Advice needed

Frank11

I put a €500 deposit on a car recently from a main dealer garage who is SIMI certified. It’s a 01 car, my first. I was not satisfied with the car so he originally said I could have the deposit back. When I went to collect he said because he did the work that we agreed that I was not able to get the deposit back. Anybody any ideas on how to deal with this?:mad:

niceirishfella

You are entitled to your money back - FULLSTOP.
Tell him if he does not give you your money back , you'll see him in court, and he will loose and will wind up paying all your costs as well as his..............it'll be expensive for him.

Be VIVID with him in your explaination that you will WIN and get your money back, by hook or by crook.
Do not be pushed around by this person - take a friend for support if you have to when you see him again and document your conversations and visits.

Oilrig

Whoa...

Much more information needed here.

Give us the full story, from the start.

Churchy

Agree with Oilrig , more details needed.

Why is a Main dealer selling a 7 yr old car
Have they no standards...

Good_Crow

walk into his premises on a saturday morning. tell him your not leaving without your money!

Run_to_da_hills

e500 should be eligible for a small claims court.

S.I.R

i wouldnt even bother posting that here... straight into the legal matters with a dealer asuch as him

Frank11

Oilrig wrote: »

Whoa...

Much more information needed here.

Give us the full story, from the start.

Well I first viewed the car about 2 weeks ago with my partner. It was to be my first car after recently getting my provisional license. Initially I was not happy with the condition but being a main dealer, SIMI credited and the sales man seamed honest I decided to go ahead with the purchase and an agreed cost of €3250. I gave a €500 cash deposit. The understanding was that he would do the agreed work and if we were still not happy we would not be initialed to the deposit back. I visited the garage on a few occasions to collect the car but I found the work had not being done. On Saturday last I went to the garage and my partner took the car for a test drive. We were happy with the work but noticed a hole in the rear light lens. At this stage his nice sales man persona disappeared. The sales man said the car came into him like that and that he would not replace but would put an infill piece in. This was acceptable to me but I asked about him about putting some petrol in because the fuel warning light had been on every time we drove the car. He told me that he would not be willing to put any petrol in the car and that if we were not satisfied at this stage I could have the deposit back. If we paid the deposit back by credit card he would have reimburse the card at that point but because he did not carry cash on a Saturday he ask that I return on Monday. Before I got up to him on Monday I received a call from him telling me that he is not willing to give the deposit back. And that’s how it stands at the moment. I am writing him a letter and if I get no reply I’m onto the small claims and SIMI board. Has anybody had any dealings with the SIMI? I wounding who’s side they are on?

Henry Ford III

Why oh why oh why did you place a deposit on a car that wasn't right?

Frank11

Retrospect lessons are of little use to me now. Still, good to get the word out for others to follow.
I will not be handing out any more deposits for cars that are not to my liking.

Anan1

Frank11 wrote: »

The understanding was that he would do the agreed work and if we were still not happy we would not be initialed to the deposit back.

Could you clarify what you mean by this?

conor2949

Hi Frank11,

I've only ever had to contact the SIMI once before and I found them to be very much on my side and were fully aware of what i was entitled to do.

My issue was with Irish insurer disputing whether I would be covered in the UK. I moved over to the UK for 9 months working and they were saying I could only have the car over there for 30 days at a time. Which is absolute BS so don't let any of them tell you otherwise!

I would write the letter of complaint to him and inform him that you will be there on saturday morning to pick up your deposit.
I'd re-inforce your original agreement that the deposit was refundable if the repairs weren't to your standards.

If its a main dealer and you go in there on saturday and start to make any bit of a scene at all then they will very quickly try to calm you down and I'd bet they wouldn't be long about giving you your deposit back.

The friendly salesman persona is coming under a bit of pressure to make sales given the current car market situation with VRT et al. His bonus will be taking into account any repairs he's had done to the car in the internal workshop,so he thinks he's being smart by telling you your not entitled to your deposit.

Hope it works out for you. I've always found that strongly worded letters, rigorous and repetitive re-inforcement of the agreement ye reached on the first day and a slight bit of agression/willingness to start talking loudly in front of other potential customers always works - no matter what situation you are in.

Best of luck
Conor

Frank11

Anan1 wrote: »

Could you clarify what you mean by this?

