Help, new car ordered - Now dealer wants more money!

[pad953]

I wonder if Skoda UK would get involved for such a loyal customer?

[octavialover]

I wonder if Skoda UK would get involved for such a loyal customer?

I doubt it, they dont seem that bothered about loyalty. Last year, 1 month after I bought my current car, they started a promotion offering free servicing for 3 years to all 09 cars, but they simply referred it back to the same dealer who said it did not apply to mine, as it was bought before promo started.....................even though I had mentioned how many new Octavias I had bought new to Skoda UK.

[slider955i]

Just to update this, had a call from the dealer today. Sounded rather apologetic about everything but was sticking to his story about the misunderstanding between him and his colleague about the mileage, tells me the shortfall is £1300, however he will cover £800, but would like me to cough up an extra £500 to conclude the matter, asked me to think about it and let me know if I still want to proceed with the purchase! He made it sound as though if I dont pay up, then no car, without actually stating that as fact. Judging by most of the comments, it seems a bit cheeky to me. Told him I will think about and get back to him.

For those of you wondering why I had paid in full, its quite simple, paid via credit card, collected my cashback/points, without incurring any credit card surcharges from the dealer. If you pay the balance upon collection after say leaving a £100 deposit, they hit you for C/C surcharge of around 4%. By paying in full via C/C at the deposit stage, you avoid the surcharges. Again, paying via C/C I am covered under the consumer credit act if the dealer was to go bust, or if their are any problems as the C/C company is jointly liable. its only a month away from collecting, and the car is already at the dealers, was a just delivered standard spec elegance.

The other reason is the deal sounded too good to be true......................... - for those of you interested in what the deal was PM me and I shall let you know.

By paying in full, I was under the impression that the deal was done and dusted.............anyway thats always been the case in my previous car purchases. I am not a newbie when it comes to buying new, this will be my 10th new car since 2001, and my 9th Octavia, and this will be the 3rd from the same dealer, and I always strive for the best deal I can get, so I usually nail the dealer for all the extras I can get like mats, tankful diesel, mudflaps, sill protectors, autoglym etc all thrown in for nowt.

All the paper work was in order and correct including the stated mileage and all the extras included, the part ex price and balance to pay. both parties signed the paperwork.

as said before . be nice and stick with the deal , you sound like you know what you are doing

[Greenie58]

If you hand another £500 back you are mad, I wouldent give him £50, these dealers do very well so dont feel sorry for them and back down. they have signed a deal so they will have to honour it, make sure you point this out when you talk to hom next time.

[m0bov]

Might be worth speaking to consumers direct to get the full facts. Then contact them, you could claim for the loss in value of your p/x while you waited if you cancel. I think if you push you should be ok, deal with the dealer principle rather than the salesman. Its likely he is expected to cover the cost of the mix up, so he wants your cash to cover it!

[cheezemonkhai]

It's too late for dealer to try to change the terms and conditions of the contract between you. As soon as the contract was signed then the price is fixed unless somewhere in the small print says he can change the price upto the point of delivery. I very much doubt if this is in the small print as it would make a mockery of the contract . Your position is further strengthened by the fact that he accepted your payment in full for the car.

Be nice to him but stick to your guns.

That term would be considered and unfair contract term.

I recently used that to great effect against a gym who decided they could change their prices whenever they liked and still insist on the notice period being honoured.

[PowerMalc]

Just to update this, had a call from the dealer today. Sounded rather apologetic about everything but was sticking to his story about the misunderstanding between him and his colleague about the mileage, tells me the shortfall is £1300, however he will cover £800, but would like me to cough up an extra £500 to conclude the matter, asked me to think about it and let me know if I still want to proceed with the purchase! He made it sound as though if I dont pay up, then no car, without actually stating that as fact. Judging by most of the comments, it seems a bit cheeky to me. Told him I will think about and get back to him.

All the paper work was in order and correct including the stated mileage and all the extras included, the part ex price and balance to pay. both parties signed the paperwork.

I am amazed that they have mixed up the mileage with such a massive discrepancy to make such a huge difference, £1300. How many miles difference are they talking about, it must be mega miles.

Obviously if you decide not to pay the £500, do not actually say that but you are expecting them to fulfil the contract as agreed. If it comes to the crunch, get them to break the contract and in writing

Good luck with what ever you decide to do

[Aspman]

I wonder if they've just offered the car to you too cheap. Is the salesman's manager trying to recover some money and this is the easiest way to do it.

Are you prepared to walk away?

[jrw]

No need to walk away - its a contract, its the law..

