JUST WALK AWAY FROM BAD DEALS
news, the solution to which is always a decrease in the trade-in cost and/or increase in the new-van cost. They will usually tell the buyer that the trade-in van “can’t be sold on as it is” and thus the poor dealer would be making a loss. The strong-arm tactics used in the case of K Thorne sadly resulted in them handing over another £1500 – having been told to pay up or leave. I think the correct action in this case is to walk away from the deal. In my experience, the dealer, having had their bluff called, will back down. They don’t want to walk away from a deal – they need to turn stock over and maintain cashflow. In any event, I understand that if a dealer decides not to proceed with the agreement, all deposits and so on paid by the buyer must be returned, as it is the dealer backing out. The point is that by changing the cost, I believe the dealer is in effect proposing a new deal and ending the agreed one. Hence the buyer can choose not to accept and have their deposit returned. My sympathies go out to K Thorne, but dealers will continue this age-old practice until buyers refuse to be browbeaten by it. The fact that a free coffee was a remarkable thing speaks volumes. P Durrant I was dismayed, but not very surprised, to read the tale of woe from K Thorne in your December 2018 issue (p8). This concerned a dealer who wanted to make a last-minute change to the costs of their part-exchange deal. Sadly, this seems to be a ploy in some situations, where the old caravan is presented to the dealer on the day of exchange. Almost invariably (I speak from personal experience) someone heads off to ‘inspect’ the caravan and returns with a forlorn expression and bad