VT with Barclays PF - refusal to accept liability for damages

[Dexter19]

Good afternoon everyone,

Thank you for accepting me here. I hope someone will be able to help me with my issue with my VT.

I have had a car on PCP with BPF and I opted to exercise my legal right to VT this vehicle several weeks ago. The process has been an absolute ordeal from the start and it took over 4 weeks for them to even allow me to return the car.

i opted to deliver the vehicle to the auction site myself as they charge £150 for collection (!!!). When I delivered the car I was not asked to sign any paperwork for the handover nor inspection. I parted with the car and the auction site’s agent specifically said that BPF will only charge me for any excess mileage so naturally I thought it was all good and well, although it didn’t seem like a formal inspection has took place.

I chased BPF to see if the process was completed about two weeks after I returned the car only because they said there would some funds due back to me as I’m terminating quite late in the agreement. They said the VT process only completes once the car is actually sold at the auction. Can somebody explain what’s the actual sale date has to do with me?!? I’m no longer the owner and BPF keeping open an agreement until the sale date seems to negate the whole point of VT. I might be completely wrong so would appreciate some clarification as this is the first point of my issue with them.

The second issue is that now that the car has actually sold they came back to claim £600+ damages. I was only able to get this info on the phone after further chasing. They were unable to provide me with a breakdown of the damages over the phone saying that the case has only just been closed so this info is not available.

I know that my car was in reasonable condition when I handed it over and magically after sitting at auction site for a number of weeks they are charging me for god knows what damages which I did not at any point acknowledged or accepted liability for. Needless to say I requested an itemised report of the damages and told them I will not be paying for these alleged damages. Is there any chance this can end up in my favour? Unfortunately I did not take any photos before returned the car due to being naive and not very knowledgeable in this field. This only occurred to me after reading these forums.

I would very much appreciate any opinions.

[Dexter19]

R0b I’m sorry I forgot to tag you.

[R0b]

Hello
This is a common theme running with BPF at the moment and I wonder if it's actually a policy of theirs to use some of these tactics, which is quite disturbing. It's well documented on here recently about how BPF work and some of the things they say and do and I suggest you do a search of the forum to get yourself up to speed.

To answer briefly some of your questions, the VT process does not 'complete' once the car has been sold at auction. Termination of the agreement completes when you give notice to BPF and the date of termination. Understandably, BPF might want to keep your internal acount with them as active until the car has been sold and any damage to the vehicle accounted for, but they should also upon receiving your notice inform the credit reference agencies that you exercised your VT right. Unfortunately, most finance co.'s don't do that at all which in my view is misleading and inaccurate.
It's also concerning that BPF are claiming you owe them a sum of money yet are refusing to provide you with the necessary information and evidence as to how they have arrived at that amount. It was reported either this week or last of a similar problem where someone in the customer service / complaint department refused send out a copy of the damage report yet miracuously, it arrived not long after.

To me, this is in breach of consumer law as an aggressive commercial practice and it may also be a breach of their obligations under the FCA rules something which you might wish to take up with trading standards and the Financial Conduct Authority.