Cars

[OzzMosiz]

Can any car buffs answer me this.

Is this a good deal?

Ford Focus 3dr 1.8TDCi - Panther Black

Registered: Feb 2005 (Ford Warranty Til Feb 2008)

16K

£8199

[gilf]

Can any car buffs answer me this.

Is this a good deal?

Ford Focus 3dr 1.8TDCi - Panther Black

Registered: Feb 2005 (Ford Warranty Til Feb 2008)

16K

£8199

Good deal? Seems about the going rate if not a little under but not "bite your hand off level".

[expatowner]

Can any car buffs answer me this.

Is this a good deal?

Ford Focus 3dr 1.8TDCi - Panther Black

Registered: Feb 2005 (Ford Warranty Til Feb 2008)

16K

£8199

Try looking in the pistonheads website.

[OzzMosiz]

The bloody salesman has said the web price was a mistake, AFTERI put a deposit down too!! :angry:

[billy-g]

Then thats his problem Ozz. Legally, if he has advertised the vehicle at that price, he is legally obligated to sell it at the same.

And before anyone says thats an Urban Myth, I once had the same with a Dining Room table. It was advertised as £1299 including the 6 chairs, but when I went to purchase it, the manager told me it was a mistake. Chairs extra. So sorry.

Tough.

I got the lot for £1299, so stick in there mate.

[Bingley Bloke]

As long as you have proof of the advertised price I don't see how they can get out of it. Do you have paperwork from when you paid the deposit detailing the balance due? There have been cases where retailers have wormed their way out of situations like this, I seem to remember someone like Amazon advertising TVs or something like that for 99p. Needless to say they had thousands or orders, but they didn't have to fulfil them as it was ruled that anyone with more than four braincells would have realised it was a mistake. However, if the car isn't discounted by an obviously silly amount they're duty-bound to sell it for that price.

[OzzMosiz]

Turns out its not even a TDCi. Looked at the car and the Engine has 90PS on it. There are no 1.8TDCi Focus's with 90Bhp

only 1.8TDI (which are valued about a grand less). Just told him this, and that I want my deposit back.

Getting the usual "Got to speak to manager" routine!

[Bingley Bloke]

Turns out its not even a TDCi. Looked at the car and the Engine has 90PS on it. There are no 1.8TDCi Focus's with 90Bhp

only 1.8TDI (which are valued about a grand less). Just told him this, and that I want my deposit back.

Getting the usual "Got to speak to manager" routine!

Hmmm. Describing something inaccurately... We're into trade descriptions territory here. Looks like you've already won this one!

[billy-g]

Bingley Bloke is right Ozz. You are now in the oposition to have some real fun with these incompetents if you like

[doctor_boost]

allways check book guide this is fairly close to glass guide but free http://www.whatcar.com/valuations.aspx

[Rave]

Then thats his problem Ozz. Legally, if he has advertised the vehicle at that price, he is legally obligated to sell it at the same.

Wrong. The advertised price is an 'invitation to treat'- the shop (or dealer etc.) has no legal obligation to honour the price. Shops don't have a legal obligation to sell anything to anyone- they can refuse to serve you for pretty much whatever reason they like.

However, deliberately false advertising (I.E. with the aim of getting people into the shop on false pretences) is an offence and to guard against it Trading Standards apply some pretty strict guidelines. If an item is accidentally mispriced, the shop has two options- honour the lower price (or in your case, the improved deal with the extra chairs), or remove the item from sale for 24 hours before putting it back at the correct price. Under no circumstances may they attempt to charge you the extra, and it's an offence for them to do so.

I worked in a camera shop for 3 1/2 years so I have plenty of experience of this.

And before anyone says thats an Urban Myth, I once had the same with a Dining Room table. It was advertised as £1299 including the 6 chairs, but when I went to purchase it, the manager told me it was a mistake. Chairs extra. So sorry.

Tough.

I got the lot for £1299, so stick in there mate.

Well, I expect the margins on furniture are quite high, so most likely the manager checked and saw that they'd still make a profit, albeit a greatly reduced one, and decided to do the deal. Alternatively he may have been prepared to stomach a small loss as a goodwill gesture. However, you had no legal right to purchase the goods at the advertised price, you just got lucky. It's always worth a try in this situation of course- I'd do it myself- but if your giving it a try involves spurious threats of non-existent legal recourse made to inexperienced sales staff, then I'd say that's a morally dubious tactic.

HOWEVER- once a deal has been done and payment taken, the picture changes. Kodak had to honour their £99 camera misprice because their system had automatically taken payment as soon as their website customers hit the buy button. Although £99 was (IIRC) half price, it wasn't a completely unreasonable deal and so legally they had to stick by it. In other cases (TVs for £2.49 etc.) I think the companies involved (like Ebuyer, who refused to honour my order despite keeping my £3 for several days) wriggled out by saying that no reasonable person would expect a TV to cost £2.49. What the ruling on partial deposits is, I have no idea. I think the company would be on dodgy ground.

I'm pretty sure the shonky old non-Common Rail diesel engines were discontinued long before Feb 2005, so it almost certainly is a TDCi. There are 100 and 115bhp versions though (which probably only differ in the ECU).