Dealer we know with 5 branches has just gone into receivership - probably the first of many.
All brokers are saying things are desperate just now. Deals are flooding in every day - what a time to buy a bargain!
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Protect Yourself When Buying Online
Thought it might be a timely time to remind everyone how to transact with some degree of safety online.
Even decent and honest traders will be suffering just now and there's always the danger of one going under even through no fault of their own.
There is a section of the Consumer Credit Act which isn't that well known but is totally invaluable especially for anyone buying online.
It's called Section 75 and basically works by covering you for the entire purchase price of the item - car or whatever - provided you have paid the initial deposit by a credit card (not a debit card etc.).
It doesn't matter how you pay the balance, cash or cheque or bank transfer or debit card, as long as you paid an initial amount by credit card then you are immediately protected for the full amount of the deal.
IMPORTANT - deposit and balance must have been paid to the same company who was the actual supplier of the item - ie. it doesn't work if you paid a deposit to a third party broker and then the balance to a dealer for example.
There are some limitations, which off the top of my head are something like:
initial payment has to be at least £100 and it only covers up to £30000 - I may be wrong on these amounts so please check!
So for example - and this happened recently to customers of New Car Discount who went bust a few months ago - you pay an initial deposit of £500 on your credit card and then do a bank transfer of £20000 the day before delivery of your new car. The company goes bust and your £20500 is effectively lost as they owe huge amounts to banks etc.
The good news is that your credit card company is then liable for the full amount!
It may take 2 or 3 months to get it back, but you will get it back.
This cover would not have applied had you used any other payment method for the deposit!
(although there may be some less clear protection of debit cards under a thing called the chargeback scheme, check with your own bank.)
You can read more about this on the Office of Fair Trading website or from your local Trading Standards.
Although I've thankfully never had to make use of this myself or for my customers as I am very careful who I deal with, I do always recommend paying the deposit by credit card - just in case!
Worth knowing!
Even decent and honest traders will be suffering just now and there's always the danger of one going under even through no fault of their own.
There is a section of the Consumer Credit Act which isn't that well known but is totally invaluable especially for anyone buying online.
It's called Section 75 and basically works by covering you for the entire purchase price of the item - car or whatever - provided you have paid the initial deposit by a credit card (not a debit card etc.).
It doesn't matter how you pay the balance, cash or cheque or bank transfer or debit card, as long as you paid an initial amount by credit card then you are immediately protected for the full amount of the deal.
IMPORTANT - deposit and balance must have been paid to the same company who was the actual supplier of the item - ie. it doesn't work if you paid a deposit to a third party broker and then the balance to a dealer for example.
There are some limitations, which off the top of my head are something like:
initial payment has to be at least £100 and it only covers up to £30000 - I may be wrong on these amounts so please check!
So for example - and this happened recently to customers of New Car Discount who went bust a few months ago - you pay an initial deposit of £500 on your credit card and then do a bank transfer of £20000 the day before delivery of your new car. The company goes bust and your £20500 is effectively lost as they owe huge amounts to banks etc.
The good news is that your credit card company is then liable for the full amount!
It may take 2 or 3 months to get it back, but you will get it back.
This cover would not have applied had you used any other payment method for the deposit!
(although there may be some less clear protection of debit cards under a thing called the chargeback scheme, check with your own bank.)
You can read more about this on the Office of Fair Trading website or from your local Trading Standards.
Although I've thankfully never had to make use of this myself or for my customers as I am very careful who I deal with, I do always recommend paying the deposit by credit card - just in case!
Worth knowing!
New Car Sales October 2008
Drastic times for all new car sellers now - every day I'm hearing about more and more dealers and brokers getting into serious difficulty.
It doesn't matter if you are online or on the high street, sales are very hard to come by. For us small independents it's just a question of survival - cutting down on all overheads and just keep on doing what you do best!
Hopefully we will all come out the other side well placed to do business as many weak competitors will have fallen by the wayside.
On the plus side it is an absolutely brilliant time for anyone to buy. I'm inundated every day with new offers and I honestly can't keep up with advertising them, so give me a call if you are after anything in particular as there's sure to be a cracking deal!
It doesn't matter if you are online or on the high street, sales are very hard to come by. For us small independents it's just a question of survival - cutting down on all overheads and just keep on doing what you do best!
Hopefully we will all come out the other side well placed to do business as many weak competitors will have fallen by the wayside.
On the plus side it is an absolutely brilliant time for anyone to buy. I'm inundated every day with new offers and I honestly can't keep up with advertising them, so give me a call if you are after anything in particular as there's sure to be a cracking deal!
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