I sent:
UK Distance Selling regulations
I am under the impression that, so long as it is a private order not a company one, you are covered by the distance selling regulations. The UK law trumps the user agreement.
On a fundamental level, the notion that Tesla is entitled to keep the £100 as "liquidated damages" is unjustified. Tesla have zero problem selling every car that gets shipped here. I might have sympathy if buyers were able to order odd configurations that prove difficult to sell. But there are buyers already on the list that any cancelled order will just shift to.
I am an unashamed Tesla fan (and shareholder since 2012) with one of the very first Model 3s in Northern Ireland in 2019 and I completely disagree with this "non-refundable deposit" policy. Perhaps on a car like the Roadster which may be harder to re-allocate to another buyer (when/if they are sold here) but not on a car that remains in high demand. I could have taken the Model Y and sold in the secondary market for £5,000+ more in the resale market than my order value. The price I had it purchased at was £3000 under the current prices with Tesla having a 6 month plus queue of buyers. Instead, I did the decent thing and let it go to the next person in the queue. Either that or Tesla will have added FSD and placed it on inventory at a far higher price than it was originally sold to me.
Unfair Terms (The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999)
5.—(1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.
(2) A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term.
(3) Notwithstanding that a specific term or certain aspects of it in a contract has been individually negotiated, these Regulations shall apply to the rest of a contract if an overall assessment of it indicates that it is a pre-formulated standard contract.
(4) It shall be for any seller or supplier who claims that a term was individually negotiated to show that it was.
(5) Schedule 2 to these Regulations contains an indicative and non-exhaustive list of the terms which may be regarded as unfair.
The fact Tesla can give you an estimated date then move it around at will, can give you a nearby EDD which you take in good faith, sell your existing car (this happened to me in 2019 with my Model 3) and then they move it back by months with out comeback etc but they can claim liquidated damages if you want out, means the contract is heavily in Tesla’s favour.Tesla moves delivery dates around freely and often. This in itself should give a buyer the right to cancel -- circumstances change.
I would appreciate the following:
1) £100 deposit returned
or
2) I am about to order or may well have ordered by the time this email is read a Standard Range Model Y so the deposit your withholding could be allocated against that.
www.themotorombudsman.org
