PLEASE HELP!! Black Horse end of PCP Charges

[Bellla]

Hi,

We took a Discovery Sport on a 12 month PCP which has recently ended. The car was collected from our house & inspected which took maybe 20 mins. The guy who carried out the inspection logged no issues & I countersigned this.

Today we received a letter stating we are over our mileage (which obviously we were aware of so isn’t an issue) however they also have photos of-
a tiny scratch on the outside of the car measuring exactly 10mm (their cut off)
supposedly a scratch on the inside driver’s door but I can’t see a thing on the photo
damage to the 2 rear seats (leather) caused by our 2 children’s car seats

The mileage charge which we were expecting is just shy of £900, the ‘damage’ is an additional £1800!!

Can I argue that the gentleman who collected the vehicle found no damage & therefore any findings from further inspections are disputed? Or do I accept the findings and argue the seat damage (which makes up nearly all of the charges) is fair wear and tear? We’re legally obliged to use car seats- our children are 4 years old & 5 months old. The wear this has caused to the seats is completely unavoidable & I‘d call this normal usage. The seat protectors you can get to put under children’s car seats aren’t recommended as they can compromise the performance of the seat on an impact.

I really don’t know what to do from here & any help would be hugely appreciated. I’m currently on maternity leave & these charges would force me to return to work within weeks. Thank you

[R0b]

Unless you exercised your right to terminate the agreement under Section 99 of the Consumer Credit Act before the final payment was due, you are going to be stuck with paying the £900 for excess mileage charges, unless you can prove that you were mis-sold the finance or the pence per mile rate is excessively high.

As for the damage caused to the seats, you will need to provide some evidence that seat protectors are not recommended if that's what you are relying on. An article from the Daily Mail won't cut it so you will need something like a study or something that has authoritative weight behind it. Alternatively, you rely on the argument that the car was a family vehicle with two young children and therefore BH should take account of that fact. It would be unfair for BH to apply a broad brush approach to the requirement of taking reasonable care of the car rather it is largely fact specific; a family car is likely to sustain more wear and tear / minor damage than a single person who has no partner and no children.

Was the car brand new or second hand (if yes, how old)?

Once you've gathered your facts, the next step is to make a formal complaint to BH and outline your reasons as to why you think the charges are unfair.

[Bellla]

Thanks Rob, yes the mileage charges aren’t an issue, we expected to pay these. The car was brand new.

Do you think I’m better off disputing the charges on the basis it’s fair wear and tear or disputing on the grounds that the inspection when the car was taken away indicated no damage whatsoever?

Thanks for your help

[R0b]

Dispute and plead both arguments as alternatives.

First argument is that the first inspection deemed there to be no damage which meant that the car was in a reasonable condition at the time of collection. Therefore any damage must have occurred between collection and the date of inspection (was there a gap?).

Alternatively, your second argument is that the car was in a reasonable condition taking into account the fact it was used as a family car and that it is inherently unfair for one to be substantially penalised when you were complying with your legal obligations i.e. the use of car seats for young children.