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Can I return a car I bought online?

Usually yes, if the whole deal was done remotely under the dealer’s own distance-selling process and you never met them in person before committing. Then you can cancel within 14 days of the day the car comes into your possession, without giving any reason. The test is stricter than it sounds: the contract has to be concluded using distance communication only, right up to the moment you commit, so a phone call in the middle of an otherwise in-person purchase does not create the right. A deal agreed face to face somewhere that is not the dealer’s premises, at your home say, counts under a separate heading. What does not count is going to the showroom, looking at the car and buying it there, which is how most cars are sold. And it is not a no-questions-asked refund: the dealer may deduct the amount by which your handling reduced the car’s value, beyond what was needed to establish how it works. The exception is worth knowing — if they never told you about the cancellation right in the first place, they cannot make that deduction at all.

The first question is where you bought it, not what you bought

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give a consumer the right to cancel a distance or off-premises contract only — not a purchase made at the trader’s premises (reg 29(1), with both terms defined in reg 5), at any time in the cancellation period, without giving any reason. That wording decides most cases before anything else is considered.

Buying a car entirely online, or agreeing the deal at your home, is covered. Driving to a dealership, looking at the car and doing the deal there is not — it is an on-premises contract, and no cancellation right arises. Since that is how most used cars in Britain are still sold, the widely repeated line that “you always have 14 days to return a car” is wrong in the commonest case. Reserving online and completing at the showroom sits between the two and turns on where the contract was actually concluded.

Fourteen days from delivery, not from payment

For a sales contract the period ends 14 days after the day the goods come into the consumer’s physical possession (reg 30(3)). It runs from when you get the car, which matters when a car is ordered well before it arrives. Once you cancel, the trader must reimburse you without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days — running from the day the trader is informed of the decision to cancel where the trader has offered to collect the car, or from the day the trader gets the car back (or you evidence sending it, if earlier) where they have not (reg 34(4), (5) and (6)), using the same means of payment, and may not charge a fee for making the refund (reg 34(8)). Which of those two start dates applies matters more than it looks: a car is not something you post back, so a dealer will normally offer to collect it — and in that case the fourteen days run from the day you told them you were cancelling, not from the day they got the car back.

Why it is not a no-questions-asked refund

This is the part that surprises people. Where the value of the goods is diminished by handling beyond what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning, the trader may recover that amount from you, up to the contract price (reg 34(9)). The regulations set the benchmark as handling beyond the sort that might reasonably be allowed in a shop (reg 34(12)).

In practice: checking the car starts, drives and does what it should is protected. Using it as your car for a fortnight and putting several hundred miles on it is the kind of handling that can reduce what you get back. There is no statutory formula for the amount, no pence-per-mile rate and no cap other than the contract price, so any specific figure you find quoted for this has no basis in the regulations. A dealer proposing a deduction should be able to explain how they arrived at it.

If they never told you about the right, they cannot deduct. the deduction does not apply where the trader failed to give the consumer the required information about the right to cancel (reg 34(11)). Traders selling at a distance are required to provide that information, so it is worth checking what you were actually sent before accepting any reduction in your refund.

Sources: regulation 29 and regulation 34 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Read 2026-09-19.

A different route if the car is faulty

Cancelling under these regulations needs no fault at all, which is its strength and the reason it is time-limited. If the problem is that the car is not of satisfactory quality, that is a separate right under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, it applies however you bought the car, and it lasts longer — your rights if a used car breaks down sets out the short-term right to reject and what follows it. Someone who bought online and has a faulty car may have both routes at once, and they are worth keeping separate when you write to the dealer.

If the car turns out to have money owing on it, that is a third question again — a car bought with outstanding finance covers who ends up owning it.

Questions people ask

Does the 14-day right apply if I bought the car at the dealership?
No. The right applies to a distance contract or an off-premises contract, and a purchase made at the trader’s own premises is neither. If you travelled to the showroom, saw the car and did the deal there, you have no cancellation right — whatever you may have read. Buying entirely online, or agreeing the deal at your home, is what brings it into play. Reserving online and then completing at the showroom is a common middle case and turns on where the contract was actually concluded.
When exactly do the 14 days start?
On a sales contract the cancellation period ends 14 days after the day the goods come into your physical possession — so it runs from delivery or collection, not from the day you ordered or paid. That is a meaningful difference when a car is ordered weeks before it arrives. You do not have to give a reason for cancelling within that window.
Will I get all my money back?
Not necessarily. The trader must reimburse what you paid, but where the value of the goods is diminished by handling beyond what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning, the trader may recover that amount from you, up to the contract price. The regulations describe the benchmark as handling beyond what would reasonably be allowed in a shop. Checking the car works is protected; using it as your car for a fortnight is the thing that can cost you.
How much can the dealer deduct for the miles I drove?
There is no statutory formula, no pence-per-mile rate and no cap other than the contract price. Any specific figure quoted online for this has no basis in the regulations. What the law provides is a principle — the diminution in value caused by handling beyond establishing how the car works — which means the amount is arguable rather than fixed, and a dealer proposing a deduction should be able to explain how they reached it.
What if the dealer never mentioned a right to cancel?
Then the deduction for diminished value does not apply. The regulations disapply it where the trader failed to give the consumer the required information about the right to cancel. Traders selling at a distance must provide that information, so if it appeared nowhere in what you were sent, that is worth raising before accepting any deduction. It is also worth checking what you were given rather than what you remember being told.
Is this the same as rejecting a faulty car?
No, they are separate rights with separate conditions. Cancelling within 14 days needs no fault and no reason but applies only to a distance or off-premises contract. Rejecting a car because it is faulty comes from the Consumer Rights Act, applies however you bought it, and turns on the car not being of satisfactory quality. Someone who bought online and has a faulty car may have both routes available at once.

This is a plain-English summary of the law as it stood on 16 September 2026, not legal advice. If you are in a dispute, the Citizens Advice consumer service and the Motor Ombudsman are both free to use.

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