wonder if anyone can help me. as a lady driver I have recently purchased a new nissan. the dealership organised my cherished transfer etc. when the car arrived in the showroom it was the wrong colour. On telling the manager I didnt want it, he agreed to replace with the correct colour, BUT I would have to write to him for the DVLA a letter stating I no longer wanted the car or that colour, in order for the car to be de-registered and my cherished number used on the correct car when it arrived. He said it wasnt acceptable for him to do this and admit the dealerships error. If the letter is not written from me the number has to stay on the car . feel a bit pd off that I have to write a letter which is not true, as the dvla are closed today I wondered if anyone could shed some light
Subject line made make/model non-specific.
Edited by Pugugly on 25/08/2008 at 18:14
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I am no legal expert but just reading your post all sorts of alarm bells started ringing in my head.
I suspect others on here can better advise you and if this was not HJ's forum, and hence I hope he will pick up this post and answer you, I would have advised you to go to the Daily Telegraph website, go to the Motoring section and email HonestJohn with this information and ask his advice on it.
Don't you have a receipt with the car colour on it? Surely if you have a receipt with the colour stated and the car at the dealer is the wrong colour then it is their problem and not yours?
The other place you could consider asking is here:
forum.qashqaiclub.co.uk/
But I would seek out HJ's advice first and then consider the likes of WhatCar, Autoexpress and even the AA.
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I'd phrase the letter along the lines that the car had been rejected for not being the colour ordered. I certainly wouldn't use phrases such as changed mind.
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Thanks for that, the dealer is putting me uder pressure saying there is atime scale involved, he gave me this imformation on thursday and need the letter by tomorrow! so Im off too seek further advise.
Ta
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I suggest that you ask the WHICH? legal dept
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I'd just write a letter saying the truth - they delivered the wrong one.
It is, however, in your interests to write some sort of letter as otherwise the "wrong" car will get your number plate and best case it could take a few weeks to get it off the car or you could lose it completely.
As the "wrong" car is regsitered in your name the dealer is correct that the letter has to be from you.
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As you do not seem to have formally taken over ownership of the vehicle it is not your car to write to DVLA about.
I would suggest that you contact Trading Standards first thing in the morning.
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thanks for that, I havent infact parted with a penny, but dealer says thats the only way to retrieve my number plate. will speak to dvla and trading standard.
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Perhaps somebody more familiar with the way it works could help, but I think the dealer is only allowed to deregister a car in very exceptional circumstances. Maybe he's communicated it badly to you, but I'm guessing he needs your letter as backup for the deregistration request?
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I'm not familiar with the whole cherished plate thing but it seems to me that whatever form you filled in before to transfer the plate to the wrong colour car, you can fill in again to get it on the right colour car.
The car you don't want is registered by its VIN, isn't it? How can that be reversed?
Seems to me the dealer has the problem and has to put it right.
BTW. How have you managed to buy a car without parting with any money yet? Or is that the p/ex?
Good luck!
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You will wait in a queue and not be popular, but I'd try the local registration office. Real people and although I've only taken two weird queries to two different offices, both times everything was sorted out both to the rules and my satisfaction.
What all this hinges on is what is acceptable to DVLA. Can't be the first time this sort of thing has happened but do what is needed to keep them happy. As for what it is, no idea!
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They can't de-register it if they admit that it's their screwup, if however the customer decides that they don't want the car then rather than leave them in the lurch the DVLA will allow them to de-register.
It appears that what the dealer is really trying to do is ask you to write a letter so that the DVLA don't realise that it's their fault (I'm presuming that they made the original mistake) I can't see what you have to lose by writing the letter to be honest. Whilst I'm sure the dealer can't really keep your cherished plate hostage on the wrong car, refusing to write the letter will cost them money and you their goodwill which will ruin the pleasure of the purchase as you will end up in a fight about the cherished plate.
I would just write the letter, they get away with their mistake, you get the right car with the cherished plate on it and I can't see what you would have to lose.
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My take on this is: use it to your advantage.
Their cockup; you have nothing to lose BUT I'd tell them that I'm only prepared to lie on their behalf if there is something in it for me -- i.e. £500 off the car, or some extras thrown in.
They'll lose far more by not having the car de-registered so I think some recompense for your inconvenience is not unreasonable.
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Surely all the garage has to do is register the new car and transfer the cherished plate ( at their expense). Original car gets a new reg - but they can put the car out as a demonstrator and will NOT lose out in the end - in fact, they may even get a bigger discount from Nissan for selling more cars!
If, as you say, you rejected the car becaus it was not the colour ORDERED, then the cards are in your favour, the garage at fault, so let them sort it out - they're the ones that should have the knowledge and experience anyway.
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Sounds like the garage is trying to avoid having a pre-reg car on the forecourt by getting the DVLC to cancel the registration.
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Long time since I was involved in this, but when I was....
We always tried to avoid de-registering a car because it took several weeks during which time the car could not be sold.
Also we wanted to avoid getting a 'bad name' at the local DVLA office.
In this case, the garage could keep the 'wrong colour' car as a demo/pre-reg stock, but they would really have to re-register it to themselves.
This means the first retail customer to drive the car away is going to be the third keeper.
Makes the car harder to sell because that customer would have to be told in advance of the car's history and may or may not believe the story.
Might be another reason why the garage has asked for a letter.
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