paid deposit but then they sold the car!!!

thenakedchef

i wont name the dealer but last week we went to view a car,it turns out there was 3 identical cars except the mileage of course all three were uk imports and werent registered or cleared,we test drove one was very happy and asked if we could get it checked the following day by a mechanic,we were told €100 deposit would prevent it been sold,the following day i had it checked and was given the thumbs up,so we agreed to buy,we were told it would take a few days for them to get it ready for sale and cleared....fair enough,
today we went to collect the car.....we were trading in a megane,as we were signing the papers bla bla bla i asked what the mileage was on the sheet and the guy said 15k (it was a different guy dealing with us) i went to check the car and it was not the one we were agreeing on....it turns out one of their muppet salesmen sold it...supposedly getting back to us tomorrow,
but what id like to know is have we any come back or legal rights here for been messed around

thanks for looking

colm_mcm

Do you really want to give your money to an operation like this? You should get your deposit back and buy elsewhere. (not forgetting to get a verifiable service history on anything from the UK)

Henry Ford III

Get your deposit back and buy elsewhere. Insist on a HPI check too for any import.

Churchy

Dont think you have any legal comeback as neither party had signed any papers.

Perhaps they will cut you a favourable deal on a similar car to make up for the hassle?

thenakedchef

cheers for the fast responses guys:),i dont think there will be any problems re the deposit,its just at this stage they were the only ones offering what we consider a decent price for a 04 megane....we were trading up to a 06 yaris as she does so little mileage...understandably they are different cars

thenakedchef

what really pi$$ed me off was that we nearly left there this evening with an identical car to the one we viewed,test drove and had a mechanic check for us,they are to ring tomorrow when the guy we were initially dealing with comes in......i cant wait to hear is explanation
will keep ye posted
thanks again

pete4130

Are they going to reimburse you for the cost of your own mechanic to check the car out?

bazz26

Mmm I'd be interested to find out how a situation like that works out for the consumer. Because if the shoe was on the other foot and a customer pulled out of a deal at the last minute then the dealer would more than likely keep the deposit.

January

I'd name and shame the dealer if I were you.

thenakedchef

if i name and shame i may get banned,
true if the shoe was on the other foot and all that !!!!!
i will be letting them know the mechanics cost as well

colm_mcm

thenakedchef wrote: »

cheers for the fast responses guys:),i dont think there will be any problems re the deposit,its just at this stage they were the only ones offering what we consider a decent price for a 04 megane....we were trading up to a 06 yaris as she does so little mileage...understandably they are different cars

Would you mind sharing the cost to change figures? what spec was the Yaris?

cazzy

Yeh ask for deposit and your mechanic costs reinbursed

thenakedchef

update on this......it turned out that the car we paid a deposit on was a 2007 and not a 2006(it hadnt been cleared) and it was sold by accident while the guy we were dealing with was at a funeral......i know it sounds a bit irish they obviously felt they would loose to much by completing this deal
anyhow we had the other 2 yariss checked out and we took the one which they hadnt cleared and had very similar mileage to the one we had sold on us,sales guy tried convincing us the one that was cleared was a cleaner car,though it had higher mileage and a few marks here and there but i copped it was probably that they didnt want to clear the other yaris as it would be cheaper for them in january
she is happy now with her choice and is glad to be rid of the megane