Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

[HariSeldon]

Thanks to the great advice on this site we had the finance company collect our car yesterday with very little grief following our strongly worded notice of termination.

After checking the car with a fine tooth comb the only point the auction examiner could pick up on was a missing service. The car was just over 2 years old with 24,000 miles on the clock and had only had one service at 15 months and 15,000 miles. He said it should have had two services; each year and/or 10,000 miles and so the finance company may charge £100.

My thoughts would be that as it had not been 10,000 miles or 1 year since the last service then that is not unreasonable and hence would fulfil the "reasonable care of the goods" part of the CCA but I wonder what the legal beagles think of this situation?

[Kati]

Re: Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

Thanks to the great advice on this site we had the finance company collect our car yesterday with very little grief following our strongly worded notice of termination.

After checking the car with a fine tooth comb the only point the auction examiner could pick up on was a missing service. The car was just over 2 years old with 24,000 miles on the clock and had only had one service at 15 months and 15,000 miles. He said it should have had two services; each year and/or 10,000 miles and so the finance company may charge £100.

My thoughts would be that as it had not been 10,000 miles or 1 year since the last service then that is not unreasonable and hence would fulfil the "reasonable care of the goods" part of the CCA but I wonder what the legal beagles think of this situation?

:bump:ing [MENTION=71570]R0b[/MENTION] xx

[R0b]

Re: Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

Hello,

Just to understand what you are saying, the examiner says that the 2nd service should have taken place at 20k miles or within 1 year of the last service whichever is earlier? Are you the only owner of the vehicle?

Whilst regular servicing would show the car is well maintained it is not the only thing that determines the reasonableness of the car. If the car looks well and good and runs and has been MOT'd as per the usual requirements then that should be fine. I would personally argue that the car was returned in a reasonable condition and if they feel that because there was no second service they have a right to charge you then I would ask them to prove that the car was not returned in a reasonable condition. There is no criteria as to what is reasonable but common sense would be the way forward.

They would need to hire an expert to confirm that the car overall was not in a reasonable condition and given that the car is only 2 years old that is unlikely to be the case and I would imagine that it is still covered by a warranty? So in essence, the onus is on the lender to prove their case not you. It would not be commercially viable for them to take you to court for £100 especially if you dispute it, their legal fees will cost at least 10 times that amount and they will not be able to recover them because it will be a small claims issue - legal fees are not recoverable in small claims except for £100.

[HariSeldon]

Re: Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

Just to understand what you are saying, the examiner says that the 2nd service should have taken place at 20k miles or within 1 year of the last service whichever is earlier? Are you the only owner of the vehicle?

To clarify, the examiner said the 2nd service should have taken place at 20k miles or 2 years whichever is earlier as they are recommended to be done every 10k or 1 year. The car was just over 2 years old and the first service was a little late which fortuitously means now it has been neither 10k miles or 1 year since the first service. Yes I am the only owner.

They would need to hire an expert to confirm that the car overall was not in a reasonable condition

Many thanks, I like your style. I'll use that argument when the time comes and report back the outcome.

[R0b]

Re: Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

No worries, I'd expect them to find some way to charge more than 100 as it's a money making scheme to recover their losses

[HariSeldon]

Re: Incomplete service history with Voluntary Termination

I'm happy to report that the finance company finally threw in the towel and today cancelled the "missing service" £100 charge.

For anyone else in a similar situation they didn't go down without a fight and kept repeating that the charge was owed as the car had not been serviced as per the service schedule. I simply politely reiterated the "if you have paid half the amount you will not have to pay any more" clause of the HP agreement a number of times but in the end had to quote the Protection from Harassment Act which finally made them give up.

Thank you so much to this site and R0b in particular for the fantastic help given.