Vt - mechanical issue

[Sr9023]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

Our cars head gasket has gone and to fix it would be more than the value of the car. (60 plate meriva) we are over the 50% and finance company have agreed that we can vt but there may be charges for damage. Now the car does have a couple of scratches where the door has been dinged and obviously is a non runner due to the head gasket. Now I appreciate that it isn't in 'good working order' but I'm just wondering if there is a limit on how much they could charge?

our settlement amount is £1800. Could they come back and say the damages are say £3k or is there a max they can charge us?

Just trying to weigh up our options and my other half struggles with anxiety so he is worrying that they will charge us a fortune for it.

Any help much appreciated

[Pezza54]

Hi
very sorry to read about the problem with your car and the anxiety it is causing.
The less stressful route is to make the £1800 payment, take ownership of the car and then obtain the best price for replacing the head gasket. A mobile mechanic would save the cost of transporting the car to a garage.
The finance company does not have to take the current value of the car into account when it works out how much to charge you. There are several cases on interim forums where users are disputing the amount the finance companies are charging them for repair.
The finance company is likely to charge you for transporting the car as it is a non runner, replacing the head gasket by a vauxhall approved garage and repairing the dent and deep scratches.

[Pezza54]

I should have said that if you buy the car and repair it, the car should have a current value £2k-£3k depending on the mileage. So there is a chance you could recover your money, £1.8k plus repair or just lose a small amount.
Return the car to the finance company and you could be charged a lot more than you might lose if you buy the car.