Tips for reclaiming a car down payment | Legal Aid

Questioner

Hello, I came into contact with a car company via an online car search site. There was a nice used car that I wanted to buy, and I contacted the car company by phone (on Wednesday 18 February 2015). My own car was to be sold to a private individual the following Monday (February 23, 5 days later). So I agreed with the dealer that I would come to his company on Thursday February 26 to view his car. If the sale with the private individual did not go through, I would call the dealer, and the appointment with him would not go through. For this he wanted €300 as a down payment, so that I could prove to him that I was a serious customer. I agreed to this and transferred the amount to his account, because the dealer said that I would get my down payment back if it all fell through. During this telephone contact, not a word was said about making it ready to drive or anything like that. The description of the deposit states 'Deposit {make, model, license plate ' The private purchase on Monday, February 23, fell through at the last minute (with an excuse from the buyer's side), which meant that my appointment could not go through either. I immediately contacted the dealer to report this, and of course to get my deposit back, as agreed. However, he did not agree to this, because he had supposedly already incurred costs for the car (made it ready to drive, for me). He refused to refund the payment after a number of phone calls. After many phone calls from my side (because the company never called back) he agreed to my proposal to refund at least half, because I said that I also wanted to get rid of the hassle and was done with it by now. Now, more than 2 weeks after I indicated that I wanted my deposit back (as agreed!), I have not received a cent back from the company. What can I do to get my money back? I really need it for other things. On other websites I read that a down payment is the same as 'buying', which I can understand. But this dealer told me before the down payment that I would get my money back if it didn't go through. Otherwise I wouldn't have made the down payment of course. I would love to hear from anyone who can assist me. Thanks in advance!

Lawyer

If verbal agreements have been made about getting the deposit back, it will be difficult to prove this. If you want to get half of the deposit back, you can send the seller a registered letter demanding the deposit within x days, failing which you will take legal action at his expense. Please feel free to contact me directly and free of charge for consultation.

Questioner

Thanks for the quick response. Of course my goal is to get the full amount back (this was agreed upon), but I have a feeling that this will not happen. To increase my chances of getting some of my money back I suggested to get 50% back. However, if there are ways to get the full amount back I would of course prefer that. If I understand correctly, a certified letter with demands should create a good chance for a refund. However, I am afraid that if I apply too much pressure, I can whistle for my money.

Lawyer

I estimate your chances of obtaining the full down payment to be low due to the lack of written evidence of the agreement. In that case, if no specific written agreements have been made for the payment of half of the down payment, it is indeed advisable to handle the letter with care.