Audi HP VT & Damage Charges Help

[adfinni]

Hi, R0b

Firstly, thanks for all the great advice on here so far, there's been a lot to read.

Now, my partner VT'd her TT back to Audi Finance (bought a dealer showroom car) in 2015. The VT was put through on the last few days of February and on the phone to Audi Finance she made the additional payment to get up to the 50% required. Audi were fine on the phone, accepted this, did not send out any packs to be signed (for collection charges etc), then finally arranged for BCA to come and pickup the car for sale at auction.

They did sent a pack listing BVRLA guidelines etc, then when BCA came and completed their inspection, the inspector plugged in some alloy scuffs, dent on the bonnet and a small scuff on the front splitter into her ipad and asked me to sign confirming damage and a cost of around £300. I disputed these and refused to sign the acceptance of the damage, and she put down on her ipad 'customer disputes damages and not willing to sign'.

All went well with the car picked up the following day, but my partner has seen that the finance hasn't been settled on her credit file, then Audi called to demand she pay invoice charges as listed below. We've already sent a template letter, which they ignored and rung her instead. Then when asked to put it in writing they sent their below attached following letter. We've had no breakdown of any alleged damages and now their letter threatens a default on the account.

Surely they cannot just apply a default to the whole account and they should have marked the finance as 'settled' then chase up these damage charges separately?

Below is the letter we sent to them after receiving the first invoice, adapted from the template on here:



Here is a picture of their response to our letter ignoring the points we raised and saying the value has increased!!!!!



Any help would be greatly appreciated on the next course of action.

[R0b]

Hello

It seems like your partner is in the same position as others, particularly those who have had finance from Barclays. I take the same view as you in that she terminated the agreement and upon paying the difference to bring the account up to 50% of the total price paid, her liability would have ended in respect of the obligations under the agreement.

It looks to me as though it is an automated letter sent out but I am not entirely sure how they can claim that she is liable for a default when termination has already effected and she has repaid the necessary monthly instalments. The collection fees / damages are incidental to the credit amount that was loaned to her under the hire-purchase agreement and therefore an entirely separate matter. If they truly believe that they are entitled to the money then they should issue a claim for the recovery of the alleged breach. Although like most finance companies, I doubt they will.

You can try writing back to Audi but I suspect that since these are simply low level employees dealing with the matter they are unlikely to agree with you and no doubt been told to push back wherever possible. Still, it is probably worth writing to them because if any adverse entries are recorded, then I suspect the only way for her to get through all of this is to commence legal proceedings, unless she is prepared to pay the outstanding balance to make it go away.

I have previously been successful when Santander issued a default on my credit file for collection fees, they settled the matter before a defence was even filed, but that's not to say that Audi will do the same. It all revolves around making sure Audi keep your data accurate and up to date and if they fail to do so, then its a breach of data protection in my eyes.

It is likewise an ongoing breach if they haven't updated her file to mark it as closed. Usually lenders should report to credit reference agencies that the hire-purchase account is closed and the reason is VT. The reference agencies will mark it as such and close the account but by continuing to keep open the account that is a breach in itself because it is misleading in the sense that it gives the impression the account remains active and secondly, that credit repayments are still owed.

[adfinni]

Thanks for the advice there R0b, it's inline with ho we're thinking and looks to be accurate when looking at the CCA and information given on here.

The main things I'll ensure she does is to:

- Speak to them on the phone and ensure she's recording the call.
- Write out another letter (will post up here for any tips on wording from another set of eyes).
- See where this all goes.

The things in our favour are:
- Naturally the CCA wording.
- Inspection by BCA was on one day then they picked up the following, so even with finding regarding damage that's not a timeframe to allow proper repair.
- No breakdown of anything damage related received.
- The agreement should be marked as settled, then as you say this is a separate issue.
- Damage invoice and not settliing the debt whilst threatening a default is purely a bullying and threatening tactic and does not look good on them.

I intend to keep this thread updated as far too many threads on here dwindle out to nothing, which doesn't really help anyone. Please bear with me though as I'm travelling a lot with work so time zones are a fun mess.

Will put a letter together tomorrow and get it up on here for some tips.

Cheers.