Question on deposits and price rise

Donegal57

Hi I paid a deposit on a car and agreed verbally with the sales man the price and balance to be paid. As I am trading in we both varbally agreed that when the new car was ready the trade in price might be lower, which i agreed too.

Now my new car is ready but and went down to pay the balance but in the meantime the price of the new car has increased and sales man is charging me the new price of the car less the reduce value of my trade in.

Now where do I stand on this, am I liable to pay the new price or should I just be paying the price of the new car when I put down my deposit.

I hope i hear an answer I want to hear but thanks in advance anyways

Alpha_125

I would think you had a verbal agreement when the deposit was paid, and hence the price you should pay would be the price agreed when the deposit was paid. I am no expert though.

Oryx

Im no expert either, but I would have thought your verbal agreement has little legal standing. However, ethically I would have thought the price verbally agreed should stand. Especially as you agreed to take a hit on the trade in value. Has it been explained why the price has risen and how much time has passed since you paid your deposit?

jor el

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/deposits

Paying a deposit forms a legal contract between both parties and I wouldn't think it's possible for one side to alter that contract without the express permission of the other. Contact the NCA though to see if it's allowable for the retailer to change the price.

JohnC.

Any garage I've dealt with have given a written/printed quote, which would help in cases like this. Even just a summary of the figures on the back of the dealers business card. They often say that these quotes are valid for a certain period of time too. I wouldn't have depended on just a verbal agreement. It's hard to prove a verbal agreement happened.

stepbar

There is a lesson to be learned here. Always get an agreement in writing.

parsi

jor el wrote: »

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/deposits

Paying a deposit forms a legal contract between both parties and I wouldn't think it's possible for one side to alter that contract without the express permission of the other. Contact the NCA though to see if it's allowable for the retailer to change the price.

That section of the NCAs site is so vague as to be useless. The whole area of deposits is left vague even though it is a large part of consumer acivity.

Unfortunately getting an agreement in writing is often difficult = we've all got stories of banks promising stuff but the refusing to put it in writing, people who've had issues with comms providers rarely get their rectification promises in writing. To be blunt it seems to be hard for consumers to get beneficial agreements in writing..

jor el

parsi wrote: »

Unfortunately getting an agreement in writing is often difficult = we've all got stories of banks promising stuff but the refusing to put it in writing, people who've had issues with comms providers rarely get their rectification promises in writing. To be blunt it seems to be hard for consumers to get beneficial agreements in writing..

It's a bad situation with regard to deposits alright. Many people have had issues with BT and deposits, with them not even giving a receipt for it let alone writing down when/how you get it back. I contacted the NCA about this and just got a standard "We don't reply to individual complaints, blah blah blah" reply. Never heard what, if anything, happened out of it.

I've invested in a little device you can plug into the phone line now, has a jack cable off it for plugging into a tape recorder or other Line in so I can record phone conversations. Very handy when dealing with telephone customer service reps. I foresee using it in my upcoming conversation with BT.

mcaul

One option is to put your car through the auctions and go up North / UK and get the new car - you'll save about 15% due to current sterling weakness and the better cash discounts on offer.

Dealers always have about 8-10% of a car's value to play with to artificially inflate the trade-in value of a car. If you walked in without a trade-in you should expect 8 - 10% discount off the list price.

Dealer has broken the contract - you have an option to walk away. Do you REALLY want to deal with these guys if something goes wrong with the car???

altered121

if the salesman altered your verbal agreement then hold on to your car cancell the sale and see if this gets them back on track if not go to another garage until you gat a reasonable deal..