Voluntary Termination - Please Post the Outcome of your case.

[Duffyscouse]

I started receiving demands for over £1000.00 worth of excess mileage charge in January after VT'ing in December.

I ignored all the letters and then when the debt recovery company sent me a preliminary warning letter I emailed back to VW copying the recovery company in stating the legal precedents that had gone before and siting a breach in GDP law in passing my information to a 3rd party without my consent. I haven't received anything since and a recent check on my credit history shows that actually closed the account in December prior to trying to charge me for the extra mileage.

Case closed and a big thank you for the information provided on this website.

What quotes did you send ?

[jonevns1990]

Hi all, some good news!*

Having spent a good 18 months arguing to and fro with BMW FS I can confirm the mileage charges have finally been dropped and the adverse entries to my credit file have been removed.

This essentially came down to me accusing them of coercing and falsifying my finance documents. As R0b has mentioned multiple times, the people that read and respond to these letter are most likely low-level customer support workers with no real awareness of 1. The law, and 2. How to counter concise arguments, thus going on the offensive and dropping themselves in it.

I won't go into the details but I am more than happy to supply you with my correspondence should you wish to see it.

Keep plugging guys - you will get there eventually!

[GreggM]

Still waiting to hear my claim against BMW FS through the financial ombudsman. This has been ongoing for very nearly a year!. Hoping to hear something this year! I will post up the outcome.*

[Dan_1127]

Excellent news, VWFS have agreed a settlement, no charges to be applied! Case won, case closed. Result...!

[TDC55]

I’ve had a letter today from FOS. followed advice given and they’ve ruled in my favour. Fees dropped. Case closed.*

[R0b]

Great news for both of you. TDC55 do you have a copy of the ruling you can send me via private message? It would be helpful and useful for others to use when they complain.

*

[xs2man]

Hi all, some good news!

Having spent a good 18 months arguing to and fro with BMW FS I can confirm the mileage charges have finally been dropped and the adverse entries to my credit file have been removed.

This essentially came down to me accusing them of coercing and falsifying my finance documents. As R0b has mentioned multiple times, the people that read and respond to these letter are most likely low-level customer support workers with no real awareness of 1. The law, and 2. How to counter concise arguments, thus going on the offensive and dropping themselves in it.

I won't go into the details but I am more than happy to supply you with my correspondence should you wish to see it.

Keep plugging guys - you will get there eventually!

Hi jonevns1990.* I would like to see your correspondence if possible?* BMW are still affecting my credit score over 3 years later.* Not sure how to PM on here though.

[Kotya]

My experience with Santander Consumer finance so far:

14.04.2020 Sent a VT email using a template found on this forum

16.04.2020 Text message from Santander acknowledging the VT and suggesting that I can either deliver the car or pay £70 collection fee. Given the current situation due to COVID-19, didn't argue and accepted the £70 fee.

18.04.2020 Phone call from Crystal Collections, asking when the car is going to be available. Agreed to be collected Monday 20.04.2020

19.04.2020 Vehicle washed and cleaned throughoutly inside & out and pictures taken. The vehicle was detailed 6 months ago so the paintwork was gleaming in current weather.

20.04.2020 More pictures taken and few videos recorded to show that vehicle is running and all controls are working. Crystal Collections agent didn't event bother to inspect the vehicle properly, just had a quick look around, asked if it has service history and took it away.

Will update this once I have more details and whether Santander will try to claim any damages or not. Vehicle has a dent on the roof which was present at the point of purchase of the vehicle so I'm still expecting that I'll have to put up some fight with them. Also, I'm still yet to receive new logbook and send it out to Santander (vehicle was on private plate prior to VT) or be charged £25 by them

[Kotya]

So, the finance agreement with Santander has now been closed. The final liability left is £70 collection fee which I know I could dispute but I have accepted it right from the beginning and will pay. Due to covid situation I was expecting to pay my finance agreement for at least another two months before car is collected but they were very well organised with collecting it so I think they deserve those £70.

Now to the slight inconveniences - few days after collection of the vehicle I’ve got in touch with Santander to check if everything is in order. The advisor said that there is outstanding liability of £315 for refurbishments. They’ve claimed that 2nd key is missing, there is damage to couple of panels, scuffed bumper and two scuffed alloy wheels. All damages have been disputed straight away and I did say that 1. Car came with one key only 2. I was not presented with damage report and while I accept that this may be due to extra safety measures imposed by collection agents due to covid, but that has nothing to do with me. If they can’t do their job properly due to the virus - they shouldn’t be doing it at all. At that point the advisor couldn’t find vehicle appraisal so we’ve agreed to get in touch again once they’ve received it. I’ve also stated that there was no new damage done to the vehicle while in my possession.

