Virgin cars claims to be setting industry standards with a new 'groundbreaking delivery promise'.

In future, the internet retailer will refund the full deposit without quibble to any customer whose car is delayed by more than 20 working days from the expected delivery date and who chooses not to accept a revised date. 'However, since 85 per cent of Virgin Cars' vehicles arrive early or on time, this promise is to cover the small number of occasions when the customer cannot wait.'

This news is likely to make some Cash readers choke on their Sunday lunch. Of all the issues we have covered in Sounding Off Virgin Cars has provoked the most correspondence about delays and confusion over delivery dates.

Virgin blames the delays on manufacturers, which have been resisting attempts by Virgin and other direct new-car retailers to force down the cost of buying a car in the UK. Virgin operates by ordering from dealers in Europe, where prices can be several thousands of pounds cheaper than in the UK. But Ian Lancaster, Virgin Car's chief executive, says orders placed with certain manufacturers have experienced a higher than expected number of problems, including delays in production or a car built to the wrong specifications. It has had problems with Land Rover, Renault and Peugeot in particular.

There are many ways that delays can occur. Manufacturers can legitimately refuse to allow Virgin to place orders without an end customer. Normally an order is placed once a customer has paid a deposit, supplied copies of passport and driving licence and signed a contract, and the supplying dealer then provides a delivery date. But some demand further information about customers, such as utility bills and agreements that they are buying the car for personal use.

All very well, but Virgin has continued to sell these manufacturers' products despite knowing that orders were likely to be problematic. Shouldn't Virgin have warned potential customers?

Lancaster says Virgin has to rely on information provided by the dealer and manufacturer concerned. He argues that Virgin Cars has been championing the consumer cause. Warning customers that they were to be pawns in a long and protracted battle might have caused them to go AWOL. However, Lancaster admits he didn't expect the fight with manufacturers to go on this long.

Virgin hoped the replacement at the beginning of October of the block exemption rules, complicated legislation which allowed manufacturers to dictate who should sell their products and how they should be sold, would free up the market.

Lancaster is still bullish about the effects of its replacement, but others are more doubtful. Andrew Tongue of the International Car Distribution Programme, an independent research body, says: 'This doesn't help direct retailers that much. They still don't have the automatic right to buy direct from the manufacturers, and in most cases they will still have to have an end customer.'

He explains that the block exemption enabled manufacturers to specify exactly how dealers promoted their cars (known as selective distribution) - what advertising they used, what staff they should employ, even what colour tiles they had on the showroom floor. They could also specify the territory for a dealer (known as exclusive distribution), preventing anyone else within a five mile radius, for example, from selling their cars.

This combination was removed from October and manufacturers now have a year to establish either selective or exclusive distribution contracts with their dealers. Those that choose exclusive distribution contracts cannot demand that resellers such as Virgin have an end customer, but those who opt for selective distribution contracts can. The bad news for Virgin and its customers is that most manufacturers seem to be choosing selective contracts.

So what's next for Virgin? Lancaster believes there is still plenty to be positive about. MG Rover has broken ranks from the other manufacturers to sell direct to the retailer. A second major manufacturer has agreed to allow Virgin to order from a Dutch dealer and build up stocks of its products. Lancaster hopes to set up similar agreements with other manufacturers.

And next April Virgin plans to open its first new-car supermarket in Manchester, a huge outlet where customers will be able to test drive cars from the 15 most popular manufacturers, and orders will be sourced from cars already in stock. Lancaster says: 'There will be 200 there at any time, with a further 500 in stock.

'The cars will all be prepped and ready to go, just taking two or three days for registration. We will have stocks of the most popular models and the others can be ordered.'

Lancaster believes a ceasefire is possible, and that cheaper, faster and simpler car purchasing is in the offing. Let's hope he's right.