[Stuart_J]

For those of you wondering why I had paid in full, its quite simple, paid via credit card, collected my cashback/points, without incurring any credit card surcharges from the dealer. If you pay the balance upon collection after say leaving a £100 deposit, they hit you for C/C surcharge of around 4%. By paying in full via C/C at the deposit stage, you avoid the surcharges. Again, paying via C/C I am covered under the consumer credit act if the dealer was to go bust, or if their are any problems as the C/C company is jointly liable. its only a month away from collecting, and the car is already at the dealers, was a just delivered standard spec elegance.

Apologies for my hasty comment, youve done something I hadnt thought of & are covered by the credit card agreement .

As for the rest, if paying 500 still gives you a better deal than elsewhere its still the best deal you can get & its down to how you view that. I would still find out if you can the legalities of where you stand, as I said Citizens advice can sometimes help. If you are in the right & as you appear a hard negotiator perhaps pay something but less that the 500 & see if they will throw in the first service or 2 FOC. Their salesmans only keen to balance his books & it might help him personaly to do something along those lines

[Babs]

jrw is correct, for all intents and purposes, the car they have there is the OP's, there has been offer and acceptance, and the OP has paid in full. He is awaiting delivery, that's all!

The dealership are simply making a further offer to treat. Which would start up the whole offer/acceptance thing again. And thus, would be pointless as the OP has already bought the car!

Where abouts in the country are you?

[Niall]

Sounds quite similar to the situation I found myself in with the Scout back in '08.

Agreed p/x with the dealer over the phone for the old Mk1 Octavia (they were at the other end of the UK) offered to send pics, they said not necessary (especially as they were paying pittance for it, but it did have 153k on the clock and I needed it to get down there/didn't have space or time to sell privately).

Did all the paperwork, paid for the Scout, but had raised issue over the rubber mats provided in the boot being Fabia mats when I should really get Octavia Mats, which they agreed to swap no quibble and agreed a bit silly to put wrong mats in in the first place. Also asked for part of the plastic trim to be stuck back down below the filler cap. No problem but it'll take half an hour to get a slot in the workshop. No problem said I having driven down from Scotland at silly o'clock and it being lunch time. Went to the pub across the road for a bite to eat.

Came back to be told there was "a problem". They'd taken my old car for a drive and decided it wasn't as I'd described, they'd rung round their "buyers" and no one was prepared to pay less than £250 less than I'd got as trade-in. Stuck to my guns, said tough, I've paid for the new Car, we agreed the price of the old car, I offered to send pics you declined, it's done 153k what did you expect it to be like, it's exactly as I described.

Manager came in gave a bleeding heart story about why the Scout was so amazingly cheap and had a very tight margin, suggested that if I thought the old car was worth more I took it back to Scotland with me (please!). If they didn't have the keys to the Scout I'd have been tempted just to drive off! But they did, we were in stalemate and I needed to set off back home some 400 odd miles away so didn't have time to storm off and get the CAB all over their ass (which wouldn't have happened in an afternoon anyway) - so I paid up. Still grates to a degree, but....... it was still thousands cheaper than anyone else at the time, and for many months afterwards, and was a mint ex-demo car, so the extra £250 still made it a cracking deal if I'm being honest and looking at it in the round. (Basically a third off RRP for the sake of 3,600 miles on the clock and still within a year old).

If I'd lived locally and made an issue out of it, a visit to a Solicitor wouldn't have to go very far to burn £250 either, so as much as some on here are being militant about it, there is a place for pragmatism and looking at the whole picture as Stuart J has pointed out. But it does sound that with delivery a month away you've got the time I didn't have to sort the situation to your satisfaction.

Niall

[SilverVrsBucks]

Have you tried putting your car details in 'webuyanycar.com' with the actual mileage & the mileage they claim to have used. Is there a £1300 price difference?

Also you may find the webuyanycar price is better than their PX offer (In my experience the dealers offer pathetic PX about £1000 below webuyanycar). If this is the case you can sell to them & be up on the deal!!

[octavialover]

Got an appointment with CAB on thursday, so hopefully will know exactly where I stand, but am expecting a call from the dealer in the morning.

I used the Glass's free guide link on vauxhalls website, and the price difference is between and 1100 and 1500 for the 20,000 mile difference, which compares to he 1300 the dealer has stated.

I am based on the out skirts of South London, and some of you may well have met the dealer concerned last year......................

Will play it cool for the time being, as I am pretty certain, judging by most peoples comments, on where I stand, but will wait till thursday's meeting with CAB.

A big thanks to every one for their input, will keep you updated.

[icarusi@hotmail]

Will play it cool for the time being, as I am pretty certain, judging by most peoples comments, on where I stand, but will wait till thursday's meeting with CAB.

