On premises sales, off premises sale and distance contracts

legal updates

If you are not operating an organised distance selling scheme or going to people’s homes to complete a sale, you will be selling by way of ‘on premises’.

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All of the above are caught by The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 which came in last year.  

Most sales by our dealers will be subject to the ‘on premises’ sales rules within the Regulations given that an on ‘on premises’ sale is defined in the Regulations as:

A contract between a trader and a consumer which is neither a distance contract nor an off premises contract.

So on a very general level, if you are not operating an organised distance selling scheme or going to people’s homes to complete a sale, you will be selling by way of ‘on premises’.

The fact that these Regulations contain the word ‘information’ in their title does give a clue that even ‘on premises’ sales require you to give certain information to your customers. The required information is set out in Schedule 1 of the Regulations and includes the requirement to provide your complaint handling policy. If you are not already doing this, our Legal Rights Booklet provides you with a ready made complaint policy to give to each of your customers.

To check if you are complying with all the information requirements, do check Schedule 1 and if you are unsure and you are a Lawgistics Member, do call us for advice.

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What can I do?

Review your organisations priorities and ask ‘can we afford a breach?’. What do I do during an incident? Who do I involve? When do I involve the ICO?

If you’re unable to answers these questions, you need help from the experts.

For more details on the updated Distance Selling Regulations you can listen to Nona talking to Derek Blair on Motor Trade Radio.

Nona BowkisHead of Legal Services / SolicitorRead More by this author

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