Life after lockdown

The Scottish motor trade has been through a challenging time with the various COVID-19 lockdowns and, are now pretty much through and out the other side. At the time of writing, face masks in indoor retail environments will be no longer mandatory as of 18 April 2022. 

This will put Scotland in the same position as the other UK nations, i.e. with mask wearing in indoor retail areas as guidance only. It will be for individual dealerships to decide if they want members of the public to continue wearing masks.

Another feature due to COVID-19 has been the increase in Distance Selling and many dealers have decided to carry on advertising and selling vehicles under these rules. The Distance Selling rules emanate from The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. These Regulations basically give a consumer 14 days to change their mind about an item they have agreed to purchase before physically setting eyes on it. For dealers, this means that if a deal is agreed over the phone or via a website, the customer can change their mind and get their deposit, and any other money paid, refunded. Of course, these Regulations, like other consumer laws are not really fit for purpose within the motor trade. However, dealers can make the Regulations work for them by setting terms and conditions such as making a deduction for each mile driven beyond that of test drive mileage and making it the consumer’s responsibility to return the vehicle if they choose to seek a refund under these rules. Such terms need to be given to the consumer at the time of the deal and Lawgistics have a free template available on request for any dealer who wants to use a motor trade friendly set of terms which will help them minimise any losses on any transaction deemed a distance sale. 

 Of course, during these times where economic conditions for households have taken a dip, it won’t just be dealers who are looking to minimise outlay and increase income. We do expect to see more consumers try and get refunds based on plain and simple “buyer’s remorse” and also looking for dealers to pay for repairs. Point of sale MOTs, pre-delivery check paperwork, and getting feedback from customers once they have had the vehicle for a few days are all helpful ways to help prove that any later reported issue, was not present at the point of sale. If an issue wasn’t present at the point of sale, a dealer shouldn’t have any liability.

One final way consumers are currently trying to get some more cash in the bank is by putting in claims for “secret commissions” on finance deals. We are now seeing hundreds of these type of claims being sent to our dealers and currently, we have successfully fought off every single claim. Many are speculative, and in most cases, it will not be the dealer who has to pay anything back as dealers are more likely to be the broker and not the finance provider. However, as we defend each point thrown at our dealers, the Claims Management Companies, who some may call “ambulance chasers”, try and come up with new points for their arguments. So far, we have kept our dealers away from having to make any payments and we expect it to stay that way. So, if a letter of this nature hits your desk, do take advice before paying off any of their demands.