Damage charges after Voluntary termination

[JamieLeeWV]

Hello guys

Desperately need some kind of help here on how to proceed.

I handed my car back via VT as I was over the 50% on my HP agreement.

The company is startline motor finance.

I was instructed to take the car to manheim auctions which I did when I dropped the car off the person who took the car didn't inspect the car right away. They said I can simply drop the car off and leave and said I didn't need to sign anything and when I asked about inspecting it he said I wont have to pay anymore towards the car regardless as I'd paid over 50%.

Thought this was all great and didn't hear anything until today (i dropped the car off on july 18th 2019).

Had a few texts over the last week from startline saying i need to make a payment on my account. I tried dlogging in presuming my account would now be closed only to find it's still active and open and I've been charged late fees of £78 and £15 for a missing payment for august. even though i don't own the car anymore. Can they even charge me late payment fees when I've handed the car back via VT?

dropped them an email and they responded this morning with a damage appraisal from manheim stating I owe £1,600 in damages to the car!!

I'm very shocked. they haven't even sent me a letter or email stating this so I was none the wiser and though the VT had gone through they are now telling me I need to pay this to complete the VT is this even legal for them to do this? I am no longer the legal owner I even sent the forms off to the dvla stating I am no longer the legal owner of the car.

Also the car was 4 years old when I brought it and had already done over 80k when I purchased it on hp in 2016!

All the damages I can see on the appraisal are for chips dents bumps etc some of them I don't even understand. 'Dull bumper £190 repair' 'Rear L rippled finish poor repair £180' the car has never been in accident since I had it so these make no sense and the damages mentioned are going to be there considering the car is now 7 years old!

There is also something on the report about CAP stating

CAP CLEAN 3475
CAP AVERAGE 3125
CAP BELOW 2800

what does this mean?

How do I go about contesting these changes?
I am fuming they are trying to charge me over £1,500!!

Can they even do this? The car was always kept in good reasonable condition since I owned it and is there any way they can even prove the 'damage' such as 'dull paint' was not there before I got the car?

shall I write a letter contesting the charges? Are they trying to pull a fast one I'm assuming the car didn't sell as well at auction as they wanted so they are trying to bleed all they can from me?

I'm guessing I need some kind of template letter any help would be greatly appreciated I'm very worried bailiffs will come to my door if I don't pay.

Any help greatly appreciated on what my next step should be.

Thank you.

[JamieLeeWV]

Sorry just to add to this post I didn't sign anything when handing the car back to manheim Birmingham.

They told me I didn't need to sign anything and didn't need to stay for the inspection. They said simply drop it back and you don't need to pay anything we do it all for you?

[JamieLeeWV]

i found a thread on here from PablosD who seemed to have the same issues as me but eventually won the case. Hopefully I can do the same. I've also used the template letter suggested by R0b

Hope this is ok guys? Let me know if you think this is ok?

Re: Account 1000370999 Damage Appraisal
JW

Jay Williams
Fri 23/08/2019 13:05
Sent Items
To:
Startline Customer Services (customerservices@startlinemotorfinance.com);
Evernote
The following will be sent via letter recorded delivery too. Thanks


Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Voluntary Termination

Agreement Number:
Vehicle Registration:

I am writing to you with reference to the above matter and your email dated [23/08/19] concerning the charges raised for damage you alleged state was caused whilst the vehicle was in my possession.

The vehicle was maintained in a reasonable condition throughout the period of the agreement and therefore I do not accept liability for the sum of £1,600 that you are claiming to be owed. I would refer you to the Court of Appeal case Brady v St. Margaret's Trust [1963] 3 W.L.R 1162 which was concerned with the extent of a hirer's duty to take reasonable care of the vehicle. On that point, Lord Denning stated the following:

"There should be evidence by the hire-purchase company to show the condition of the goods at the time the agreement was made and to show how far the hirer has defaulted under it. As I read this clause, the hirer's duty is to keep the car in the condition in which it might reasonably be expected to be if he had looked after it properly. He need not put it in a better condition than it was when he hired it. He need only keep it in the condition in which a reasonably minded hirer would keep it. Thus he would repair it if there was an accident, and he would do the immediate repairs in the course of running the car, but no more. The hire-purchase company should give evidence of any default on his part in that duty."

Therefore, the onus is on you to prove that the damage to the vehicle was specifically caused by me during the time that I had it. Given that the vehicle has done around 105,000 overall and was purchased having already done 88,000 miles, I am astounded that you seem to be suggesting that all of the damage listed on the condition report occurred during the period of hire. Photographic evidence was taken prior to the vehicle being collected and it was regularly serviced in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines. The car even had a brand new gearbox fitted totalling almost £3,000 in 2018

Also, upon dropping the car off on the 18/07/19 to manheim auctions birmingham, I was told I could simply leave and didn't have to sign anything. So I never signed any PDA or form agreeing to the damage or to take liability for it.

Furthermore, the condition report issued by Manheim does not prove that the damage was sustained during the period of time that it was in my possession, rather it simply lists the damage. There is no evidence to suggest that the damage had occurred whilst it was in my custody and I would repeat what I mentioned above in that the vehicle has had been driven 88,000 miles before I even took possession of it and therefore I require you to provide me with your evidence to back up your claim. I am confident, however, the evidence is non-existent because the damage was already there when I received it and therefore your claim for damages is entirely hopeless.

Notwithstanding the above, I am prepared to pay a reasonable sum of £50 in full and final settlement all claims in connection with this agreement. The offer will remain open for a period of 14 days but if I have not heard from you by [6/9/19], then the offer will automatically expire. Please note that this is a one time offer only and in the event that offer is not accepted, no further offers will be made.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours faithfully,


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