2 weeks gone by and I’ve not heard anything from Santander. Decided to ring them up again... Same story as above.

Another week goes by and I receive a letter from Santander stating that I’ve cancelled direct debit and should arrange a way to pay or my account my be defaulted (all voluntary termination liability settled by this time except alleged damages). Called them again, and this time pushed the advisor to the corner demanding full breakdown of damages, and reiterating my position regardind 2nd key and any damages. At this point I have also raised a concern that vehicle has been bought 5 tears old with 75,000 miles on the clock and that there is no handover from the point of sale to say that it was in “pristine” condition. I have mentioned it had few marks to the body work and that legally I wasn’t obliged to put in a better condition than it was. The advisor suggested that I get in touch with the original dealership for confirmation that the vehicle came with 1 key only and check if there are any pictures of the condition of the vehicle. To which I’ve replied that I have no intentions to do so as burden is with them to prove that damage was caused by me and not by the previous owner.

We’ve finished the conversation with quite a bad tone and I did say that it was the last phone call and any further communications should be done via email or post.

And today (3weeks later) I’ve received a letter saying that account has been closed and there is nothing else left to pay apart of collection fee!

My advise - don’t give up. They will try anything to get more money out of you but if you know you are right - just stand by it

[Llleonidus]

Sent the template letter off to close brothers finance, ignored their pack that they sent me, They sent a nice chap around to check the car over, after i spoke to him for a while and offered him a cup of tea, he admitted to me that he has to find as much damage as possible and that he was already up to £2100, baring in mind the car was immaculate. There were light wear and tear scratches that you couldn't even see on camera, so i done something that had never been asked of him before, i asked him to get the damage value up as high as he possible could, to which he seemed amused and agreed, the car value was around £3000 he left with damage valuation of £4600 on a car in perfect condition for its age.

So then the fun and games started, they called me up and basically started having a go at me that the car was in such bad shape and this is not acceptable and i couldn't VT, i sent them pictures and a video of the car which was ignored. After 2 weeks went by i called them i told them i would be moving the car from my property and untaxing it, they said that it was still my responsibility and i would be liable. i told them as far as i was concerned they have failed to collect their car and stated the part of the contract that said i do not own the car. I then down loaded a car report app and filled out my own car damage report which i got my friend to sign with his phone number on which had a damage value of £80. they contacted me and said this was excepted as a value report and they collected the car ( i cant believe they bought that), and that was that. they did try and send me a letter for the shortfall on the car which was lost at auction, i simply replied and said that is an unlawful charge and i never heard from them again.

[Amandaj101]

Hi,

I sent a letter based on the template here to VWFS in response to a charge of over £600 for excess mileage following a VT. They told me they were dealing with it as a complaint and had 8 weeks to respond to me.

In that time I have had a letter from them telling me my account is in arrears and demanding payment and two further letters from a 'debt collection' agency demanding payment. They did not provide me with a final answer within 8 weeks.

I have now received their final response (more than 8 weeks later) claiming the charge stands as I signed an agreement agreeing to not exceed 10,000 miles a year. How do I respond to this?

In addition to this, their final response came in an email thread from another customer! I now have the email address and phone number of someone else disputing an amount with them which is clearly a breach of GDPR. I will be reporting them for this.

I really don't want to pay them £600, what are my next steps in fighting this please? Thanks.

[xs2man]

Hi,

I sent a letter based on the template here to VWFS in response to a charge of over £600 for excess mileage following a VT. They told me they were dealing with it as a complaint and had 8 weeks to respond to me.

In that time I have had a letter from them telling me my account is in arrears and demanding payment and two further letters from a 'debt collection' agency demanding payment. They did not provide me with a final answer within 8 weeks.

I have now received their final response (more than 8 weeks later) claiming the charge stands as I signed an agreement agreeing to not exceed 10,000 miles a year. How do I respond to this?

In addition to this, their final response came in an email thread from another customer! I now have the email address and phone number of someone else disputing an amount with them which is clearly a breach of GDPR. I will be reporting them for this.

