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Thought I would post about my recent successful VT with BMWFS so that others might be more comfortable doing this!
I decided to VT my car due to financial pressures - new house, pay cuts etc etc. The Covid situation hasn't helped and I wanted to clear some overheads so that I could save more.
I made contact with BMWFS back in August but was still a few months away from the 50% minimum required so left it until earlier this month.
My main concern was damage to the car. Thanks to R0b for providing some initial advice re the bodywork damage.
The car had a dent in the roof panel and badly scuffed bumper, I took this to a local body shop who charged £500 all in. This was done on the basis that BMWFS would likely charge more than this.
Other noted damage included 2 badly scuffed alloys, dings on each door from other drivers knocking with their own doors, stone chips, some scuffed paint from a supermarket trolley and so on.
Timeline as follows:
3rd Feb 21: Emailed BMWFS using a template from this website. I amended it slightly to include current mileage as this was 14,000 under the pro rata allowance in the hope that it would help waive some costs;
4th Feb: BMWFS confirmed receipt and provided a VT uplift letter outlining the process. This stated BCA would be in touch within 5 days;
5th Feb: BCA get in touch and arrange inspection/collection for 10th Feb. At this point I went out and took timestamped photos of all the damage, the mileage and service history and the accessories such as locking wheel nut, guide books etc;
6th Feb: As per the uplift letter, I remove the yellow section of my V5C and post off the rest of the V5C. This made me nervous...;
10th Feb: BCA confirmed the inspector would be out shortly, but the collector was stuck in snow. Where I live there was several feet of snow so I don't blame them! Inspector turned up bang on time and told me what he would be doing. Left him to it. He knocked on the door 15 minutes later to let me know he was done and the estimate was around £96.00 according to his iPad. Great news. I received an email that evening with a PDF letter stating this cost;
16th Feb: BCA confirm collector is on his way. Turns up bang on time and gives the car a once over to make sure he can legally drive it (tyres etc) and disappears off with my car! As per the VT uplift letter I go to complete the yellow section of V5C to post it off. It tells me that both the owner and collector need to sign it. BCA had not signed it. So i went online instead. The website tells me that if the V5C has already been posted, I cannot complete the online process. I do it anyway using a number I found on the yellow section of the V5C and it seems to have worked. I immediately write to BMWFS telling them that their instructions are unclear and if there are any repercussions relating to the V5C, it's on them;
18th Feb: Receive an email from BMWFS stating that although there was damage and they can legally charge for this, they're not going to. I am now no longer legally obligated in any way! Done!;
19th Feb: Received another email from BMWFS confirming that the V5C process I followed was fine... I'll be keeping this email just in case!
All in all, fairly easy and straightforward. Here are my tips:
Edit: The finance deal was PCP
I decided to VT my car due to financial pressures - new house, pay cuts etc etc. The Covid situation hasn't helped and I wanted to clear some overheads so that I could save more.
I made contact with BMWFS back in August but was still a few months away from the 50% minimum required so left it until earlier this month.
My main concern was damage to the car. Thanks to R0b for providing some initial advice re the bodywork damage.
The car had a dent in the roof panel and badly scuffed bumper, I took this to a local body shop who charged £500 all in. This was done on the basis that BMWFS would likely charge more than this.
Other noted damage included 2 badly scuffed alloys, dings on each door from other drivers knocking with their own doors, stone chips, some scuffed paint from a supermarket trolley and so on.
Timeline as follows:
3rd Feb 21: Emailed BMWFS using a template from this website. I amended it slightly to include current mileage as this was 14,000 under the pro rata allowance in the hope that it would help waive some costs;
4th Feb: BMWFS confirmed receipt and provided a VT uplift letter outlining the process. This stated BCA would be in touch within 5 days;
5th Feb: BCA get in touch and arrange inspection/collection for 10th Feb. At this point I went out and took timestamped photos of all the damage, the mileage and service history and the accessories such as locking wheel nut, guide books etc;
6th Feb: As per the uplift letter, I remove the yellow section of my V5C and post off the rest of the V5C. This made me nervous...;
10th Feb: BCA confirmed the inspector would be out shortly, but the collector was stuck in snow. Where I live there was several feet of snow so I don't blame them! Inspector turned up bang on time and told me what he would be doing. Left him to it. He knocked on the door 15 minutes later to let me know he was done and the estimate was around £96.00 according to his iPad. Great news. I received an email that evening with a PDF letter stating this cost;
16th Feb: BCA confirm collector is on his way. Turns up bang on time and gives the car a once over to make sure he can legally drive it (tyres etc) and disappears off with my car! As per the VT uplift letter I go to complete the yellow section of V5C to post it off. It tells me that both the owner and collector need to sign it. BCA had not signed it. So i went online instead. The website tells me that if the V5C has already been posted, I cannot complete the online process. I do it anyway using a number I found on the yellow section of the V5C and it seems to have worked. I immediately write to BMWFS telling them that their instructions are unclear and if there are any repercussions relating to the V5C, it's on them;
18th Feb: Receive an email from BMWFS stating that although there was damage and they can legally charge for this, they're not going to. I am now no longer legally obligated in any way! Done!;
19th Feb: Received another email from BMWFS confirming that the V5C process I followed was fine... I'll be keeping this email just in case!
All in all, fairly easy and straightforward. Here are my tips:
- Use the templates on here and include mileage if it works in your favour. Also tell them that you have/will be taking photos for evidence;
- Be polite to the crew at BCA. They're doing a job and everyone I spoke to was very friendly!;
- Before collection, take detailed photos of everything, using a ruler next to any damage. I took a final video that included mileage and then damage and finally the guide book and wheel nut etc so that the condition was linked to mileage. Anything that occurred above that mileage was not me!
- Clean the car in advance. They do say that it is up to you to make the car inspectable. It helps that my interior was always spotless and the bodywork cleaned every couple of weeks. If you try to hide damage you'll just end up with a bigger bill later on when they discover the damage at the base;
- Try to initiate the process as soon after a payment date as possible. I initiated the day after BMWFS took a payment and that was the last one as the process was complete before the next payment date. I even wrote to them about the Direct Debit and they confirmed they had deleted it and I could do the same.
Edit: The finance deal was PCP
