HP or Cash - Consomer Protection | DealerDeals Great Car Deals

HP or Cash - Consomer Protection

Consumer Protection regulations for the Car buyer

There are an astonishing number of people that buy cars from dealers that have been miss-sold, have pre-existing faults or have been misrepresented and yet the dealer either refuses to accept responsibility or correct the fault.

The protection that comes as standard is the Sale Of Goods Act which, if you have ever tried to use it against a car dealer, can be very weak when it comes to dealing with these situations. However, take out an HP/PCP or conditional sale agreement on a car costing less than £30,000 or with finance under £25,000 and you are covered by the powerful Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This means that the dealer and the lender are jointly liable for any breaches.

Invariably, as soon as you threaten to take action against the HP company you will be amazed how quickly the problem gets resolved. But what if you are paying cash or have taken out a personal loan to buy the car, what can you do that will protect you in the same way should you end up in a dispute with the dealer? The answer is very simple and it costs you absolutely nothing! By doing what I am about to suggest you are covered by section 75 of the consumer credit act even though you pay cash for the car! The big and explosive answer is!!! Drum roll! Make a small deposit payment on your credit card.

That's it, so simple, but by doing this you are now covered by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act in exactly the same way as you would be if you had taken out an HP agreement and at no extra cost. The really good news is that you're claim is not restricted to the amount you paid by credit card, so if you paid a deposit of £100 by credit card on a car costing £20,000 you could sue the credit card company for any illegal activities on the part of the dealer up to and beyond the value of the car (if damages are awarded).

And I'm just about to make the situation even better. Because, whilst the idea of suing anyone may be daunting and you are starting to see £ signs in front of your eyes at the thought of suing a credit card company, you don't have to, you can get the same result - again for free.

You put in a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service and they have the power to resolve the case and can even award damages.

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