Edited OP
Thanks all for your responses, all sorted.
Does not sound like holding deposits are a thing which I find interesting as I have had other dealers offering to hold the car if a deposit is paid and they assured me it was 100% refundable.
I feel like dealers are being sneaky if they send you a contract to sign after telling you this and not disclosing its a purchase contract and the 3 day cooling off period and also not having it available for viewing in this period.
Well if its subject to satisfactory viewing and test drive. View it and say you don't want it.
View it and say you don't want it.
Already viewed:
After viewing the car
Just likely used the wrong excuse ;)
How much is the deposit?
Awaiting the authority on all things car related to chime in….
What would spackbace do?
more like a JV question
What would spackbace do?
Well, WA doesn't have cooling off periods, so…
Cooling off is cooling off. Sorry.
Out of interest, any reason you rushed into signing the contract? I can understand normal circumstances, you wanted the car removed from the market - given current environment which would be a buyer's market, why wouldn't you wait it out - see the car and potentially negotiate a better deal. I doubt there are too many people out looking to buy a car with hoards of people losing jobs and more to come.
The contract is conditional so does the cooling off period even come into play? As stated, we did not have the option to view it within 3 days of signing the contract.
Did you have knowledge of when you could view the car prior to signing the contract?
Didn't run quick enough this time
After viewing the car, and consideration of this economic downturn, we have decided it is best not to proceed with the sale at this time.
Here's the key point. You made it conditional on the car being 'good' (to summarise). You've made no mention that the car is a dud, instead you just chose not to go ahead with the purchase. Dealership has lost on other potential buyers in that time, and you could've made that decision in 3 days, let alone a longer time-frame.
How long between signing contract, and deciding you didn't want it?
One week. However, we were under the impression that this was a holding deposit only. We were unable to make the decision in 3 days because the car had not arrived at the dealership. How can we make a decision on a car if we hadn't viewed it yet?
It was a holding deposit, subject to you being happy with the car.
The car was fine, but that's not why you want to pull out of the deal.
Can't just go "yes yes we want this as long as it's good", and then you see it and go "it's good, but we don't want this."
Adulting 101 when signing contracts
any deposit of any kind( espcally with car dealerships) you need to be absolutely clear on the TC's if the deal falls thru.
if you were told that there was a 3 day cool off period, why didn't you cancel the contract within the 3 days?
Because we hadn't viewed the car yet
Why would you pay a deposit on a car you hadn't seen?
so why not cancel the contract beforehand?
So after your signed the contract, Did you called the dealership everyday for 3 days asking to see the car?
Why did you pay a deposit and sign a contract for something you have not seen?
I think you were asking to loose your deposit really.
Not sure how much the deposit was, but if you learn from your mistake you could consider it a training/education expense.
You clearly changed your mind about purchasing the vehicle after the cooling off period and you also made it clear to the dealer that that was the case - not because you were not happy with the car.
Had you actually viewed and test drove the car and said that you didn't like it, I'd say that your chances of a refund would've been higher.