Quick help please re car purchase

[BadBadCars]

DH went to see a second hand car this morning. He passed a different dealership that had a car he liked. Test driven, great. He checked the dealership on his phone and it got good reviews. He put down a £1400 deposit on a debit card and then told me about it.

I had a google and found some reviews on more obscure websites saying that the bad reviews are being taken down. They list problems such as -second hand cars actually still having finance owing from previous owners, payment taken for tax but the vehicle is not taxed adn the new owner is in trouble multiple faults that become apparent a few days later but the 6 month warranty is not honoured etc et

Is there any way he can request his deposit back? Can he use the chargeback scheme? Is there anything else I can advise him?

What obscure websites, are the reviews recent (the tax thing seems unlikely as you can't pay a dealer to tax your vehicle any more) is it part of a large chain, has it been operating a long time?

Its a small stand alone dealership It looks like its been a ltd co since 2017 but haven't filed 2019 accounts yet....Co house currently trying to strike them off for non-filing..

the bad reviews are one a month or so going back, the 'good' reviews my dh looked at on trustpilot are all about 20 words long and are all written within the last month..

If £1400 is only the deposit, it must be a pretty expensive car. There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from the problems you describe, that are well worth spending the money on, eg a mechanical check by someone like the AA for about £1-200 and a HPI finance check, which is about £10. You tax the vehicle yourself, so that's not a worry.

He should have done these things before putting down a deposit.

If be tempted to wrack 100 more on a credit card so it offers you more protection. That is if the car is under 30k

@BarbaraofSeville
"he should have done these things before putting a deposit down"
I could not agree with you more

They are a registered dealer on Autotrader, so they can't be total cowboys, surely?

Anybody can probably register as a dealer on auto trader. It's probably a way to list multiple cars for a fixed price and get a 'dealer' page, rather than individual listings as a private seller. I don't think it's any sort of 'badge of quality'.

But if he's checked the car and the MOT history etc, it's not necessarily going to be a disaster.

Thanks Barbara for helping me. I'm quite stressed by it all! He's in the AA so I think perhaps paying for them to check it out is a good idea. I'm waiting to hear from him now as I sent him the reviews I had found

Agree with PP to go back and add another £100 on a CC.
Then do checks on the vehicle.

How old is the vehicle and how much of the manufacturer's warranty is remaining?

@user1497787065

How old is the vehicle and how much of the manufacturer's warranty is remaining?

I think he said it is 2014 and there was a 6 month dealership warranty. Presumably no manufacturers warranty left (its a volvo)

@TiddleTaddleTat

Agree with PP to go back and add another £100 on a CC. Then do checks on the vehicle.

They don't accept credit cards apparently!

The garage that normally services our cars will look at it if he takes it there, i've just rung them. I'm trying to work out if he should buy it and take it there, or if there is a way he can get his deposit back and walk away

You can get an hpi check on the car online - www.hpi.co.uk/

[quote Callmecordelia]You can get an hpi check on the car online - www.hpi.co.uk/[/quote]
thank you that's really helpful

He's just phoned me, he went back in and told them that he realised he couldn't afford the car and could he have his deposit back and they said no, so his on his way home now.