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Apologies, in advance, for this lengthy blurb...
We have recently returned a Range Rover Evoque to the lease company - Lex Autolease. It should have been returned start of Oct 2020, but the car developed catastrophic faults making this impossible.
The car was taken on an initial 4 year lease (8k/year), but extended twice for 2 extra 6 month periods - big mistake!
End of Sep 2020, the clutch failed on the car at less than 32k miles. It was recovered to a repair centre and sat outside, pending a reply from the lease company - as it was their responsibility to pay for the clutch repair - after we emailed to complain about the clutch failure. We received an auto reply to the email, so it was received, but they never responded to us - despite several other emails and twice daily phone calls.
Fast forward to mid November, I took the decision to pay for the clutch repair, so we could get rid of the car back to the lease company, and recover the costs legally. £3006 - the flywheel had failed and
caused the clutch failure. Absolutely not fit for purpose for a modern car to have a flywheel/clutch fail at 32k miles. However, during the time the car had sat outside, in some terrible weather, and had developed a leak in the windscreen, causing a fair bit of water ingress and a huge amount of mould to form.
Several phone calls to Lex Autolease later and they kept saying they would get in touch, but to date, they have still not been in touch. They did say that fixing the windscreen was our problem, and given the constant rain we were having at the time, I had to pay for Autoglass to repair this at a cost of some £533. They have given me photos that show the window was not fitted properly in the first place. And have fixed approx 2,500 Evoque windscreens in a 6 month period - they are acutely aware of just how bad these windscreens are.
We have since complained to the BVRLA, and the Financial Ombudsman, who have both responded.
The FO are saying that Lex has 8 weeks to resolve our complaint in writing. But wasn't clear as to when this 8 week period was to start. Bearing in mind, that it has been 14-15 weeks since we first emailed them about the clutch fault - and that we had no use of the car during all this time, despite continuing to pay the rental agreement.
The BVRLA told us they had contacted Lex Autolease, and were told that the repair centre had deemed the clutch failure to be down to our driving style. They lied. They have no access to the report that we received from the repair centre who categorically state that the clutch failed due to a faulty flywheel.
I responded to the BVRLA right away - 1 days ago now - and have had no further response from them as yet.
So, my questions are these:
1... compensation for the clutch repair, refund of payments during a period where the car was unusable = these should all be repaid by the lease company - correct?
2... compensation for the repair of the windscreen, and for the replacement of a child car seat that was damaged due to mould = these should be repaid by Land Rover - correct?
Whilst we didn't rent another vehicle during the approx 3 months we had no use of the Evoque, we were severely disadvantaged as a result. Are we also due any further compensation from the Lease company for their negligence, and potential criminality, in lying about the findings of the repair centre...?
NOTE: we are based in Scotland. The vehicle was delivered AFTER 1st October 2015 (Consumer Rights Act), but the lease was signed prior to this (Consumer Credit Act).
Any advice forthcoming would be most appreciated.
We have recently returned a Range Rover Evoque to the lease company - Lex Autolease. It should have been returned start of Oct 2020, but the car developed catastrophic faults making this impossible.
The car was taken on an initial 4 year lease (8k/year), but extended twice for 2 extra 6 month periods - big mistake!
End of Sep 2020, the clutch failed on the car at less than 32k miles. It was recovered to a repair centre and sat outside, pending a reply from the lease company - as it was their responsibility to pay for the clutch repair - after we emailed to complain about the clutch failure. We received an auto reply to the email, so it was received, but they never responded to us - despite several other emails and twice daily phone calls.
Fast forward to mid November, I took the decision to pay for the clutch repair, so we could get rid of the car back to the lease company, and recover the costs legally. £3006 - the flywheel had failed and
caused the clutch failure. Absolutely not fit for purpose for a modern car to have a flywheel/clutch fail at 32k miles. However, during the time the car had sat outside, in some terrible weather, and had developed a leak in the windscreen, causing a fair bit of water ingress and a huge amount of mould to form.
Several phone calls to Lex Autolease later and they kept saying they would get in touch, but to date, they have still not been in touch. They did say that fixing the windscreen was our problem, and given the constant rain we were having at the time, I had to pay for Autoglass to repair this at a cost of some £533. They have given me photos that show the window was not fitted properly in the first place. And have fixed approx 2,500 Evoque windscreens in a 6 month period - they are acutely aware of just how bad these windscreens are.
We have since complained to the BVRLA, and the Financial Ombudsman, who have both responded.
The FO are saying that Lex has 8 weeks to resolve our complaint in writing. But wasn't clear as to when this 8 week period was to start. Bearing in mind, that it has been 14-15 weeks since we first emailed them about the clutch fault - and that we had no use of the car during all this time, despite continuing to pay the rental agreement.
The BVRLA told us they had contacted Lex Autolease, and were told that the repair centre had deemed the clutch failure to be down to our driving style. They lied. They have no access to the report that we received from the repair centre who categorically state that the clutch failed due to a faulty flywheel.
I responded to the BVRLA right away - 1 days ago now - and have had no further response from them as yet.
So, my questions are these:
1... compensation for the clutch repair, refund of payments during a period where the car was unusable = these should all be repaid by the lease company - correct?
2... compensation for the repair of the windscreen, and for the replacement of a child car seat that was damaged due to mould = these should be repaid by Land Rover - correct?
Whilst we didn't rent another vehicle during the approx 3 months we had no use of the Evoque, we were severely disadvantaged as a result. Are we also due any further compensation from the Lease company for their negligence, and potential criminality, in lying about the findings of the repair centre...?
NOTE: we are based in Scotland. The vehicle was delivered AFTER 1st October 2015 (Consumer Rights Act), but the lease was signed prior to this (Consumer Credit Act).
Any advice forthcoming would be most appreciated.