On the receipt he wrote down some of the quality issues that needed to be fixed by him. I suppose this is where the disagreement is. I’m not satisfied with what he done and he said he has done all he can. Some issues defiantly were not fixed satisfactory.
I think I’ll go straight to the small claims court with this. :mad:

Anan1

Frank11 wrote: »

On the receipt he wrote down some of the quality issues that needed to be fixed by him. I suppose this is where the disagreement is. I’m not satisfied with what he done and he said he has done all he can. Some issues defiantly were not fixed satisfactory.
I think I’ll go straight to the small claims court with this. :mad:

Did you agree that you would or wouldn't be entitled to your deposit back? If so, under what circumstances?

conor2949

Just a few words on the small claims court, they will want to see some evidence prior to the claim being made, that you have tried to resolve the dispute.

So you are bound to provide some evidence that you have tried to resolve without resorting first thing to the small claims court.

Send a registered letter and keep the receipt of it as proof or something to that effect.

Conor

quarryman

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Why oh why oh why did you place a deposit on a car that wasn't right?

why oh why do you never provide a helpful post instead of criticising others for mistakes?

take a look at your own posts in this forum if you don't agree...

Henry Ford III

The above is not a criticism. It is a question.

Frank11

I was happy to give a deposit because it was an authorised dealer and SIMI credited. If you can’t trust that.....
There was no talk as to under what circumstances I could get my deposit back. It was all very casual. Remember that last day I went to pick up the car and was not happy with the product he was the one who said I could have my deposit back. If fact if I had paid by credit card he would have refunded the card there and then it was only the fact the it was Saturday that he said he did not carry cash to refund me.
Thanks for the advice Conor, I’ll get a letter off to him in the coming days. I wondering if I’m best going to the small claims or SIMI

Anan1

Frank11 wrote: »

I wondering if I’m best going to the small claims or SIMI

According to what you've said, your reason for wanting your deposit back is that the salesman would not put petrol in a €3k car for you. My opinion (and it's only my opinion) is that the SIMI would laugh slightly harder than the Small Claims Court.;)

Frank11

Anan1 wrote: »

According to what you've said, your reason for wanting your deposit back is that the salesman would not put petrol in a €3k car for you. My opinion (and it's only my opinion) is that the SIMI would laugh slightly harder than the Small Claims Court.;)

there is a bit more to it than that, did you read all the posts. Car was not fit for sale. He was expecting me to drive away with a hole in the rear light lens which is a NTL fail.

Steve

I've limited knowledge of what law would apply but I would see the situation as follows:

By paying the deposit, you entered into a contract to buy the car with provisions that they make some repairs as part of the deal.
If the dealer did not do the work that they said they would then you're entitled to the money back as they did not fulfill their end.
If they did what they said they would then it is you who is breaking the contract and therefore not entitled to a refund.

If the car is in any way unroadworthy then sale of goods act would apply - if the repairs were cosmetic then probably not.

I'd talk to a solicitor before going near the small claims court and see where you stand - all you can rely on is the receipt they gave you listing the repairs.

www.consumerassociation.ie has lots of good advice.

Anan1

Frank11 wrote: »

there is a bit more to it than that, did you read all the posts. Car was not fit for sale. He was expecting me to drive away with a hole in the rear light lens which is a NTL fail.

I read every word. You said that you were happy for him to put an infill piece in the rear light. You said that, with the exception of there being no petrol in it, you were happy with the car.

Frank11

Hello all,
Just thought I’d drop a line and give you all an update.
I got onto the SIMI and received a reply from the sales man 8-9 weeks later. His reply was full of lies and he offered a final settlement of €250. I declined said if needed I would be claming for legal expanses. SIMI stated that since the issue was still unresolved it would have to be brought in front of a tribunal. 1 week later (today) I received a latter with a cheque for the full deposit, €500.
Thanks for your support.

Mirrorboy

Frank11 wrote: »

Hello all,
Just thought I’d drop a line and give you all an update.
I got onto the SIMI and received a reply from the sales man 8-9 weeks later. His reply was full of lies and he offered a final settlement of €250. I declined said if needed I would be claming for legal expanses. SIMI stated that since the issue was still unresolved it would have to be brought in front of a tribunal. 1 week later (today) I received a latter with a cheque for the full deposit, €500.
Thanks for your support.

good to hear, fair play

Esel

Good result there Frank11.

But please - lay off all the fancy fonts in future!

niceirishfella

Great result!
Good on ya.