VT with engine management light on

[mark1979]

No response from BH yet, car is due to be put on the road with tax and insurance cancelled on Sunday morning. I'll also register the car to them.

I called today for an update, they have received the letter and have now opened a complaint, a letter confirming this was sent to us yesterday (not yet arrived) and the person handling the complaint is off today. I once again explained our position and added in the fact that they have added a late payment marker to my wifes credit file as the October payment was due a week after we sent notice to VT (she cancelled the DD). I pointed out that they have not actually asked for a payment at all during this period and that if they had then we would have disputed it as the agreement was terminated before the payment due date.

I am now waiting on a call from the collections team about the vehicle collection. I dont expect to make any progress today.

Should I just wait for their outcome? Or should I write to notify them of my intention to commence legal action for misuse of data and negligence?

[mark1979]

They just called. Bit of back and forth. They now say that they will accept a phonecall from my wife in which she can verbally confirm to them that she wishes to terminate the agreement (she already did this over a week ago when they called her) and they will accept that and will terminate the agreement. Of course there is a catch - the termination would only be effective from the day of the phonecall and he wouldnt commit to what they would do about the October payment they say is outstanding or the late payment marker on her credit file.

My initial feeling is that this worsens her position if she agrees to it and makes the call today. What do you think?

[R0b]

Let's be clear, the law says exercising your VT right must be done by giving notice in writing so whatever BH say to you or your wife about accepting over the phone, that is not a valid method of terminating, so do not get sucked into, otherwise your wife may find herself in a much worse position.
Also, just in case I've missed something, I assume the letter went out in your wife's name, not yours right? If it didn't go out in her name assuming she is the party to the contract then there is no valid VT as of today.

Everything needs to go out in your wife's name if she is the contracting party or, if she wan'ts you to deal with it, she can sign a letter of authority saying that she givesn consent for you to deal with this matter on her behalf, which in that case you should be able to discuss with BH, though they could still be awkward about that too but that is their prerogative.

As for the late payment marker, they've got no leg to stand on if the notice was sent a week earlier and you have evidence that the letter was received before the next instalment was due. Termination doesn't take affect when BH choose to process the letter, it is effective from them receiving it.

It's not clear from your post as to whose court the ball is in but if it is in your wife's, then it would be sensible to respond back to them in writing, repeating what has already been said, pointing out that she is now aware that BH have placed a late payment marker on her credit file which is a combination of negligence, misrepresentation and breach of the GDPR/Data Protection Act 2018. The late payment marker has had a negative impact on your wife's credit rating which is also likely to impact on her obtaining credit at favourable rates.

If you wanted to, your wife could tell them that the adverse entry placed on her credit file means that circumstances have now changed and she is considered legal proceedings for the removal of the marker together with compensation. She could very easily get £750 in compensation if she made a claim, maybe even higher due to the deliberate actions of BH.

If she doesn't want to go down that route, then its a case of waiting 8 weeks and then going on to the Financial Ombudsman and waiting probably around the same amount of time if not longer. It's a slow moving process and sometimes issuing legal proceedings can prompt finance companies to act faster but that all depends on the person and whether they are prepared to go commit to it.

[mark1979]

Yes all letters are in my wifes name and are "digitally signed" by her.

During the phonecalls last week she gave them authority to speak to me regarding the account.

Both letters sent were recorded delivery so I have proof of receipt of them both. BH have also confirmed receipt of the first one in writing and I am told that yesterday they sent a letter confirming receipt of the second one and outlining the complaints procedure etc.

I am happy to send BH a 14 day letter before claim for the removal of the late payment marker and compensation of £750. I'll draft something this weekend.

What should I do with the car? Leave it on the road untaxed and uninsured from Sunday as I have told them repeatedly? Or should I be the reasonable party and deliver it safely to BCA along with the keys and V5? I wouldnt be able to do that until next Friday (25th October)..

[mark1979]

We have called BH again today chasing an update and were told there was no update. Apparently the complaints handler is waiting on a response from their legal team.

I asked if they wanted the car taking to their head office in Cardiff or to BCA Birmingham and they just kept saying that they wouldnt accept it and would consider it abandoned.

What next? I am thinking take it to BCA tomorrow (there is an auction on so they will be really busy). Take photos in their car park and then film myself walking in and handing keys, V5 etc to a BCA employee and informing them it is going back to BH as a result of VT then just walking away.

[R0b]

Can you remind me what the current situation is with the car, have you formally removed the insurance and tax on it?

It sounds as if you have made the complaint and strictly speaking you shuold allow them the full 8 weeks to consider their position and final response. You also now know that they are waiting for a response from their legal team which means something is going on in the background.

If you choose to take the car to BCA in the full knowledge that BH haven't agreed for that then you must accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong. BCA are not the owners of the car, BH are, so you can't just simply palm the car off to a third party who isn't authorised to accept it though it is your choice. That said, it has been about 4 weeks or longer since BH have been asked to collect the car? If true, then there are a couple of options you could consider:

1. Write to BH and explain that although there is an outstanding complaint, they have still not collected the car despite being asked to collect it X weeks ago. There's nothing to prevent them from removing it from your possession notwithstanding the ongoing complaint since they would have to come and collect it anyway. You are no longer prepared to continue holding the vehicle in your possession so you will allow them a further 14 days to make arrangements for the collection of it (no later than 4pm on X date), otherwise you will leave the car outside your home on a public road (give the full address and street name) and then post the keys back to their head office. Any liability for the car from that point forward will lay with BH. If you've already cancelled tax and insurance, you should also make them aware too if you haven't already.

2. Similar letter to the above but instead of threatening to put the car on the road and assuming it is sitting on your drive, you can then say that it is causing an obstruction for other vehicles and you will now start charging BH a daily rate e.g. £10 or £15 for the storage of it, starting from the date of the letter up until the date it has been collected or otherwise removed from your property. Non payment of course will result in legal action being taken for the recovery of the outstanding amount.

You want to be seen as being as reasonable as possible and have as much documentary evidence so that if things did progress to legal proceedings, it's going to be difficult for BH to argue its case.