Detail for VT'ing a car

[Mr.Shanahan]

Hi, this is my first thread, but used your letter recently to VT my car.

I have a couple of questions.

On the letter I wrote, I advised Moneyway that they had 14 days which is up on the 16/08. Do they need to contact me before termination to arrange pickup?

if they don't contact me, is it best to break cover and call them or send them another letter recorded referencing the first letter?

what amounts to reasonable wear and tear? I'm getting a ball joint repaired so the car will be mechanically sound, but there is a small bit of rust on the boot lid where the centre break light is. Would that be classed as ware and tear. The car is 8 years old after all. Also there are a couple of scuffs on the wheels that were there when I bought the car. Would I get charged to repair these items?

thanks

[Guest]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Hi, this is my first thread, but used your letter recently to VT my car.

I have a couple of questions.

On the letter I wrote, I advised Moneyway that they had 14 days which is up on the 16/08. Do they need to contact me before termination to arrange pickup?

if they don't contact me, is it best to break cover and call them or send them another letter recorded referencing the first letter?

what amounts to reasonable wear and tear? I'm getting a ball joint repaired so the car will be mechanically sound, but there is a small bit of rust on the boot lid where the centre break light is. Would that be classed as ware and tear. The car is 8 years old after all. Also there are a couple of scuffs on the wheels that were there when I bought the car. Would I get charged to repair these items?

thanks

Did you send the letter recorded delivery, there is nothing wrong with ringing them and telling them that you are voluntarily terminating your agreement, they are allowed a maximum of one month to comply, so 14 days is a reasonable timescale to respond to your initial notification. After this date you are no longer liable for any payments under the agreement.

The act says that reasonable care must have been taken of the goods, so a little rust on an eight year old car I would have thought would be acceptable, take plenty of photos of the vehicle with a date indicator prior to return, as they usually send you an invoice for "essential body repairs " after the termination.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

I sent the letter first class. I will call them at the end of the week and see if they received the letter. If not then I will send another recorded and quote them the practice direction for service of documents. After all, these guys probably send defaults second class and still honour them even if the recipient didn't receive it.

[Guest]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

The important thing is that you set the timescale for the termination of the agreement, which should be a maximum of one month after they received the notification.
After this point you will no longer be liable for contractual payments. So if no arrangements for the return of the vehicle have been carried out by this time you should be looking at charging them storage.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

The finance company are sending out a vehicle inspector next week. When do I actually cancel the direct debit payments?

[Guest]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

The finance company are sending out a vehicle inspector next week. When do I actually cancel the direct debit payments?

See post 4

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

What's the normal storage charge, and can I retrospectively charge them. How do you enforce this too? Is there a statute of something somewhere that can be used, or do you just threaten them with a storage charge to get them.moving?

[Guest]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

What's the normal storage charge, and can I retrospectively charge them. How do you enforce this too? Is there a statute of something somewhere that can be used, or do you just threaten them with a storage charge to get them.moving?

The car is their vehicle, as long as everything is well documented and you have given them one months notice, I see no reason why you should not charge storage at a reasonable rate, they need to be made aware of this, enforcement would I imagine be via small claims.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Has there ever been any precedent for keeping hold of the car until the storage fee has been paid?

[labman]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Has there ever been any precedent for keeping hold of the car until the storage fee has been paid?

I don't think you would be able to do that. They would take the car back (collect it from your storage) and you would then pursue them through the small claims court. This is not an area of VT's I'm familiar with, but normal practice would dictate you would have to send them a Schedule of Fees specifying the storage charge, and the date from which it is payable, at, say £30.00 per month (this is what we pay for storing our caravan in a farmyard per month; secure storage would be considerably higher, so this may be a reasonable basis for your storage fee). You would then invoice them on a monthly basis, or a pro rata basis. In reality of course, it would not be practical to take them to court for a small sum.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Ok then, terminated over a month ago. The company sent out an inspector to go over the vehicle. I was asked to sign a condition report on termination. This had a couple of items on it like a service which I duly carried out before handing back and provided evidence to prove that the work was done.

Roll forward to today and I have just had a letter from a debt collector claiming I owe £156 to the finance company. Now I was way past the 50% rule, and I cancelled my DD after the notice period, so I can only guess that it's for something else following the return of the car. I paid for the work that needed to be carried out as part of the condition report so that should have been me done.

are they entitled to chase me for money of any kind after handing the car back to them that isn't

a) remaining finance following the hand back,
b) additional work after the finance company agreed that the condition was acceptable

[Guest]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Ok then, terminated over a month ago. The company sent out an inspector to go over the vehicle. I was asked to sign a condition report on termination. This had a couple of items on it like a service which I duly carried out before handing back and provided evidence to prove that the work was done.

Roll forward to today and I have just had a letter from a debt collector claiming I owe £156 to the finance company. Now I was way past the 50% rule, and I cancelled my DD after the notice period, so I can only guess that it's for something else following the return of the car. I paid for the work that needed to be carried out as part of the condition report so that should have been me done.

are they entitled to chase me for money of any kind after handing the car back to them that isn't

a) remaining finance following the hand back,
b) additional work after the finance company agreed that the condition was acceptable

I wold contact them and ask what the bill was for. Tell them that there was no arrears when you returned the car and there was no dispute you were aware of regarding the condition of the vehicle.

How much were your installments? Are they trying to bill you for the last payment perhaps ? If so you need to get your record of the VT request letter and your payment record in order to show payment was made right up-to the termination date.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

The amount is not the installment amount. It has to be something else. I will call them and find out, but I thought that once the car was handed back and the FC agreed that the items on the condition reports were completed satisfactorily, then I was done and dusted.

[Mr.Shanahan]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

They tell me the charge is for recovery of the vehicle and is a recoverable charge as part of my finance agreement.

I thought that you do not have to make any special arrangement to return the car; they must arrange either a local drop off point, or free collection.

[wales01man]

Re: Detail for VT'ing a car

Is it in the Agreement?
Worth looking