WA Paid for Pre-Inspection Deposit on Car - Dealer Refusing Refund?

[Shane Patel]

I live in a smaller town and on 29/01/2016 rang up a dealer in Perth for RAC inspection for a used car. The dealer agreed in return for $500 deposit on the car which I paid on the phone by credit card.

Later on 01/02/2016, the car was found to have problems requiring expensive work and I declined to buy the car. The dealer is refusing to refund the money and threatening to send the lawyer's notice. I had only paid the deposit for getting the car inspected and haven't signed any forms except for the privacy act authorization agreement online on 29/01/2016 for loan processing in case I want to buy the car.

I am also worried that on 29th I also sent my payslip and bank details for loan paperwork and fear that they might be misused by them.

 

[Rod]

What are your questions?

 

[Wiggins]

IMHO, sadly, the first mistake was paying a deposit on a car, just so that you could have it inspected.

That was a bit ballsy of them to ask for that but they were obviously chancing their arm.

What kind of paperwork did you sign / what kind of receipt did you get?

With something like this, it always comes down to the paperwork when things go wrong.

My understanding is that once you pay a deposit you are generally entering into an agreement that the dealer will not sell the car to a 3rd party in the interim. If you do not complete the sale, then you forego the deposit. It really comes down to what you signed, whether there was any cooling off period.

Whether they can still force you to purchase the car I have no idea, but I'd suspect they are on very thin ice with that one and it's just a bit of a smoke screen so that you will scurry off and they can make off with your deposit.

 

[Rod]

Return of the deposit may depend on whether it was conditional on the car passing the test.

 

[Wiggins]

Yeah exactly - all comes down to the paper

 

[Shane Patel]

Quote- 'What kind of paperwork did you sign / what kind of receipt did you get?

With something like this, it always comes down to the paperwork when things go wrong.

My understanding is that once you pay a deposit, you are generally entering into an agreement that the dealer will not sell the car to a 3rd party in the interim. If you do not complete the sale, then you forego the deposit. It really comes down to what you signed, whether there was any cooling off period.'

I had only signed the ' privacy act authorization agreement' on 29th which they sent me by email to prepare for my loan document. That was three days prior to the inspection of the car. When I went there personally, they were forcing me to sign few papers like extended warranty quote and the agreed sale price of the vehicle though I was telling them about the work required for the car.

 

[Rod]

.... they were forcing me to sign .....

Unlikely to be a legally acceptable reason to exit the contract unless they held a gun to your head, or threatened you or your family, etc.

Your only hope is a pre-purchase condition or cooling off period.

 

[Shane Patel]

Unlikely to be a legally acceptable reason to exit the contract unless they held a gun to your head, or threatened you or your family, etc.

Your only hope is a pre-purchase condition or cooling off period.

I didn't sign any contract with them.
..Unless they think it is implied.

 

[Rod]

.... to sign few papers ....

Hard to help when we don't know what you signed. Your options appear to be:

1. Start a SAT case
2. Do nothing, put this down to experience
3. See a lawyer
4. Annoy dealer till they give money back

 

[Shane Patel]

Hard to help when we don't know what you signed. Your options appear to be:

1. Start a SAT case
2. Do nothing, put this down to experience
3. See a lawyer
4. Annoy dealer till they give money back

Thank you.

As I said, no signing done except for the privacy act authorization agreement. And I didn't get any receipt for $500 deposit I had paid on the phone.

What is a SAT case?