Quote:
Originally Posted by ergonomist
First - I'm not a lawyer  ...
But again - be careful. For most dealers, I believe the contract is an agreement to buy a car at a future date - it's not a sale in itself. It's therefore entirely within their right to specify how the price might change before delivery - and they acknowledge that if it does change then you have the right to terminate the contract. All of that is entirely legal and compliant with the CRA. Also (and again, from the Ts&Cs from my dealer), they explicitly exclude liability for costs incurred if the contract is terminated (they do have to give you notice of any change). We may not like the Ts &Cs - but if we've accepted them unchanged by signing the contract then we are bound by them. The message is to agree a variation to them before signing (eg that the price is fixed).
Where you have leverage is that the dealer doesn't want you to terminate the contract and leave them with an unsold car, and hence may well absorb some or all of any price increase. But they are not legally obliged to do so. |
Again with the proviso I'm not a lawyer as well, if you sign a vehicle order form without anything exotic like finance, etc to muddy the waters attached to it, then contractually that is binding.
Like mobile phone companies and most other companies they will drown you in their own Terms and Conditions but they don't trump our laws.
Ultimately the dealer doesn't have to sell you the vehicle you signed a contract for, you can't force him to, but you can then take him to court off the back of him not selling you that car and the CRA and previous case law would back you pretty firmly in being able to do so (with the caveat that you haven't signed any further contract at a later date to accept any price changes).
As per above, would you want to do that? Or would it stop long before that with some sort of compromise between the two parties? I don't know but legally your rights trump the terms and conditions the dealership thrust upon you, in England and Wales at least, not sure how much Scotland differs to our laws!