Is This A Contract?

[stealth01]

If you verbally agree for the purchase of a car, then one party pays for the car to be checked out professionally as agreed on the basis of the verbal agreement of the sale, does this result in a contract?

I am asking this because my friend is out of pocket $220 and was messed arround pretty bad by the seller that now doesn't want to sell at the agreed price.

[bogcock]

f**k i hate people who do shit like that. id say give me the 220 back or give me the car for the agreed price, or neither of us will have the car.. hahaha

[Johnny Cash]

Do you really want to issue legal proceedings to recover $220 ? Do you know how much lawyers charge? I do

[galu]

I hate hearing about stuff like this going down. Is this person a forum member? How bout a link up to their car so we can warn all the other peoples on this forum from dealing with such fraudulent people. I don't know heaps about law but from what I learnt in uni, if you agree verbally then it still holds as a contract. Goodluck and I hope you get your money or the car.

[zaffa]

I'd be really inclined to smack him in the mouth...then you might need a lawyer...who did he lose the money to? Mechanic or the guy? Cause if he put it down as deposit then he is entitled to it back.

Search google...legal precedents + verbal contract

[Mr Italy!]

Too much time effort and money will be spent persuing the 220 that has now been wasted.

Could always have a chat to the mechanic who did the inspection and such for you, explain what happened and if he's a good bloke me might inspect another car free of charge in the future if your mate finds another one.

Suck it up and move on i guess. Gonna have to write this one off as a loss.

[stealth01]

lol, i dont think my friend is that stupid to take this to court, i think his just ticked off about blowing 200 odd dollars for nothing and wants the owner to recompenstate him someway.

galu, will try and get some more info on this guy from my friend and I will post it up for everyone.

[Shell]

that sux... the couple of cars i've bought privately i wrote it down on a piece of paper instead of verbal and got the seller to sign it.

dunno if it would be legally binding but it worked fine for me.

i guess with a verbal agreement you can't really prove much one way or the other unfortunately... does he have witnesses or anything?

[AzzurrA]

seems to be a bit of this going on recently.

I have a friend who had her heart set on buying a 180sx from a caryard. She'd been and looked at it probably 3 or 4 times, had had a few mechanics check it over, even had a rather substantial deposit placed on it.

She went to pick it up the other day, and when she got there the guy at the caryard is like "Sorry, its been sold... here's your deposit back"

at least she got her deposit back i guess

pissed me off no end, as i went through similar dramas to get my R32, but in the end they sold it to me after i put enough pressure on them.

[Bec]

Unfortunately its always better to get stuff like this in writing.

But yeah - for $220, id just suck it up and move on. Legal fees and time will far outweigh getting your $220 back.

[scathing]

I have a friend who had her heart set on buying a 180sx from a caryard. She'd been and looked at it probably 3 or 4 times, had had a few mechanics check it over, even had a rather substantial deposit placed on it.

She went to pick it up the other day, and when she got there the guy at the caryard is like "Sorry, its been sold... here's your deposit back"

Did she sign a contract when she put the deposit down?

If she did, I'm pretty sure the car yard will have to provide her with a car of similar condition at the agreed price (maybe Johnny Cash can let us know). It doesn't matter if they sold that one or not. If a contract was agreed upon, the sale is binding unless both parties agree to back out.

For example, a while ago Dell was advertising 250GB hard drives on their web site for $1 each (or something like that, it might have been $10, but either way it was either a typo or they ported the development site with placeholder prices into production without checking).

People ordered shitloads of them, which billed their credit card. Once money has changed hands the transaction is binding. Dell tried to back out and refund all the users without telling them, but the Dept of Fair Trading has basically told them that they can't without the consent of the purchaser. If the purchaser refused to get refunded, Dell would have to stump up for the hardware at the price they charged.

Of course that was for the full amount, but I'd be quite interested to know if deposits would be enough.....

[MANWHOR3]

Oral contracts are just so iffy.

