sale fell through on the LCR- would you give the deposit back?

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Soldato
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had the LCR sold or so i thought guy came to view on Thursday and left a £250 deposit with balance to be paid tommorow when he collects.

he's just sent me a text saying he cant get insured on the car and wants his deposit returned

i'm in 2 minds whether to give him the deposit or just pocket it and tell him to bolt for wasting my time


firstly am i legally entitled to keep a deposit? no reciept given or asked for

and secondly would keep it make me a complete and utter you know what?
 
Whats the point in a deposit if you don't keep it?

He left a deposit as security against him changing his mind. He has changed his mind, you keep the deposit.

Otherwise why bother even leaving one?
 
I think it's a bit harsh keeping the whole £250, deduct the cost of advertising and refund the difference to be fair.
 
normally i wouldnt question it and would have handed the money over happily but i took an afternoon of work to remove a few bits and pieces from the car h/u and liquid unit and gave it a quick wash and hoover ready to go so i'm down half a shift that I didnt need to be.

does he have any legal recourse here or can i tell him that i'm pocketing his deposit?
 
Maz said:
I think it's a bit harsh keeping the whole £250, deduct the cost of advertising and refund the difference to be fair.
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And how does he calculate the opportunity cost of people who would have bought the car but were told it was sold?

Whats the point in even taking a deposit if its refundable under such circumstances?
 
Maz said:
I think it's a bit harsh keeping the whole £250, deduct the cost of advertising and refund the difference to be fair.
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Why is it harsh?

It's his own fault for not looking into the insurance before leaving the deposit.

If I did that (I wouldn't :p), I wouldn't expect my deposit back.

Clown said:
Legally speaking though, can he keep it?
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Why wouldn't he be able to, that is the whole point of a deposit!
 
Id give it back personally, but maybe say as you have lost time/money in taking the car off the market (Advertising etc) that you can give him back 150-200 and need to keep the rest to re-market or something.

Tbh ive not been in your situation and id understand as an outsider if you kept it, however if I was the other bloke id be annoyed and probably torch the car (well have it done for me, never get your hands dirty when you dont have to) :D *so ie, is this bloke a nutter?*
 
mehuk said:
Tbh ive not been in your situation and id understand as an outsider if you kept it, however if I was the other bloke id be annoyed and probably torch the car (well have it done for me, never get your hands dirty when you dont have to) :D *so ie, is this bloke a nutter?*
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Nice.

If the guy can't actually insure it though, is he not very old? A chav perhaps?
 
Clown said:
Well I'm thinking that there's no contract between the two parties, but I don't know which is why I'm asking :)
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If there is no contract, it's his word against the OP's is it not? He'd have to accuse him of theft or fraud.

An actual contract isn't usually drawn up at the time a deposit is left, is it? If anything it would be a verbal contract.
 
[TW]Fox;19832448 said:
And how does he calculate the opportunity cost of people who would have bought the car but were told it was sold?

Whats the point in even taking a deposit if its refundable under such circumstances?
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Any potential opportunity cost is very difficult to calculate, but assuming he didn't delete any adverts straight away has the OP received anymore enquiries?

The point of the deposit works both ways, firstly as commitment from the buyer and also commitment from the seller.

If the buyer genuinely hasn't checked his insurance until now then more fool him, maybe he got a bit carried away and left a deposit without checking his insurance first. After all a LCR is a high insurance group car.

Although I'm a car dealer, I've got limited experience in customers leaving deposits and not completing the sale, but maybe I'm fair in the hope they'd maybe buy another car.

I always deduct any incurred costs or any advertising cost and refund the difference, sometimes in full.

Or even better, don't take a deposit from iffy customers.

I suppose the chances of this guy buying a car from you in the future is very slim........ But it's nice to be nice :)
 
With no receipt how could he even prove he gave you money?

A deposit is non-refundable as he should have checked insurance before deciding to buy. You have lost a shift, potential buyers and wasted time. Keep it and try to sell again.
 
I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving a deposit without some sort receipt. That would be good enough wouldn't it. If we're talking about his word against the other then we're talking about how honest the bloke up there wants to be.

I understand there may be a moral reason to keep/refund the money, but I'm really just interested in whether the other bloke can do anything the OP decides to retain the deposit.
 
i honestly dont know what to do, i'm thinking about texting him back and saying i'm happy to return £150 of his deposit but i'm thinking he'll see that as not acceptable and want the full £250 back, More annoyed that i took half a day off to get the car all nice and clean to go and take out bits and pieces.

suppose i should look on the bright side :) its now all sparkly for taking some new pictures to get another for sale ad up.
 
Only reason he would have recourse to recover the deposit is if you the seller cancelled the contract for whatever reason.

Personally tho I'd probably given the circumstances refund it minus an amount to cover advertising/costs - you can't really calculate things like possible lossed sales so don't even bother would be silly and you'd have had to take time off to make it ready for another buyer anyhow unless you specifically took it to accomodate this buyer - of you specifically took the time off and put the work in specifically to accomodate this buyer then I'd bill that out of it at the going rate for a valeting.
 
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Foxtrot26 said:
i honestly dont know what to do, i'm thinking about texting him back and saying i'm happy to return £150 of his deposit but i'm thinking he'll see that as not acceptable and want the full £250 back, More annoyed that i took half a day off to get the car all nice and clean to go and take out bits and pieces.

suppose i should look on the bright side :) its now all sparkly for taking some new pictures to get another for sale ad up.
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Keep it. You're doing nothing wrong and he'll have to chalk it down to experience.

How old was he? Did he seem dodgy?
 
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