Buying a used Van from a dealer by phone?

Hi All

Would really like your thoughts and what you would do in my situation?

Was buying a Sprinter over the phone, had seen pictures, low mileage, no vat.Fair price Sales man gave a valuation of my px over the phone,which was low but as I had done allot of miles in 8 weeks it had devalued a great deal.I gave a deposit to set things in motion.signed some of their paper work , but not fully as was going to fill in after driving the van and checking everything was in order. I cancelled and asked for my deposit back as I lost the contract the van was going to be used the most on. The sales told me I could nt as they had already sold the van i was part exchanging , please see the txts and emails I recieved.

Hi Greg Our purchaser of your PX. is extremely unhappy and threatening legal action. If he pursues us we will have to include you in his action for the loss of revenue in both vans Our legal team say you should be made aware that you are not a consumer - you are a business - there is no 14 day cooling off period and you are more exposed than we are - we only have one van involved and you have two. Distance selling rules do not apply to businesses. I think you have lost sight of the fact that you have saved £4000 and have buyers remorse where you are questioning your decision. If it helps we will sacrifice £200 to make this deal happen and give you £200 more - please call Michael straight away on 01189-------- - there is always a way these matters can be resolved but going back on your word is surely not you - you came across as a proper business man. Graham J, CEO --------- Group Companies

Dear Management

The reason for the cancelled order / swap was I lost the new contract for the Mercedes, As I explained to Michael on the phone 8/8/2013 9;20am

Please return my deposit as I am a new business which can not afford to lose £500.00

I would rather this was settled now and amicably ?

Many thanks

Greg Moody

Hi Greg

I have looked into this and the situation could not be clearer or better documented.

You are a business – you expect my business to honour its word and honour its contract with you. I expect yours to honour its contract with me.

Your business entered into a contract to buy a Mercedes Sprinter from this company and to sell a Ford Transit to this company.

You were sent details of the contract, you gave this due consideration and agreed to go ahead.

Thee was an offer, there was consideration, there was an acceptance. There was a contract.

You gave us permission to charge your debit card by phone and by signed authorisation which you emailed back. You transferred title to us for the part-exchange by signing and sending back the self-billing invoice. I have not forwarded you copies of your own signed documents – they will still be in your “sent items” folder for you to review.

Under the terms of the contract we are entitled to pursue you for damages if you do not complete this transaction – in reality we can sell the Mercedes to another person who is not-vat-registered and who wants to save £4000. We will incurr very low damages, mostly stocking and cleaning and advertising.

This is not true of the part-exchange you have contracted to sell us. This van is irreplaceable at ANY price and it is VERY significant that this, too, is a no-vat-van.

We have an order for this and IF you do not complete this contract we will claim £1800 plus costs through the small claims court.

Your company is in breach of contract. You are a sole trader so you are PERSONALLY liable for our losses.

The terms and conditions make it clear that deposits will NOT be returned.

We sincerely hope you will complete this contract. Should you decide not to do this we reserve the right to submit our claim for damages, caused by your breach of contract, to the court.

Please advise me of your plans – we are not prepared to simply disappoint our other client, forfeit £1800 in revenue simply because your business cannot be true to its word and signature.

For the avoidance of doubt, if it is true that you have “lost your contract” this is sad for your company and we have some sympathy. However, it transfers no right to cancel other contracts you have entered into. My personal view is that you should SIMPLY get to work and find another contract – we sell vans to 100’s of couriers – there is ALWAYS work for a Mercedes Sprinter – you only need to knock on doors like the rest of my courier customers have done – none of whom have ever let me down.

You have no need to panic – THERE IS PLENTY OF WORK FOR WILLING DRIVERS WITH A MERCEDES SPRINTER.

Comments good and bad please ? Thanks in advance Greg

I'm going to ask which garage is it?

I am taking legal advise tomorrow, and will name and shame as soon as I can.

My advice is not to pay this company another penny. You may have to cut your losses and lose £500, as I think going to court is the only way they will hand it back, however depending on the paperwork, they may win in court. However, this is clearly not a company (or individual) I would risk giving any further money to, don't let them bully you, walk away and ignore any correspondence. You would need legal advice over the £500 or put it down to experience.

I can see the dealer's dilemma on this - He already has a buyer for your Jumbo ! There are few businesses prepared to buy a vehicle outside the scope of VAT unless heavily discounted. The original owner has already taken the hit the moment he agreed to buy it with VAT and not reclaim. Is this your Jumbo as indicated in your profile and did you buy it new?

What can a Sprinter do that the Jumbo could not?

If you can get away with only losing the £500 deposit then you will probably be lucky but it will depend on what you actually signed.

021 SAMEDAY said:

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What can a Sprinter do that the Jumbo could not?

You can buy XLWB Sprinter that is around 4.8mtrs long .. ( I can be corrected) The XLWB sprinter will fit almost a meter more in the boot, than a Jumbo transit...

Hope that answers your question 021 .. ?

As far as i am aware the transaction is not complete until the keys have been handed over. What if the van they were selling developed a major fault or was stolen, They would simply say sorry It's not for sale anymore and refund the deposit only. It all depends on their small print and whether it is legally binding. I don't buy into this "you are not a consumer - you are a business - there is no 14 day cooling off period" I would strongly suggest that this is very wrong. If you are buying from them you ARE a consumer of their goods.

Nottingham & Derby Couriers said:

I don't buy into this "you are not a consumer - you are a business - there is no 14 day cooling off period" I would strongly suggest that this is very wrong. If you are buying from them you ARE a consumer of their goods.

They are correct on this one, when a business trades with another business, then consumer laws do not apply nor does any cooling off apply. However, this is not a company I would want to give a further penny to, as I am sure there are ways to amicably resolve this, if they wanted to.

It's hard to believe they have signed a contract to re-sell his part exchange, when they have not even laid eyes on his vehicle yet!