Picked up my 2023 ID3 pro this weekend. 65k km on it, 58kw, SoH 90%, pano roof, iq lights. It’s such a smooth drive, really happy with it so far!
VW Dealer threw in brand new brakes, new set of Continental all season contacts, extended 12 month warranty to sweeten the deal.
Bought it in France for 20k all in. I’ve been shopping for about 3 months and this was the best deal by far I could find in all of France.
This icon just appeared after a 600km trip. Any idea what this could be? Car is driving fine.
Looking for advice on where I stand here, ideally from anyone who knows French consumer/auto law.
The situation: I agreed to buy a used VW ID.3 from a VW Occasions Garanties dealer (franchised VW partner, not a private seller). We signed a bon de commande with the specific car listed (VIN, plate, agreed price ~22,500 EUR all-in). I paid a 1,000 EUR deposit (acompte, marked refundable on the bon de commande if the car is non-conforme or if financing falls through). Delivery was booked for a set date and I was told everything was locked.
On the strength of that, I did my part: took out insurance on the car’s plate, and bought train tickets to go collect it (it’s several hundred km away). Real money spent, all because they confirmed the deal was done.
Two things bug me:
**1.** The story keeps shifting. First it was “dépôt vente by the manufacturer”, the paperwork says the car’s origin is “Loueur” (ex-lease), now it’s “VW didn’t process our request”. And the car was physically on their lot: they’d already prepped it, redone a wheel, and sent me a walkaround video. So it wasn’t sitting in some central VW pool waiting on approval, they had it.
**2.** I suspect the real reason is a pricing error. The car was loaded (Matrix lights, heat pump, etc.) but listed and priced like a base model, which is why the deal was good. I think someone upstream caught that a loaded car was leaving at base-trim money and unwound it, with “VW didn’t approve” as the cover.
My questions:
**•** Does a signed bon de commande with a specific VIN + deposit + delivery date count as a formed sale (vente parfaite)? Can a professional dealer just cancel like this?
**•** Beyond getting my 1,000 EUR back, can I claim the costs I took on relying on the deal (insurance, train tickets)?
**•** Is the “these are VW’s cars, not ours” line even valid, given they had physical possession and signed the bon de commande?
**•** Realistically, is it worth pursuing anything (Signal Conso, VW France complaint, etc.) or is my only real leverage getting them to source a genuine equivalent at the agreed price?
Baby due in September so I don’t have months to fight this, I mostly want to know if I’m being brushed off with a bogus excuse or if this is genuinely how it works. Thanks.