As Johny said, legal proceedings are almost not an option. The main problem is, that it's your friend's word against his. Furthermore, in legal proceedings, even if you win, even if the other side pays costs, you don't get it all back. Try and represent yourself and you will lose. Get a lawyer, you end up paying more than 220.

It also depends on what arrangement they made. For example. If your friend was just looking at buying a car, and he asked if he could just have it checked out. The other guy says ok. Then this is not a contract for the sale of the car. It's nothing. The other guy owes your friend nothing. So the car turned out bad. bad luck.

Lose lose.

The most appropriate solution would be a non judicial remedy. Try and negotiate with the other guy.

But basically, I reckon the money is gone. Your friend should be more careful in making contracts in the future.

[Green_s13]

your friend can try the small claims court, it only cost $5 and there are no lawyers. however a verbal contract is very hard to prove, if your friend had made a despoit on the car then he would have a stronger case.

[raz0r$harP.UK]

For example, a while ago Dell was advertising 250GB hard drives on their web site for $1 each (or something like that, it might have been $10, but either way it was either a typo or they ported the development site with placeholder prices into production without checking).

People ordered shitloads of them, which billed their credit card. Once money has changed hands the transaction is binding. Dell tried to back out and refund all the users without telling them, but the Dept of Fair Trading has basically told them that they can't without the consent of the purchaser. If the purchaser refused to get refunded, Dell would have to stump up for the hardware at the price they charged.

Of course that was for the full amount, but I'd be quite interested to know if deposits would be enough.....

In that case however, only an extremely small number of customers ended up receiving their hard drives for the lower price ($8.80 for 250gig).

Dell ended up cancelling orders and refunding pretty much everyone. That Fair Trading comment was based on a report from an Age journalist, a lot of misinformation also because consumer protection laws vary from state to state.

[RedEmblem]

I know that such actions are not normally accepted here at SAU, but why not just throw a couple of eggs onto the car paint? Atleast then you'll know what the money was spent on.

[dangerous_daveo]

Learn from the mistake.

Write things down.

Make the owner pay for everything until actual sale of the car.

[VB-]

im with redemblem, u lost $220, so should the seller!

[satanic]

I think it's probably an idea to find out what constitutes as a "contract"... from my understanding and studies, there must be the following:

1) Parties Involved (buyer + seller)

2) An Offer (in this case sale of the car)

3) Terms (payment; times etc.)

4) Termination of Contract (what happens when either party fails to carry out their part)

I think I have also read somewhere that a verbal agreement is just as binding as a written agreement. As mentioned, this is one word against another in court so not much to grasp. However, if your friend can prove he got the car inspected on the "reliance" that the contract would continue to the end, then there is a case. This shows that he was acting in ways to fulfil his part of the contract (purchasing the car).

Also, a deposit is merely to indicate that you have an "interest" in the item/s. This does not reserve you full rights to the purchase - someone else could come along and pay the entire amount, voiding your deposit (which should be returned).

Important note; if you give someone a deposit on a car (or anything for that matter), should make it very clear as to whether or not it is refundable if you decide not to go ahead. Many times people (me included) have been caught out for stuff such as ticket bookings etc.

Just some thoughts, don't hold any of it against me if it's wrong - just going by some knowledge and common sense.

[AzzurrA]

i'm pretty sure you're wrong about the deposit on car things there satanic...

i'm pretty sure the way it works is if you place a deposit on a vehicle, they HAVE to hold it for you... doesn't matter if it's a 5c deposit or a $5000 deposit... it is still legally binding (though they usually specify the minimum deposit they are after)

[dangerous_daveo]

i'm pretty sure you're wrong about the deposit on car things there satanic...

i'm pretty sure the way it works is if you place a deposit on a vehicle, they HAVE to hold it for you... doesn't matter if it's a 5c deposit or a $5000 deposit... it is still legally binding (though they usually specify the minimum deposit they are after)

A dealer maybe, I doubt with a private seller.