What's the rule on vehicle deposits?

[AutodreamMarvin]

thanks!

[vietdood]

did you state at anytime the deposit was non-refundable? did you sign any sort of paper or give him a reciept for the deposit? if you didn't sign anything or give a reciept then who really says he left a deposit :dunno:. if i was in your situation i'd use that 30% deposit to lower your asking price to get a quick sale.

[dj_rice]

He wasted your time so take his money, if nothing was put on paper then oh wells thats his loss and he's SOL


Are vergal agreements legally binding?

[ctruo]

Well I guess you do have a few options. First you could give him all his deposit back (which I do not recommend Just because he wasted all your time). Or you could keep all of it and be completely heartless, which is not wrong of you, but at the end of the day it comes down to whether if you could sleep or not. Your last option (if you want to be fair) explain to the guy your situation about selling the car, but also let him know that you understand the position that he is in and that you would only be willing to give back 50 % and if he refuses tell him that 50 % is better than 100 % of nothing.

[Nismo S13]

lol, what deposit?:dunno: :rofl: give him the option of either buying your car, or foufit atleast 50% of the deposit he put down... taking it all would be kinda brutal, but he should of know fully what he was comiting to before he left the deposit... were all grown ups here, and we all know theres no such thing as give-see-back-sees!:thumbsup:

[kaput]

.

[Crymson]

Seriously, there are probably 10 threads in the last 6 months from the other point of view, and every time beyond says "hell no, he has to give your deposit back".

You probably don't have to give his deposit back, but the kid is obviously in dire straights and TERRIBLY embarrassed (hence he sent his papa). I would say you should give him his deposit back, and feel good about doing the right thing.

What i would do actually in order to be reasonable, would be to ask if you can deduct the 2 months worth of insurance from the deposit. That is fair compensation for having your time wasted, and it would be hard to argue against from the back-out-buyer's point of view.

OTOH, i only give deposits that i'm willing to lose, but a 30% deposit says to me he wsa 99% sure of the purchase, it must have been a terrible stroke of bad luck, by returning the deposit you'll be adding to the karma jar for when back luck strikes you.

[turbotrip]

keep 10%

[lilmira]

You should be entitled to keep the deposit. Deposit is only refundable if there is something wrong with the car.

However, if you want to be a nice guy, just tell him that you will deduct the advertising fee (few weeks?) from his deposit.

[bluetek]

I'd probably just give him his money back, and be done with him.

No point in taking the risk of him wasting more of your time if you chose not to give it back. Just causes more conflict and problems to deal with.

So if your a busy guy like you said then thats what I would do. Plus dont want to get on Karma's bad side. :thumbsdow

[Rx7]

Id give him half back

[Weapon_R]

Take what you need to advertise the car properly again for yourself and give him back what he gave you. Normally, a deposit would be a couple hundred dollars to hold the vehicle until the buyer can get his financing, but this one sounds like a pretty decent size.

Sometimes life throws curve balls at you that come completely unexpected.

[hjr]

The water is gray on whether it can be kept or returned, but i would recommend giving it back. You can negotiate with them on the return as well. tell them your side of the story and see what they think is fair. you should be able to get them to concede some of the deposit.

In the future when someone leaves a deposit, create an agreement that you keep half or the whole deposit if the deal goes south.

[5hift]

Everyone here is being too nice. I say fuck the kid and dont give him anything back.

He gave you a down payment and agreed to buying your car when he knew he didnt have a job or enough money. He then strung you along for 2 months while he tried to put together the funds. When he realized he wouldnt be able to get the cash together, he didnt even have the balls to confront you and so sends Daddy to try and get his cash back.

Look at it this way, he had zero respect for you and your time, or he would not have tried to buy a car he didnt have the cash for. If he showed you no respect why show him any? I also dont buy the "I had to go out of town for a bit" bs. I dont know about you, but if I'm in the process of buying a car (and I've put down 30%), I dont just leave town unless its a very serious family emergency. And not being able to find a job? This is Calgary, if you can stand upright and speak even broken English you can find a job in a day.

Dont worry about putting the kid in a bad situation, he put himself into it. Worry more about the situation your going to put yourself in if you give him back the deposit and then cant sell the car for what you had planned to originally. Its more than just the 30% at stake as well. For you its the extra hours away from work/etc spent trying to resell, advertising costs, maintence and insurance costs for a few more months etc. Plus if its a summer type car, you might have missed the bulk of the people looking for a new summer car during this spring.

[BrknFngrs]

If the guy and his dad were willing to take you too court (not sure how much a 30% deposit is worth) I would expect you to loose and be forced to return it all.

I think you should approach them, explain your situation and see if the guy would be willing to try and help you sell it since he screwed ya over. Depending on how "strong" of a position they take you could try and have them agree to finding a new buyer in order to get the deposit back.