# Reservation Terms — for Buyers
1. Who these terms are between
These terms apply when you use the "Reserve — £99 refundable" feature on motoring.today to reserve a specific car advertised by one of our dealers. They sit alongside our main Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Motoring.Today is an FCA-authorised credit broker (we introduce you to lenders for vehicle finance). That authorisation has nothing to do with this reservation hold — reserving a car is not a credit agreement, a finance product, or a regulated payment service. We're simply the platform that lets you place a card hold with the dealer's stock system, via Stripe.
2. What the £99 reservation hold is
When you tap "Reserve," we place a temporary authorisation hold of £99 on your debit or credit card — like the deposit a hotel or car-hire company holds against your card at check-in.
- We never take the money. The £99 is never charged, captured, or transferred to us or to the dealer.
- Your bank will show it as pending or authorised, not spent, for as long as the hold is in place. It's not available for you to spend elsewhere in the meantime, but it is never removed from your account.
- It is not a deposit and not part of the purchase price of the car. If you go on to buy the vehicle, the £99 is simply released back to you — it doesn't come off what you pay the dealer.
- It is not a fee we or the dealer charge you for reserving. Nobody receives this money at any point. It exists purely to show the dealer you're a serious buyer.
3. What happens when you reserve
1. You pay the £99 hold on the vehicle's page. No account is required — we just need your name, email and phone number. 2. The hold is placed on your card immediately (subject to your bank approving it, same as any card payment). 3. The dealer is notified straight away and has up to 24 hours (typically 2 hours) to confirm in their system that the car is genuinely being held for you. 4. Once the dealer confirms, we mark the car as Reserved and it comes off active search — nobody else can reserve or buy it out from under you while your hold is live. 5. You'll get an email/text the moment the dealer confirms, along with a link you can use at any time to check your reservation status or cancel it — no login needed.
4. If the dealer doesn't confirm
Occasionally a dealer may not be able to honour a reservation — for example the car has just sold in the showroom, or the details have changed. If the dealer explicitly declines, or simply doesn't respond within the confirmation window, your hold is released automatically and you're notified straight away. You won't be left waiting, and you'll never be charged.
5. How long your reservation lasts
Once confirmed, your reservation holds the car for a few days (typically 3–4 days, never more than 6) from when the hold was placed. The exact length is shown to you when you reserve. If nothing else happens before then, the hold releases automatically — you don't need to do anything or contact anyone.
6. Cancelling early
You can cancel your reservation at any time, for any reason, with one tap on the link in your confirmation email or text — including if you view the car and decide it's not for you. No reason is required and there's no fee for cancelling. The dealer can also cancel from their end (for example if the sale falls through or you're unreachable).
7. Getting your money back
There's nothing to "get back" in the sense of a refund landing in your account — because the money never left it. Once the hold is released, your card issuer simply lifts the hold and the £99 becomes available to you again as normal. This is usually visible within a few hours, but can take up to 5 working days depending on your bank or card issuer — that timing is set by them, not by us.
8. What reserving does NOT guarantee
Reserving a car is a strong signal of intent, not a binding contract to buy or sell:
- It does not guarantee the dealer will sell you the car, or at the advertised price — the sale itself is a separate agreement you make directly with the dealer.
- It does not guarantee the car's condition, specification, mileage or history — always check these yourself, in person or via a viewing, before you commit to buying.
- Until the dealer actively confirms your reservation, the car can still be sold to someone else — we only take it off-search once confirmation happens.
- The £99 hold is not a substitute for your own due diligence, an inspection, or independent legal/financial advice on the purchase itself.
9. Price and availability
Prices, specification and availability are set and maintained by the dealer, not by us. We display what the dealer has told us; occasionally listings change or contain errors. Reserving a car locks in nothing about price — if you go on to buy, price is agreed directly with the dealer at that point.
10. Delivery or collection
Reserving a car doesn't include delivery or collection — that's a separate step, offered (where available) once your reservation is confirmed. Delivery is a flat, quoted transport fee agreed directly with the dealer; collection from the dealer is free. Neither is part of, or paid through, the £99 hold.
11. If something goes wrong
If a dealer has confirmed a reservation but won't honour it when you turn up, or you believe we or a dealer haven't followed these terms, contact us and we'll look into it. We can help resolve reservation-specific issues; disputes about the vehicle itself or the eventual sale contract are between you and the dealer.
12. Your data
Reserving a car means we (and Stripe, who process the card hold) handle your name, email, phone number and payment card details. See our Privacy Policy for how this is stored and used. We don't use your reservation to contact you about anything unrelated without your consent.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time — for example if the confirmation window or hold length changes. The version that applied when you made your reservation is the one that governs it; changes don't apply retroactively to a reservation already in progress.