AFAICS the deal was done, money paid in full in advance. Any mistakes were by the dealer. The only reason you don't already have the car, is the dealer has it. In a worst case I think you'd have grounds to send bailifs in to take possession of the car, if needs be.

[ednmra]

There is another weapon, which I never needed to use regarding cars but used to great effect when being messed around by E Bookers over an air ticket.

That weapon is publicity - bad publicity!!

I got in touch with my local newspaper, local MP and so on. They were great. Made E Bookers look like a load of couldn't-care- less twits and got me a full refund.

The refund idea is not what I'm getting at, but the justified threat of publicising exactly how this dealer is behaving, or trying to, might well make them think.

Tell them before you act of course.

[Stuart_J]

AFAICS the deal was done, money paid in full in advance. Any mistakes were by the dealer. The only reason you don't already have the car, is the dealer has it. In a worst case I think you'd have grounds to send bailifs in to take possession of the car, if needs be.

He dosent have the car yet because its not March 1st. Tadge over the top re baliffs & will cost money to get the court judgement to send them in & when you get there in a few months time odds say the cars not registered so you cant drive it anyway.

He has a good relationship with the dealer to date & as with most things agreements can be reached by discussion. Hes correct to chat to CAB as he will then have a better idea of the legalities. Then I would have thought its a face to face chat to reach an agreement. If hes 100 % in the right then its how he feels personally about the dealer & their relationship. As I said previously paying part or all of the £500 against free servicing thrown in or free Gap insurance may help the salesman balance his books & save him face & he gets something extra for his 500 squids.

Edited 10 February, 2010 by Stuart_J

[Babs]

No, no, no! Do not give them any more money!

In a worst case I think you'd have grounds to send bailifs in to take possession of the car, if needs be.

I like your style

[vwcabriolet1971]

You would be quite within your legal rights to give them 1 weeks notice that unless they complete the contract as previously agreed, then you will buy from another dealer and sue them for any loss over the agreed contract price with them ( small claims court).

They know you have them over a barrel and are trying to squirm out of it . You might ask Autoexpress or Which watchdogs (or local paper) to help . My guess is that one phone call from a magazine watchdog will resolve the issue in your favor.

Edited 10 February, 2010 by vwcabriolet1971

[Greenie58]

What gets me is the nerve they have had in asking for more money, a dealership can stand £500 no problem. They should bite the bullet and accept the mistake, a decent dealership would honour the deal without any fuss.

[octavialover]

Good news, had confirmation today from both CAB, and Consumerdirect, that the dealer does not have a leg to stand on, and that as both parties have agreed a deal and signed an order to such effect, that it is a legally binding contract. The fact that I have paid the balance in full simply seals the deal from my side, and its now down to them to honour their part of the deal. The fact they have subsequently found that they have made an error on the valuation, is not my fault, nor did I mislead them in any way, so therefore I cannot be asked to pay any extra monetary contribution for their error.

CAB were fantastic and gave me a template letter to send to the dealership manager and basically inform him that I shall give him 14 days to honour the agreed contract or face legal action for breach of contract. Basically if they dont honour the contract, and refuse to handover the car on 1st March, and issue me a refund of the balance paid instead, I can go to another dealer, to a deal there and whatever the difference I have to pay to get the same car, I can sue the original dealer for the extra cost through the small claims court. Either way, its a win win situation for me. albeit it could be a bit of a long winded way to get what I want. Hopefully, the dealer will cave in an honour the deal.

A helpful word of advice with anyone paying for a car, pay the deposit, of at least £100 on your credit card. Consumerdirect, have informed me that, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, the card company is jointly liable for the supply of goods (in this case the car), and to also send them a copy of the letter that I will be sending to the dealership, and advise them that I hold them equally responsible along with the dealer. Worst case scenario being, I sue both the dealer and the card company for any extra costs incurred in securing a deal on a new car.

Thanks for everyones input on this, will keep you informed of the outcome.

[Stuart_J]

Excelent result :clap:

Edited 11 February, 2010 by Stuart_J

[digidoctor]

in your movie theater nearby on the 1st of july.

[sicknote]

good to hear that the law is on your side it must be a relief. I would either deliver the letter by hand or recorded delivery so they cannot use the excuse that they haven't received anything.

Be prepared for the stalling tactics and hopefully when you collect the car check everything especially the paintwork. You never know.

It is a shame that if I remember correctly you have had a good relationship with this dealer and they have made money out of you already.

I take it you may be finding another dealer when the service comes around.

Here's hoping for a satisfactory end to your saga

[Steve vRS]

A good result