Handing PCP Car Back Early

Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2004
Posts
14,365
Location
Beds
Guys, remember that the BVRLA guidelines are used for lease vehicles and commercials and are very strict. Finance companies like to use them due to this strictness and ability to try to claw back extra money from you, even though the car is just fired off to an auction.

The CCA only stipulates reasonable condition for a returning vehicle and also limits your liability at 50% of the total value of the car (inc interest). Finance companies could put clauses in your agreements about the car needing a full respray before return, or having it inspected to Papa Johns wear and tear guide, but the term 'reasonable' in the CCA trumps anything they might like to add into a PCP/HP agreement.

Then even more importantly they like to reference your agreement, contract, end of contract charges etc. There is no contract or agreement as this is cancelled once you enforce VT, as entitled to do so, so they cannot refer back to clauses in an agreement that is cancelled.

We'll see where this goes, I'll keep the thread updated.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Sep 2007
Posts
4,137
Location
Newcastle
Then even more importantly they like to reference your agreement, contract, end of contract charges etc. There is no contract or agreement as this is cancelled once you enforce VT, as entitled to do so, so they cannot refer back to clauses in an agreement that is cancelled.

Ah! I was wondering how people avoided paying the excess mileage fees etc. They're referring to mileage fees that you're no longer bound to!
 
Associate
Joined
5 Jun 2019
Posts
7
Handing back my Range Rover after arranging VT. Land Rover finance said I should drop it off at British car auctions when Instructed. Or pay £75 to get it picked up. I will probably drop it off as it’s not too far away.

The alloys are abit of a mess, showing up more as there black wheels. The wing mirror is also badly scratched after clipping a few van wing mirrors. £250 to get repaired from local garage.

So the question is will the auction place appraise and check the vehicle when I hand it back? If not I will not get it repaired, if there’s a chance, I will get it sorted as I’m sure they will charge more than £250 worth of damage.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,158
Handing back my Range Rover after arranging VT. Land Rover finance said I should drop it off at British car auctions when Instructed. Or pay £75 to get it picked up. I will probably drop it off as it’s not too far away.

The alloys are abit of a mess, showing up more as there black wheels. The wing mirror is also badly scratched after clipping a few van wing mirrors. £250 to get repaired from local garage.

So the question is will the auction place appraise and check the vehicle when I hand it back? If not I will not get it repaired, if there’s a chance, I will get it sorted as I’m sure they will charge more than £250 worth of damage.
When I dropped mine off (with scratched alloys - nothing major) - no one looked, I just drove in, left the keys under the sun vizor and left.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
4,912
You had it lucky then.

I had my wheels refurbished before getting the 530d picked up. BMW arranged the refurbish themselves. When it was picked up, the guy appraising it went over the car in such detail, that he noticed that they were refurbished because the were minute little bumps where the barrel met the spokes that could hardly be seen. I'm talking so small there was no way my camera was picking anything up. And I never noticed them before. They really were nothing, yet they were marked on the appraisal sheet regardless.

I would be having it all fixed for piece of mind. Then you wont be half expecting some sort of bill. But only if you can ensure a quality job.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,176
When you hand a car back, you take photo’s of it’s condition inside and out including the spare wheel, paperwork etc. and also video. You then make sure the receiving agent assesses the car in full, Motonovo for example are well known to try and bill owners after handback for additional repairs/items.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2013
Posts
12,371
Location
La France
Handing back my Range Rover after arranging VT. Land Rover finance said I should drop it off at British car auctions when Instructed. Or pay £75 to get it picked up. I will probably drop it off as it’s not too far away.

The alloys are abit of a mess, showing up more as there black wheels. The wing mirror is also badly scratched after clipping a few van wing mirrors. £250 to get repaired from local garage.

So the question is will the auction place appraise and check the vehicle when I hand it back? If not I will not get it repaired, if there’s a chance, I will get it sorted as I’m sure they will charge more than £250 worth of damage.

When I returned my Honda to the nearest IT Fleet Automotive depot, they made sure that I had all the requested documentation/items and took a detailed walk around video to document the condition of the vehicle. I took one myself to cover my arse as well.

