[Snooky]

I have decided to swap my Leon for a 208 GTI.

As my order will be a factory order that will take about 12 weeks to arrive and, clearly, the value of my Leon will go down in that period so the dealer wants to take my car in immediately and will loan me their demonstrator 208 GTI until my car arrives.

There are some positives to this arrangement but I guess I am concerned about the potential negatives - I will have signed over my car and will have their loan car until my new one arrives - what happens if the dealer goes bust in the intervening three months?

If I get something in writing confirming that I 'own' the loan car until the newly ordered car arrives and that the new car has been paid for in full (combination of the equity in my trade-in plus the finance company paying the balance - I will start the finance agreement straight away), would that be legally binding proof of ownership of the new car on order in the event the dealer went under?

Probably all clear as mud but interested in thoughts!

John

[peterg1965]

Who is the dealer? Are they part of a bigger group? UK new car sales are on the up and very strong so I would have thought you would be fine. I doubt whether they will sign their car over to you for 12 weeks. Just pay your deposit on a credit card and you are fully covered.

[Snooky]

Originally Posted by peterg1965

Who is the dealer? Are they part of a bigger group? UK new car sales are on the up and very strong so I would have thought you would be fine. I doubt whether they will sign their car over to you for 12 weeks. Just pay your deposit on a credit card and you are fully covered.

Thanks Peter. The dealer is called Verve - a decent sized one up here with about 7 or 8 dealerships.

I was just using my trade in as deposit so it may be worth sticking £100 on my credit card and reducing the finance by £100 to get that protection. Seems like a decent idea, cheers.

[davyk31]

I share your concerns as any business can be at risk no matter how strong they look. I would proceed with caution as once you hand over your car you are an unsecured creditor who often get nothing if it all goes wrong.

Keep the Leon and force them to hold the deal, may even be to their advantage if used values are static or increase.

[Gibbo]

Sounds a fun car, they look good but have not seen one in the flesh and the Mini motor is a cracking unit for performance and economy. What colour have you gone for I like the red but could also live with it in white.

Give minimum deposit on credit card and get a cheque for the trade in if you own it would be my advice, seems a generous offer to use their demo unless I a missing something??

[Snooky]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

Sounds a fun car, they look good but have not seen one in the flesh and the Mini motor is a cracking unit for performance and economy. What colour have you gone for I like the red but could also live with it in white.

Give minimum deposit on credit card and get a cheque for the trade in if you own it would be my advice, seems a generous offer to use their demo unless I a missing something??

Hi Peter. It is a pretty decent offer to use the demo but for the pitfall I have identified. I will put a small deposit on the credit card as that will give me some additional protection.

I have a good few lawyer pals so I will give one of them a bell in the morning. The dealers are going to put the detail of the arrangement in writing and my understanding is that will form a contract between us.

I was planning on going for the 208 in red but having seen it in the metal I was less keen. I am going for black as the demo really looked the part in that colour.

The car was a hoot to drive on my test drive and I think it will be a lot of fun. My commute is a little shorter now (30 miles rather than 36) and about half of that is A/B road (the rest motorway or urban) and the 208 gets a good review in terms of being pretty refined for a hot hatch.

[Gibbo]

I am sure it will be fun from the reviews I have read it's a good combo of refined and hot hatch when you want it. From experience I prefer a smaller hot hatch - please give a review of the demo when you have put a few miles on it.

[Palmnuts]

Good choice

Your problem? Simples - I come across this regularly

Trade your car in and get the funds for it immediately - I know this is possible because when I'm in the situation of ordering a new car that has a lead time, I always get 'paid' immediately for my trade-in as I always have outstanding finance . It's no different if you don't have finance as they just give the money to you instead of the finance company!

I think you'll need to pay a decent deposit (say £1k) on a credit card as I'd be surprised if they agree to order a new car in your spec with just £100 as a guarantee!

Finally, 12-weeks lead time on one of these! Really? I don't think I've ever waited that long for a new car (except maybe when I ordered a then-new Alfa 147 GTA straight after they were launched).

[Snooky]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

I am sure it will be fun from the reviews I have read it's a good combo of refined and hot hatch when you want it. From experience I prefer a smaller hot hatch - please give a review of the demo when you have put a few miles on it.

I will do, Peter

Originally Posted by Palmnuts

Good choice

Your problem? Simples - I come across this regularly

Trade your car in and get the funds for it immediately - I know this is possible because when I'm in the situation of ordering a new car that has a lead time, I always get 'paid' immediately for my trade-in as I always have outstanding finance . It's no different if you don't have finance as they just give the money to you instead of the finance company!

I think you'll need to pay a decent deposit (say £1k) on a credit card as I'd be surprised if they agree to order a new car in your spec with just £100 as a guarantee!

Finally, 12-weeks lead time on one of these! Really? I don't think I've ever waited that long for a new car (except maybe when I ordered a then-new Alfa 147 GTA straight after they were launched).

They have already placed the order without a deposit, Andrew. Tbh, the car is very well specced as standard and I have just added Nav, heated seats and a front arm-rest (at a total list price of £600 for the three items!) so they would have no trouble shifting the car if I backed out.

The proposal is that I trade the car in, they settle the finance with VWFS and the new car is paid for in full on day 1 (balance of my equity in the old car and the new finance from Barclays). I would start my 36 month agreement with payments immediately....just 3 months in the demo and 33 in the new car.

Certainly unorthodox in my experience but it works so long as they don't go bust without delivering my new car....I would be stuck with a finance agreement for 36 months and the administrators would want to take back their loan car!

I think it is a remote risk and I can protect myself by putting £100 on my credit card as this ties the credit card company in as jointly liable....meaning if my new car wasn't delivered they would have to refund me (if the dealer was not around to do so).

I'll bounce this off a lawyer pal tomorrow before I do the changeover later on tomorrow.

[Palmnuts]

Now that is unusual - I've had loan cars before but have never been expected to start my finance agreement with them!

They normally need a chassis number and/or reg number to get the finance in place so not sure how they're doing this on their loan car, then transferring to the new one when it arrives Nil balance transfer is a potential way (like Jaguar did when they exchanged my XKR for the XKR-S on the same agreement) but it's a messy job for them and in all the cars I've bought, it has never been considered as an option. They're either extremely flexible (good) or desperate (bad)...I'm a half glass full kinda guy so assume the former!

If you have finance outstanding then at least they're paying for part of the car immediately - I would still take the cash for the remainder and put the deposit on a credit card as this totally de-risks the situation and shouldn't impact the dealer one jot (save for their credit card fees). You can use the cash to immediately pay the card off.

Unorthodox it certainly is - just make sure it's not a way for them to manage their 'cash-flow'!