Regarding Quebec Consumer law for new automobile purchase -

Question

Regarding Quebec Consumer law for new automobile purchase - would appreciate
some insight into my situation.
Facts of the case:
1) Friday, September 27th - entered into a new car purchase agreement with
Volkswagen for a Grey Metallic Manual transmission wagon. The deal was agreed
to, signed, deposit of $500 done, credit approval finished. Unfortunately, the
dealer could not produce a car for me in the Manual transmission from his lot,
so he tried to get one for me from another dealer in Quebec - at that time at
the dealership we specifically discussed not searching for cars in Ontario as
additional transport fees would be required to ship a car in from out of
province, and I was not interested in paying additional transport fees. The
dealer then called me Friday evening to confirm that no manual transmission
wagons were left in Quebec - he also emailed me the same confirmation. We
discussed on the phone meeting again on Monday to go through a potential
transaction for an automatic car as the deal for the manual was no longer
possible - he told me there were many automatics available. I told him I would
be back in to the dealership, on or before September 30th to either re-negotiate
for an automatic or to get my deposit back on the manual deal.
Monday, September 29th - The dealer called me Monday morning to check and see if
I was coming into teh dealership as we had discussed on Friday night. I
confirmed once again that I was going to come in to either get my deposit back
or renegotiate on an automatic car. However, as the Manual transmission wagon
was no longer available and the automatic version of wagon was not my first
choice of vehicle, I decided to go and purchase a Nissan Rogue. On Monday
evening at 6:30pm, I signed a deal to buy a new 2014 Nissan Rogue Black.
At 7pm on Monday evening, I received an email from the Volkswagen dealership
that the salesperson had found a manual transmission Volkswagon Black colour and
that they were going to ship it in from Ontario and that he wanted me to call
him ASAP to confirm. I called him back and told him my situation that I entered
into a deal for a Nissan. I requested that he not receive delivery of the
vehicle from Ontario as I had moved forward in my vehicle search after our
conversation and email exchange on Friday that made it clear to me that no
manual transmission wagons were available in Quebec. I requested my deposit back
from the deal and asked that the deal for the manual be cancelled. He told me
that I had entered into an agreement for the car and had to take it ---
whereupon I told him that my sales agreement specifically and clearly states a
Manual Wagon Metallic Grey --- but the car they found in Ontario was Black.
I would love to hear some advice from a lawyer on my situation here ---
1) Can I cancel the contract with Volkswagen? Or do I have to honour the
contract indefinetly, that is, does the dealer have an unlimited time frame to
find a car for me once I sign a sales contract?
2) Is it correct to assume that because the sales contract states I will buy a
Manual Wagon in Grey Metallic --- I do not have to buy a Black Wagon if I do not
want to?
3) Can I get my deposit back?
4) Is there a cooling off period for new car purchases in Quebec
5) I have email evidence of the dealer stating to me that no more manual wagons
exist in Quebec and that he hopes I will continue with the transaction anyways
by re-negotiating on an automatic transmission
Sincerely,
Matthew

Debra · Accepted Answer

Thank you for your question. My goal is to provide you with the best possible
answer.

To achieve that goal it may be that I will find that I need to gather further
information from you. As well, it's quite possible that you may feel the need to
ask me additional questions for further clarification.

But, please understand that as a careful lawyer I will always give you an honest
answer even if the answer is sometimes not what you were hoping for.

You are entitled to get the car you were paying for. If they cannot give you
that car then you get your deposit back and the contract has been breached by
them and you can consider it as being void.

They cannot keep your money and have you keep waiting for the car. They have to
give you the car when they said they would. And, frankly, they know that.

This has nothing to do with a cooling off period. They breached the contract,
plain and simple.

Regarding Quebec Consumer law for new automobile purchase -

How JustAnswer works

JustAnswer in the News:

What Customers are Saying:

Meet the Experts: