General: Advice on what cancellation rights I have over a car order.

[sundowner]

Hi,
I paid a £1000 deposit at a Volvo dealership to place an order for a factory built to spec Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered car at the end of Jun 2021. I was told the expected delivery date would likely be the end of the Year (Dec 2021) and that they would be in touch once they had a date from the factory. I was ok with this as the car I’ve got at the moment is fine.
Early in August I heard back from the dealership. They still had no delivery date for the car.

I was in contact with the dealership last week after hearing online some people’s cars had arrived missing options they had ordered (due to the worldwide chip shortage). The dealership looked into this for me, and when I heard back, they told me that the factory isn’t currently taking any new orders as their order books are full. So, my car order hasn’t been accepted by the factory yet.

In the meantime, I’ve discovered that one of the safety features I’d wanted and assumed was on the car is not currently orderable on the car (due to world wide chip shortage). BLIS and Cross Traffic alert was part of the safety package on an earlier edition of the price list. But I now see from the Spec list of my car that the dealer emailed me at the time I paid the deposit, the Driver support option I ordered, doesn’t include BLIS and cross traffic alert.
All along and to this day the Volvo UK website advertises the safety features of the V60 with BLIS & Cross traffic alert prominently featuring on the main page for information about the V60 model.

I really don’t want the car if it doesn’t include BLIS and Cross Traffic alert. My current car has both and they aren’t something I could live without, they’ve saved me in situations in the past, despite be being a careful driver. I’m yet to confirm if this could be fitted after delivery but suspect it won’t be having read a few things online.

How do I stand if I want to cancel my order? and will I lose my deposit? I can see that I should have checked the spec more thoroughly. You don’t expect Volvo who is known for their safety to drop driver safety features.
But now that I am told the dealer hasn’t even been able to place the order, can I cancel on these grounds alone?
Once the chip shortage issues eases, I’m sure the BLIS and cross traffic alert features will be available again. Can I push to delay my order with the dealership in the hope that these features become available again on the car? I’m happy to wait for the right car even it that means a long wait.

[milzibkit]

I dont know the answer, but I'm in almost exactly the same situation with the same model...just a few weeks later in ordering than you.

I expect without specific commitment from the dealer in writing regarding delivery dates then they're under no obligation to refund your deposit if you cancel. Same goes with the missing features - if your confirmation said it had a feature it now doesn't then I'd expect to you be able to receive a refund of your deposit. If it didn't say it had the features, then I think it's up to their good will.

Please keep the thread updated as I will need to weigh up my options if the New Year approaches with no confirmed build date. I need a car!

[Cull06]

If I put down a deposit on a card on the basis it would be delivered to an agreed between both parties spec of x and by y date.

And then they said they couldn’t fulfil that contract anymore.

I would ask for my money back and failing that if they refused put in a claim with Amex for a Section 75.

They are the ones breaching the contract not you.

Were there any terms to this deposit?

[Frankiee]

Speak to the dealer, put your cancellation request in writing and you’ll receive your deposit refund, as they can’t fulfil your original contract. Happens all the time, and you won’t be the only person doing this.

[Tannaton]

I would go an talk to the dealer first - your contract is with them - it might be that they would be pleased to give you your deposit back. The won't want to upset a regular private customer ordering relatively high value cars.

[Rocinante]

I appreciate you're trying to be forewarned before you have that chat with the dealer, but the best way forward I think is to just approach the dealer and ask them your questions.

Personally, if you're in no hurry, I'd be asking for my deposit back as you appear to be not getting what you want, and be thinking about placing the order again next year. Though there may be quite some waiting list by then, which leaving them with your deposit, may keep you higher up the waiting list.

They have a £1000 of your money and are trying to get a significant amount more from you, so I would hope that they would try and cooperate with you in some manner to get what you want. I would concur with the others, that I think you should be due you're deposit back, but I don't know what you're small print says.

[Rocinante]

The only other thing I would add would be the wait for these options to be available might be longer than you are hoping, but this is all speculation. So when weighing up your options you have to decide how long you are willing to wait, versus your disappointment if you receive the car without the options, only for them to be available shortly thereafter.

"Semiconductor supply had been expected to rebound by the end of 2021, but the global chip shortage is now set to last into next year and could remain until 2023, experts fear."

https://techmonitor.ai/technology/ch...experts%20fear.

[sundowner]

Thank you all for your thoughts.
Yeah I knew I needed to speak to the dealership which I've now done, it helped having read through the comments here first.

I've told them I don't want the car without BLIS & Cross traffic alert, and I'm happy to wait until this becomes available again ,however long that is. They are going to speak to Volvo and give me an update.
I was told my order had just been accepted by the factory on the day I phoned, though they'd not been given a build/delivery date by the factory.
The dealership saw no reason to hold my deposit if I wanted to cancel my order for which I am grateful.
Hopefully I'll hear back soon from the dealership.

[milzibkit]

Good news and nice to hear the dealer is being reasonable. Out of interest, what dealership was it? As I said above, I'm in a similar situation for the same model, just ordered a few weeks later. I'm also in the South East.

[sundowner]

Sorry for the late reply.

Bad news on the my car order. I emailed the dealership yesterday to ask for an update, and I've been told the factory have rejected the order, and now the Polestar Engineered models is discontinued in the UK. So no car. I'm not sure what to do next, I ordered the car end of June. I'd have expected the dealership to have been given a headups by Volvo that a model is being discontinued, especially since there are customers that have been waiting so long.