Distance buying

Peerzy

Peerzy

Peerzy

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Posts
7,149
Boss is buying a ex demo car over distance (59 plate). He's not looked at it but done everything over the phone, agreed a price and the car is being delivered a few days before Xmas for his wife as a present.

He asked about cooling off period and anything like that in the law to do with distance selling and the salesman over the phone said it doesn't apply to cars.

Surely that's not right?
 
I dont know for sure but I'd be suprised if it does apply to cars. You can imagine the costs involved if people changed their mind, think how much it costs to prepare and ship a car!

I did notice this in the regulations, they dont apply for:

for the supply of goods or services the price of which is dependent on fluctuations in the financial market which cannot be controlled by the supplier
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You could perhaps argue cars fall into this.
 
Crikey, that suggests it DOES apply to cars :eek:

This sounds awful for dealers - it even applies to BRAND NEW cars?! The legislation says that if I order a brand new car, the dealer registers it, then delivers it to me, I can change my mind?! How is this even remotely fair, the car becomes a used car!
 
But, they can put in the contract that the buyer has to pay for the return of the car. Helps a bit!
 
[TW]Fox;17915478 said:
Crikey, that suggests it DOES apply to cars :eek:

This sounds awful for dealers - it even applies to BRAND NEW cars?! The legislation says that if I order a brand new car, the dealer registers it, then delivers it to me, I can change my mind?! How is this even remotely fair, the car becomes a used car!
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Unless you have personalised it. I guess options on a new car would come under this.
 
[TW]Fox;17915508 said:
Surely this is consumer power taken too far?
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To be fair Fox, I believe the whole DSR goes too far.
The whole idea was that people who are buying online or over the phone should be able to inspect an item before purchase in the same way someone could in a store.

Yet people get TV's and other major electrical goods and "try them out" before deciding if they want to keep them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for consumer rights.
But I honestly think these rules go a little too far - applying to cars, something that will depreciate at a quite high rate is crazy.
 
There must be a distinction made between new and used cars. I mean imagine you buy a brand new 70k car then change your mind, the dealer has just done 10k in cold blood.
 
It makes perfect sense that it applies to new cars as much as anything else IMO. It is, after all, just a good, and all goods become used if you get them, open the packaging, try them out and go "don't want this". A car just happens to cost more than a typical good that you'd buy at a distance.
 
IMO they should abolish the DSR and set it up like paypal so you can return it if its not as described or damaged, not just because you don't like it as much as you did on the website or something.

Their protecting consumers to the point where there harming retailers.
 
ubersonic said:
IMO they should abolish the DSR and set it up like paypal so you can return it if its not as described or damaged, not just because you don't like it as much as you did on the website or something.

Their protecting consumers to the point where there harming retailers.
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The Sale of Goods Act already gives protection for incorrect description or damage, so you could just abolish the DSR and that would be it.

The trouble is, the DSR is a good thing. If you are buying a watch and you see it in the store, try it on etc. you can be very certain you are going to like it when you get it home. When buying on the Internet, even with the best imagery in the world, it's a gamble. The DSR takes away some of that gamble by letting you experience the good after delivery and then deciding if you like it.

Trading via the Internet or at a distance is normally an advantage for retailers as it provides lower fixed costs and other benefits. All the DSR does is eat in to those advantages a little bit. I would be almost certain that the cost of complying with the DSR for a business is less than operating a physical retail outlet. For that reason, I see the DSR as providing consumers with good protection without creating additional costs for businesses compared to before, and the retailer has access to customers that it would never have had access to before. It's a fair enough balance.
 
It only harms retailers if they have a poor business model. You must build the returned item cost into the actual sale price. I have only ever had to return one item under the DSR, and that was an IP webcam. The online retailer responsible tried to tell me they are not liable, tried giving me part refunds, excluding processign costs etc. Luckily I know the exact law, and it didn't take long to get exactly what I was entitled to. Returns are few and far between, and it stops retailers from selling shoddy goods.
Without the DSR, retailers would rip you off every step of the way and you would have no comeback. PMKeates says this is a good thing, and it is. However, it does go a step too far, in that even if it is damaged by the buyer, lost in the post etc, you still have to give a refund. The refund is not dependant on getting the item back. You would have to take the buyer to court to reclaim the damages.
 
It may sound awful for dealers but at the end of the day if they are out to screw people for money by selling shabby cars then they deserve what they get.

I had one recently car looked great in the pictures supplied, condition was excellent for its age/milage but having travelled 120 miles to view it the car had some major visual faults.. Torn leather seat, trim hanging off, all things they didnt mention or display in the photo's. Had that been bought and transported to me, i would have been well within my rights to tell em to take a hike and return the vehicle for a full refund at their expense.
 
I've bought my last 4 or 5 cars over the phone, all from BMW dealers. Some dealers simply do not want to do business like this - or insist on you coming down (in some cases hundreds of miles) just so that you can sign on the dotted line, which I guess rules out DSR.

I think if both parties are honest and up front, it works very well. I have on a couple of occasions had problems - car delivered with computer showing it requires an immediate service (serviced at my local dealership at the selling dealers expense), or a few scratches which were not explained over the phone (not much I could do there), to an X5 whose suspension / steering had something seriously wrong with it (car taken back at dealers expense to "put right", but I was never really happy with it).

The other thing people are generally not aware of is that there is no such thing as a non-refundable deposit over the telephone (not sure about in person). If you havent made full payment, you are entitled to your deposit back if you change your mind.
 
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