Question Regarding Deposits - Are they Refundable in Certain Cases?

Vanilla said:
As you may have seen you can do a small claims online and it can be all sorted in a matter of weeks.

This reads a bit better and can be improved upon. They don't need to know all of your correspondence, just a summary of why you are going to the SCC. Keep it simple.

"I agreed to buy a car from Jon Hunt for £2400 and paid a deposit of £400 [Insert date]. The advert described the car as being mint condition. On Friday September 10th before I was due to pick up the car the seller contacted me and said: 'when you come, I would recommend bringing a jerry can to fill with fuel just incase. The car doesnt like running sometimes with 1/4 of a tank'. Upon further probing Jon claimed ‘.....the pump wont keep up with the carbs. Its not designed for that'. This problem was not mentioned at time of sale and the car was described as an ‘everyday runner’ and ‘mint condition’ in the advert.

In light of this new information I backed out of the sale and requested my deposit back as it was not mentioned at time of sale even though I asked about such issues. I specifically asked Jon if there were any problems with the car and we discussed the only two problems he claimed the car had (rev counter and fuel gauge).

I have asked for my deposit back as a result of this new information as I no longer wish to purchase the car under those circumstances and the seller has refused to reimburse me the deposit“
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Thats absolutely brilliant! Thanks for that.
 
After posting about the problem on his for sale thread on the XRtwo forums he has now text me back:

Sorry, i have just woken up as i work shifts, i will have a thinktoday to see if we can sort something out. The reason i am really against dropping the price is because you already managed to reduce me from £3200 to £2400 and in my opinion if do not see the fuel as a problem.
 
Shep_Cobain said:
After posting about the problem on his for sale thread on the XRtwo forums he has now text me back:

Sorry, i have just woken up as i work shifts, i will have a thinktoday to see if we can sort something out. The reason i am really against dropping the price is because you already managed to reduce me from £3200 to £2400 and in my opinion if do not see the fuel as a problem.
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Shep, do you still want the car?

How much will it roughly cost to correct this fuel tank problem?
 
The deposit means that you want to buy the car and the seller will not sell it to anyone else, this decision is made there and then and you have entered into a contract to buy the vehicle.

The deposit has stopped the seller from selling to anyone else, now that you have pulled out he is within his rights to keep the deposit to cover his costs to re-advertise and for time and money arranging the sale to you.

Putting a deposit on a car is the same as buying it, you have entered into a contract you just haven't exchanged money yet.
 
Ring Peace said:
The deposit means that you want to buy the car and the seller will not sell it to anyone else, this decision is made there and then and you have entered into a contract to buy the vehicle.

The deposit has stopped the seller from selling to anyone else, now that you have pulled out he is within his rights to keep the deposit to cover his costs to re-advertise and for time and money arranging the sale to you.

Putting a deposit on a car is the same as buying it, you have entered into a contract you just haven't exchanged money yet.
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So what would happen if he wrote the vehicle off or decided not to sell it?

I wouldn't get my deposit back?

If i decided to pull out because i no longer wanted the vehicle then fair enough. But i do want it, only if the fuelling is sorted.
 
Ring Peace said:
Putting a deposit on a car is the same as buying it, you have entered into a contract you just haven't exchanged money yet.
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Misrepresentation makes the contract voidable however. I can't remember whether this would entitle the deposit to be repaid, however depending on the intentions of the misrepresentation damages could be pursued which could arguably include the deposit.
 
it could also be due to the fact the XR2 tank will have no swirl pot built into it.

He said when you boot it on low fuel it has issues. On nearly all XR2 conversions (RS Turbo and Zetec) fitting a new fuel tank with a swirl pot and an enlarged fuel outlet is standard procedure.

A swirl pot will allow constant feed under hard acceleration and when cornering. Ask him if one was fitted.

Alternatively as others have said the fuel pump fitted could not be up to the job.

A swirl pot does not have to be fitted into the tank and could be fitted in the boot or in the engine bay if there is room.
 
I hate when people claim it's "like brand new" or "mint" when really it isn't. I went to see cars being advertised as mint just to see cars with scratches, small bumps and damaged alloys.
 
Shep_Cobain said:
So what would happen if he wrote the vehicle off or decided not to sell it?

I wouldn't get my deposit back?
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Then he would be breaking the contract so would have to pay your deposit back.

If i decided to pull out because i no longer wanted the vehicle then fair enough. But i do want it, only if the fuelling is sorted.
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At the time of putting the deposit down, if you had the cash on you, you would have bought it the contract would have been concluded the money and the property would have exchanged hands. Knowledge of the fuel issue was after this.

I am not saying you don't have a point, I'm trying to counter everyone else suggesting take to court---->get money back, it is not as simple as that.
 
apatia77 said:
I hate when people claim it's "like brand new" or "mint" when really it isn't. I went to see cars being advertised as mint just to see cars with scratches, small bumps and damaged alloys.
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Yeah I know what you mean, I keep putting the Lynx on but I'm still waiting to be surrounded by the loverlys.
 
Yes hes entered a contract, but if that contract was based on misinformation the contract would be considered void and he could sue for damages plus his deposit back. This is assuming your not deemed an expert and him a layman, that changes the ground rules.

What would come down to the wire is what would a reasonable person expect in this situation, thats what the judge would be looking at. I would hazard a guess that he would say any car that cannot be driven as its designed to do would fail the test, the age of the car then comes into the equation since you cannot expect a used item to perform as new.
However, you could argue that its not fit for purpose as its now come to light its by default dangerous when being used as intended. Your only risk is that the judge may be a total anti speed freak and say well if you dont accelerate like mad your going to be ok anyway.

Do you know definately what this will cost to be fixed? Maybe get a proper quote for the work, and then consider offering to split the difference. If hes emigrating he probably doesn't want the hastle to drag on, and you get the work sorted correctly.
 
Shep_Cobain said:
i'm sending off the claim now, is this okay as the short description:


I agreed to buy a car from Jon Hunt for £2400
and paid a deposit of £400. The advert
described the car as being mint condition and
ok as a daily driver. The seller said the
earliest i could pick the car up is 26th
September as he needs it for work until then.
I asked if there were any problems with the
car which he said there was two. One with the
rev counter and the temp gauge. On Friday
September 10th the seller text me saying:
'when you come, i would recommend bringing a
jerry can to fill with fuel just incase. The
car doesnt like running sometimes with 1/4 of
a tank'. I said: 'why doesnt it like running
if it only has 1/4 of tank?'. He said:'Well
it does, but when you boot it for a long
period of time say down the motorway, the
pump wont keep up with the carbs. Its not
designed for that'. I am due a refund of my
deposit because the car was missold. No
problems and everyday runner were clearly
mentioned in the advert, this car is neither
an everyday driver nor without problems.
I still want the car but only if its fixed.
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It's not great to be honest.

Doesn't say when you agreed to pay (which is when the contract was formed), whether you'd inspected the car first, did you test drive it, did you have the opportunity to learn of the fault during a test drive, did you sign anything at the time. Doesn't say what the result of the two acknowledged faults was (did he agree to rectify, did you agree to live with them etc).

Don't state the conclusion - "I am due a refund because...", state the facts - car was described as X, seller has now accepted that it isn't X.

Oh - and make copies of the texts and do a statement now of any and all calls or discussions you've had with him.
 
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