Paid a deposit but NO car!

[Swallow]

Last Tuesday the 7th, i put a deposit of £200 down on a 52 plate Micra. The car is a crash-repair. It didn't have a bad smash, the only damage was a new bumper, headlight and airbag. I have phoned the car garage every other day to see when i can pick up the car, and the only answer i got was "we are still waiting for the airbag". well i thought, it doesn't take over a week to get an airbag and fit it. So i decided to phone the garage again today, and the answer was different to the previous answers that i got. "we are having a few problems finding an airbag, a brand new one is going to cost £400 and we don't want to pay that because there will be no profit left for us in the car, so we might have to refund your deposit".




Where do i stand with this? i have put down a deposit, so surely they have to repair the car at any cost, and sell it to me at the price agreed of £2500, otherwise they shouldn't of sold the car to me in the first place if it was going to cost to much to repair.

 

[joe boy micra]

do you have some sort of reciept sayin that its a deposit and you are goin to pay £2500 for the car? if so im sure you have a case

 

[Arnold]

Its there fault for selling the car before it's ready to be sold! If you have all the valid paperwork etc then you should definitly have a case!

 

[m1ck97]

There pulling the wool over your eyes mate. There hoping that refunding your deposit will fix there mess up. As long as you have a reciept saying you have paid a £200 deposit for a car costing £2500 they cant increase the price.

 

[Andrew]

Great, and back to the real world, the seller is totally entitled to give you back the deposit and not sell you the car, unless you signed a contract saying otherwise (and most contracts make sure that the seller can back out with no penalty).

What is it with this place and people talking rubbish like it is fact?

 

[Swallow]

Putting down a deposit is entering into a contract. I have a receipt stating this, with the remaining balance left to pay.

I think that they would rather not sell me the car because they under valued it. They probably want to repair it, but put it back up for sale, for a much higher price to what was agreed with me.

 

[m1ck97]

Putting down a deposit is entering into a contract. I have a receipt stating this, with the remaining balance left to pay.

I think that they would rather not sell me the car because they under valued it. They probably want to repair it, but put it back up for sale, for a much higher price to what was agreed with me.

It is a contact on both sides, you cannot back out of it unless the other party agree's. Based on this, should they attempt to force you to accept the refund of the deposit, i'd speak to a solicitor and see where you stand legally.

 

[j.a.kelly]

agreed with 99% of replies so far, u have a contract, and its likely that the threat of a solicitor will sort this out if need be...

but do remember if u start getting funny...they could do something with your car.... hmmm...

JK

 

[Swallow]

It is a contact on both sides, you cannot back out of it unless the other party agree's. Based on this, should they attempt to force you to accept the refund of the deposit, i'd speak to a solicitor and see where you stand legally.

I agree, both party's have to agree to back out. Thing is i would rather have the car then accept the deposit back, but i don't want to pay anymore money for the car than what was agreed.

 

[59 bhp is more than enough]

right i spoke to my mama who is a solicitor and she basically said that the deposit only entitles you to buy the car. They have no legal obligation to sell you the car AS LONG AS they give you the deposit back. She said it sounds like they have been offered more money for it and they are looking for excuses.

 

[paddymarsden]

like andrew said, if you havnt signed anything about the car being yours when you pay the final amount off then her has the right to not sell you the car.

For example when the xbox 360 came out i worked in dixons and we had loads of £20 deposit's if they didnt come in we refunded the deposit, its a similar situation.

do you have any of the documentation for the car ?

 

[j.a.kelly]

ah...lol

after re-reading my law book...i now agree with others...i was thinking of where some1 has sold the goods that you have made a deposit on. Sorry!

JK

 

[Swallow]

Cheers for help guys. Looks like i wont get the car then and have to accept the deposit back, if they cant find a cheap second hand airbag. I will be gutted though, because i really want the car.

 

[SplanK]

TBH it sounds iffy - i would take your money back and do a runner regardless of "you have to sell if for this price"

there will be plenty of other cars avail...

 

[m1ck97]

£400 for a airbag sounds expensive. Why not go into a scrappy and get one from there, cost £50 at most.

 

[Andrew]

I don't think garages like installing secondhand airbags as if it failed to function in an accident, they could get seriously reamed.

 

[Swallow]

The difficult thing about the air bag is that it has to come from a particular year of Micra, due to it being a different type to the airbags in the other years. It can only be from a 2000-2002 Micra. Finding a Micra in that year, which is a right off and hasn't had a smack in the front will be difficult!

 

[detox]

take the car for a bit less with no air bag and get a new steaing wheel and airbag from the scrappy i will try and get you 1 from my local of 30+p&p then they wont mind and you get the deal of a life time...

 

[Swallow]

take the car for a bit less with no air bag and get a new steaing wheel and airbag from the scrappy i will try and get you 1 from my local of 30+p&p then they wont mind and you get the deal of a life time...

Asked to take it without an airbag already, but they said its illegal to sell a car without an airbag when its supposed to have one.