I really don't want to pay them £600, what are my next steps in fighting this please? Thanks.

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

I'll start by saying that this is a thread for results to be posted, not really for asking for advice. There is plenty of information on the site to help you go through the steps in fighting this. I suggest having a look around the site first, and then if you are still unsure, then start your own thread.

That does seem like a serious breach of GDPR though, and so you should rightly report them.

Finally, I am no expert. But in my experience of BMWFS happily trashing my credit record for 4 years now, with no sign of them taking me to court over it, you have to decide for yourself what tolerance you have for a fight, and how willing you are to carry it through. A matter of principle is a matter of principle, for sure. And why should you pay a charge you do not legally have to. But unless you are willing to take it all the way, including taking them to court, and having your credit report trashed in the meantime, you have to decide how willing you are for the fight. Knowing then what I know now, I may have paid the £600 just to put it behind me. But just be aware, they may well be happy to drag this out. I wasn't available for taking them to court previously, so this is partly my fault. But they are happy to sit on it.

[NJ2707]

Here is my VT story with Barclays Partner Finance.

Spoke to BPF, Confirmed I could VT and they would send paperwork for me to sign. I ignored the paperwork they sent and sent VT template letter off here in January. I emailed and posted this recorded delivery. I never heard anything from BPF so rang them and they confirmed they had received the letter and email and I needed to arrange collection {at a cost of £150) or deliver the vehicle to Mannheim Auctions.

This is where I felt BPF were most obstructive. I rang the number supplied by BPF and spent around two hours on the phone trying to speak to the correct department. The auction house could not have been more difficult to speak to, passing me through to random departments and even telling me they don't deal with BPF. Eventually, I spoke to someone who said I would have to deliver the car to Coventry. I had requested to take it to Birmingham as this was my local auction house, but I was told they don't accept BPF cars.

So I had the car cleaned and a repair to the bumper carried out then delivered the car to Coventry. I took 100 time-stamped pictures on my phone(paid for a 99p timestamp app) I also took a few videos. Then bizarrely the guy at Coventry just took the v5 off me (never filled any of it out and took the whole document) and entered the car on to his handheld computer and that was it. I even had to find him as he had walked off and ask him was that everything sorted. He just said that they don't process BPF cars and that the car will be transported to guess where...Birmingham!

So when I got home I filled in the change of ownership on the DVLA website, you need some numbers off the V5 so make sure you take a picture of it and all paperwork and service history etc. I emailed BPF, to confirm the car was delivered, photos taken, using the template letter off here. Once again emailed and recorded letter sent. I registered with Mannheim auctions to view their cars and was excited to see my VT car on their website, however, it took them nearly three weeks to assess my car or even take a picture of it. I was also worried as they recorded the car as grade 4, saying it was in poor condition. This was a complete lie and fabrication, they listed it as having a strong odour, which was a complete lie. No one in my household spoke and we have no pets etc. I wonder if they say this with cars in good condition to try and claw money back, because how do you prove a smell.

However 6 weeks later my credit file was amended and marked as VT and settled. Then a few days later received a letter to confirm the account has been closed and nothing was owed.

Top tips, use the letters on here, email and send letters recorded delivery, DO NOT SIGN THEIR PAPERWORK. I think it sends the message that you mean business and no your rights, then I think they don't try and hassle you with spurious charges. Make sure the car is clean, I had it cleaned inside and out and it was cleaner than when I bought it, it looked really good, I think this helps when they put it through the auction achieve a better price. Repair any damage which is outside wear and tear otherwise they will pursue you for the damage. Body repairs are more affordable now if you shop around.

Thanks to the forum members for their time and support!

Hi there,

unsure if anyone can help me. i previously called BPF about VT and i was told that my type of contract does not allow this!? i was not aware there had to be a specific type of HP to be able to request VT. I have recently lost my job and trying to look for new work and just need all the help i can get.

thanks in advance.

[footix]

Hi,

I was in the process of voluntary terminating my agreement with Santander Finance but my situation has now changed and I no longer want to terminate my agreement and I want to keep the car. Santander are now saying as the paperwork has gone to Crystal Collections I cannot cancel the request. Where do I stand legally on this. I have signed no paperwork or confirmed any dates and times for collection with Crystal Collection. Please can anybody help!!!

[ostell]

As you have VTd there is no contract between you and Santander to continue