of first reg etc ... not just on the plate, that might just have a very slight action on the MV.

With regards to the OP's issue, I would check every detail and small print on every bit of paper you got from the fleet company.

Should there be no mention of 'excluding VAT' on the paper work and you have a recipt of the payment of the full amount on the invoice I would contact the Motor Tax office and tell them that you have proof of full payment for a car but are having trouble getting the documentation over from the seller you may be able around it.

Other than that it could cost you well more that 5K to pursue a legal course and get ownership that way. It sounds like someone just made a bit of a haimes of the paperwork in the fleet company and it will be your morals against their braun !!

stepbar

As far as I am concerned an email is a legal contract and so therefore you have a case. The threat of legal action maybe enough to make them back down. If you think about it they would be down a lot more than 5k if they lose.

jimmycrackcorm

You have the money they want and they have the log book you want. Can you see where this is going?

stepbar

well its going to the court thats where its going and TBH the fleet mgt company wouldnt be left with much profit if they persued the OP for full payment of the car. If they were smart about it they would cut their losses and learn an expensive lesson

higster

Guess what...the log book turned up in the mail today. Me thinks I am in a much stronger position now even though they still haven't cashed the cheque. I know I should feel guilty...but I don't. A deal is a deal or something like that...if other way around what would happen?

Just to whippets point, no mention of VAT of any description on any of the documentation (ie excluding or excluding VAT)

stepbar

Ill tell ya that is one royal screw up As it stands you have all the aces, you have the log book, the car and a contract (an email) stating the amount payable. What do they have? a cheque - its irrelevant that they havent cashed the cheque. It only goes to prove that they havent a leg to stand on and they know it. Expect a few heads to roll

smashey

Would this be covered under the sale of goods act?

"A contract by which the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a money consideration called the price".

It seems to me that they made an offer and you accepted.

mcaul

whippet wrote:

mcaul ..???? 15-20% .. rubbish. It will all depend on milage, month of first reg etc ... not just on the plate, that might just have a very slight action on the MV.

Ask any dealer - one day into the new year the car drops in price - doesn't matter if its registered in December 05 or Jan 05 it becomes one year old on Jan 1st 2006.

Similarly dealers will only offer 07 trade in prices on any cars you try and trade in this or next month. - Snob value is what causes it. UK changed to having 2 registration changes per year to alleviate this.

blorg

I think you're home free and shouldn't have to give them another penny. Note that although a business selling to another business will quote ex-VAT prices they will always _charge_ the other business the price including VAT, it's up to the purchasing business to claim that back from the Revenue.