No appraisal or further check took place that I saw. Was there for 10 minutes tops. Honda contacted me later to confirm the vehicle was worth the value discussed when I first requested the VT.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Dec 2004
Posts
5,398
Location
Stoke-on-Trent
Sounds interested.... I'm still not quite at 50% yet but my mileage is wayyyyyyyy over the agreed pcp limit. Maybe around 30k over! (Change of jobs). Would VT get me out of those charges?

I had actually planned to pay the balloon and just keep the car until it does as it's been perfect but would be good to know there's another option. 63 plate 520d M Sport with 112k on the clock :o
 
Transmission breaker
Don
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
16,793
Location
In a house
Sounds interested.... I'm still not quite at 50% yet but my mileage is wayyyyyyyy over the agreed pcp limit. Maybe around 30k over! (Change of jobs). Would VT get me out of those charges?

I had actually planned to pay the balloon and just keep the car until it does as it's been perfect but would be good to know there's another option. 63 plate 520d M Sport with 112k on the clock :o

It is contentious, but officially the VT means you can pay the 50% and return the car in a good state with "nothing else to pay" or words to that effect in the VT rights.

In reality, they will chase you and I do not think there has been a test case to prove it either way.

You could always offer a lesser amount if they chase you hard, and see if they will take it as a full and final settlement to close it off. It has been done by others.

Just be careful, they may blacklist you from their finance products going forward (company specific).

There is a lot of information out there on VT and it may have changed since when I did it on a Jag.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
4,912
It is contentious, but officially the VT means you can pay the 50% and return the car in a good state with "nothing else to pay" or words to that effect in the VT rights.

In reality, they will chase you and I do not think there has been a test case to prove it either way.

You could always offer a lesser amount if they chase you hard, and see if they will take it as a full and final settlement to close it off. It has been done by others.

Just be careful, they may blacklist you from their finance products going forward (company specific).

There is a lot of information out there on VT and it may have changed since when I did it on a Jag.

It has been taken to court. I think last year, or maybe early this year, Mercedes took someone from the Legal Beagles forum to court over excess mileage, and lost.

Sounds interested.... I'm still not quite at 50% yet but my mileage is wayyyyyyyy over the agreed pcp limit. Maybe around 30k over! (Change of jobs). Would VT get me out of those charges?

I had actually planned to pay the balloon and just keep the car until it does as it's been perfect but would be good to know there's another option. 63 plate 520d M Sport with 112k on the clock :o

In theory. Yes. You should be able to avoid the charges. In practice though, depending on who your finance is with, they will happily just ruin your credit record until YOU take THEM to court. They don't "chase you hard" as such. They just let it sit there and do nothing about it. So the onus is on you to sort it.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Jul 2010
Posts
3,098
This might be an obvious one but when billed for damage beyond 'normal' wear and tear, are they billing you for the cost of repair or are they billing you for the reduction in resale value (assuming the two are different)?
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2013
Posts
12,371
Location
La France
This might be an obvious one but when billed for damage beyond 'normal' wear and tear, are they billing you for the cost of repair or are they billing you for the reduction in resale value (assuming the two are different)?

My understanding from returning my CRV under VT, is that I’d be billed for any excess wear or damage that reduced the value of the vehicle dropping below the expected value.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
4,912
Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2009
Posts
3,371
I mean, you sign the paperwork with an agreed mileage limit.. 45k in 3 years on a 9k PA agreement is just silly.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
21,781
[

reading it, it seems far from sure that in a subsequent court cases Mercedes, and others, would just need to provide evidence of poorer condition resulting from the addtional miles ? engineer report on suspension components, or drive train ? ... so, I don't think I'd bet on a similar outcome .... do cars really wear additional miles invisibly .. that's what the charge was for, after all

I'll PM you the name of the case but I suspect whoever you are talking to knows it already because that last paragraph on the condition of the vehicle was a similar remark made by the judge where they tried to argue the excess mileage put the car in an unreasonable condition, though the judge rejected that too and said there is no evidence offered by MBFS to support that correlation.

]
 
Back
Top Bottom