Those posters apparently never bought a car in their life then, because paying a deposit on a new car is pretty much standard practice – for a reason.
Also, i’m sorry, there’s no “pressure”. You do your due diligence, test drive cars, and choose one. That deposit is precisely to prevent people from ordering a car and changing their mind two days later. You do realise that there are costs involved for dealerships to get a car ready?
You get the £500 back if there’s a fault on the dealerships side. You’ll have to claw it back if your reason for cancelling an order is “you just found a better one” – which you should’ve ordered then in the first place, meaning you did not do your research.
Seems pretty fair to me.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.