I'm about to order my next car on Motability, the advance payment is £399 (Seat Leon 1.6TD SE Copa 5dr for those interested), but what I was wondering is if I order it right at the end of March and the price then goes down do I have any right to cancel the order and submit a new one? I know you get a 5 day statutory cooling off period with credit agreements which are not agreed on the creditor's registered business premises, but is Motability classed as a credit agreement?
I think until you put in your pin which Motability send you, then you can cancel up to this point. Once you put in the pin, you have now entered the contact and can only terminate it if Motability agree to it. There is normally a £250 termination fee. You cannot cancel it because the price has come down, it has to be a good reason or they won't let you.Originally Posted by Waddy
Credit Agreements
You will only benefit from a cooling off period if the credit agreement was made in one of the following ways:
For agreements signed away from the creditor’s normal business premises – i.e. at your home, place of work or at an exhibition stand
For agreements made at a distance (online, by phone or by post)
For agreements which fall under (1), you will have a cooling off period of 5 days, which begins from the time you receive the second copy of the agreement (containing the cancellation form). For contracts which fall under (2) and (3), you benefit from a 14 day cooling off period. Unlike the cooling off period for goods bought under the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs), the creditor may make a reasonable charge for any service (such as insurance cover) which was operating during this time.
There are specific guidelines on how you should cancel the contract, which must be notified to you by the creditor before or immediately after the contract is made. If the creditor does not make this information available to you, then your cooling off period will not begin until this happens.
Financial products and services
Financial products including banking, credit, insurance, personal pensions and investments, sold by distance means are subject to a 14 day cooling off period (this is 30 days in the case of life insurance and personal pensions). This includes renewals for insurance where the agreement has been sent by post. This 14 day cooling off period also covers situations where you bought a financial product from an intermediary or a broker, even if it was discussed and signed face to face. You must be sure to follow correct procedure for cancellation (see below). The insurer or broker must refund any monies paid by you within 30 days, although they have the right to deduct a reasonable admin charge, and a sum proportionate to the number of days cover you have had. If you have any related credit agreements, these will also be cancelled.
Waddy,
Your choice is reletively simple.
1) either order the car at the AP you have been quoted which you are happy with
2) Hope your Seat dealer has notice of Q2 prices early and you can have a couple of days to decide
3) Wait unril Q2 and order the car then.
This discussion reminds me of people who book a holiday at a price then either complain that its gone down, or crow at the price they have paid because its goen up :-)
If teh price is OK for you now, order now and DON'T look at the prices in Q2 else the next thought is "will it be cheaper/expensive in Q3???"
If I was Waddy I would order now. SEAT prices don't tend to change much, so the advance payment will probably be the same in Q2 I would imagine.
I'm hoping for some price increases - it should narrow down my choices, and make it easier to order next Quarter.
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Your best bet, if you are able to do so, is to wait until the 31st March and see if either the dealer has Q2 prices or Motability have published the quarterly price guide online.
As I have posted elsewhere, Motability have told me they are working hard to bring more cars on the scheme and the AP's down, but predicting next quarters prices is as difficult as predicting next weeks weather! I do know that the Seat Leon FR+ went from £1499 to £2499 in one quarter.
If the AP is £399 it cannot fall very much but could rise considerably. You pay your money and make your choice.
Last edited by paul1234; 03-20-2012 at 05:25 PM.
It's not really the same as booking a holiday, holidays have a finite supply and the price fluctuates depending on how popular a particular holiday is, everybody knows you can get some good deals if you book early or last minute, both options limit your flexibility in one way or another and thus you can get a cheaper deal. The holiday company, airline, accommodation owner, etc. all benefit from you booking early or late deals and this benefit is shared with the customer.
Cars are generally built to order and whether I order it on 31 March or 1 April makes no difference to SEAT's or Motability's costs, but it might make a difference to who ends up with a few extra quid, and personally I'd prefer it was me who ended up with it.
Credit agreements are a long term financial commitment, which need to be thought about, hence why you have statutory rights of a cooling off period, if I can use those rights to save myself a few quid then I don't see the problem in it. If you bought something and the next day you could get it £100 cheaper and you had the option to cancel your initial purchase and buy it for £100 less would you really just wave goodbye to the £100 and put it down to a gamble that you lost?
Anyway I have spoken to Motability and they have confirmed that the contract is treated as a normal credit agreement and there is a 7 day cooling off period (2 more than statutorily required), but as you don't sign the agreement until you pick up the car, this is when the cooling off period starts. So now it leaves me with the option, if the price goes down, of ordering the car and then I can reject it when I go to pick it up, but reorder it and miraculously the dealer will have one, fitting my exact requirements, that has just become available.
It's a bit like buying something before Christmas and then seeing it half price in the January sales, if the retailer has a 28 day money back guarantee, it's not my fault that the retailer has chosen to offer me that guarantee, but I might as well take advantage of it and save a bit of money. A bit like it's not my fault that the government have given me statutory rights and Motability have decided to enhance those in their contract, they're the ones setting the terms and if I can use those terms to my advantage then I don't see why I shouldn't.
I think you may have a problem with this in practice.
In reality you would have to sign the agreement to excercise your rights under the 7 day cooling off period and once you have done this you have legally taken delivery of the car which means the car is then registered to you and once rejected becomes a second hand car which cannot be used on the scheme subsequently.
If you reject the car before signing then you would not be excercising your rights under the cooling off period you would simply be in breach of contract.
Either way you would have to start the whole process again. Motability would not allow you to re-order the same car and I doubt the dealer would take the order having been left with an identical second hand car.
The date you order the car does make a difference to the AP as each month CAP update resale values and motability alter AP's each quarter to reflect this and other changes like insurance etc.
Last edited by paul1234; 03-21-2012 at 06:15 PM.
Every time I have chosen a new car it has been around new price date. What I do once I've sorted out suitability, cost etc is ask the dealer to throw in some extras if the price drops after I've ordered.
The one time it did happen Citroen added a Tow-bar, full rubber mats and Scotchgard. I was going to get a towbar anyway so was very happy.
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