Complete 'hash' of a Volvo PCP car finance agreement

[Darwen- Andy]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice in regards to a PCP/Fixed Sum Loan agreement I am banging my head against a brick wall with through Volvo/Santander.

Hopefully somebody can help and clarify a few things (my rights etc)

I bought a brand new car from a Volvo dealership in 2015 through what I believed at the time was a PCP package.

All was well and good up until early last year when my employment changed and I would be doing a lot more miles than the 8,000 which was agreed on the PCP.

I contacted Volvo to ask where I stood and if I could raise my mileage, and pay more money per month so that I did not incur excess mileage costs at the end of the agreement.

I was advised by Volvo (by word of mouth) 'not to worry, as they will not even look at the mileage on return if I am trading the vehicle in'

After a month, it became apparent that I would be doing a HECK of a lot more miles than on the agreement, so many in fact my work offered me a company car (albeit with a company car payment taken from my wage)

This being the case I no longer needed my Volvo, so I contacted Santander to start the process to VT the vehicle, as my circumstances had drastically changed and I no longer needed, nor could afford the car.

I was advised by Santander that I could not do this, as although I was on a PCP plan, the actual financial aspect of the agreement was on a fixed sum loan and secured against myself rather than the vehicle... To prove this point he advised me that he was going to go ahead and release any hold they have over the car, so it was mine to do with as I please.

I was shocked by this, as when purchasing the car and through all the discussions I had held with Volvo up until this point, I had been led to believe that I was on a PCP plan.

I went away and dug my paperwork out and found that I had 2 different agreements one clearly stating that the agreement was a 'Volvo Advantage 4.8% PCP' with a mileage allowance of 8,000 per annum, a guaranteed future value after the 4 year term and is signed by both myself and the salesman.

There is also a second sheet which says the agreement is a 'fixed sum loan' again signed by myself and the salesman.

Now I remember asking about this at the time of purchase and was told "yeah, don't worry its just a different type of PCP, all the information for what your agreeing to is on the PCP document"

Since I dug out this paperwork I spoke to the Sales manager at Volvo in Blackburn who was initially very helpful and advised me that he would get a settlement figure from Santander and get this all sorted...

A couple of weeks went by, I called back but he had left the business..

I contacted Santander again to try and resolve this from their side, but again I was advised that there would be nothing I could do as the agreement is a fixed sum loan and would need to be paid.

I left this issue for a little while due to not having the time to follow it up, but last month I called the dealership again to speak to whoever the new manager was.

After initially being very helpful and telling me that he would sort this out, he then came back to me and advised that he could see that I had been sold a PCP plan, however this was not a 'Personal Contact Purchase' but a 'Personal Contract Plan' which is a completely different thing.

He then advised me that in fact, there would be no guaranteed final value at the end of the contract and I would be liable for a balloon payment in the region of around £9,000

I pulled him up on this fact and drew his attention to my contact which clearly stated 'PCP' and a final value, I advised him that I had, if he was correct been completely misled by a sales advisor and would like to VT the car immediately... I was told to speak to Santander.

I again called Santander who advised me that I do indeed have a Guaranteed final Value and I can give the car back, however although the contact is a PCP because it is also a fixed sum loan, I cannot VT

I asked them how this could possibly be a PCP and a Personal Loan at the same time, and they simply said 'well, that's what it is'

I have raised a complaint with Santander consumer finance and have now been told pretty much the same and that they wont uphold it...

I have spoken to the ombudsman who have pretty much advised, if I have signed for it I have signed for it...

I do not know here to go from here as due to all this dragging on I am amassing more and more excess miles than on my contract and as it stands am going to be liable for thousands next April.

Please can somebody help and provide an exit plan with this as surely you cannot sell something as a PCP if it is infact what they are calling a 'Personal Contact Plan' or a 'Fixed Sum Loan' with no termination rights?

[Darwen- Andy]

Anybody?

[R0b]

Morning

this definitely sounds like a bit of a mess. First of all, a Personal Contract Plan and a Personal Contract Purchase means the same thing, so the manager telling you they are different either doesn't know what he is talking about or has bluffed his way through it. The titles are interchangeable but on paper, they do exactly the same thing.

What I am confused about is why you have signed two agreements. If one says PCP and the other states Fixed Sum Loan, why did you sign the Fixed Sum Loan agreement if you were relying on the PCP agreement type? How did you go about signing the paperwork, was it done electronically or was it signed in paper format?

Put simply, you can't have two agreements for the same vehicle; it's either the PCP or the Fixed Sum Loan. PCP is a hire purchase type agreement whereas a Fixed Sum Loan is a loan agreement in the same way you obtain a bank loan but it is paid directly to the dealership rather than going into your own bank account and you own the vehicle from the outset. So if it really was a Fixed Sum Loan agreement, the advisor couldn't have released any 'hold' over the car because you already own the bloody thing.

I would quite like to see Santander's response to your complaint about this as well as the Financial Ombudsman's decision as well as the two agreements (personal info redacted). The FOS just don't have a clue and are so poorly trained its unbelievable, especially some of the decisions they come out with.

When you took out the deal in 2015, was it before or after 1 October 2015?

In terms of your options, I can only really see this being resolved by taken Santander to court. I really can't see how they can explain to a court how you've ended up signing up to two agreements because they contradict each other and of course they are relying on the Fixed Sum Loan because that suits them better - it's a total cock up really. You are likely not going to get through any of the lower level employees dealing with this because they probably don't have a clue and are just told what to say or do.

Your primary claim against Santander would be misrepresentation in that you were sold a PCP package, signed that agreement but then inadvertently also signed an entirely different agreement without actually knowing. The two conflict with each other and your argument is that you signed the PCP documentation first and that as there is a conflict (and I will assume there is no order of precedence between the two agreements where a conflict exists) then it ought to be resolved in favour of the consumer.

There might other actions you can take but the remedy for misrepresentation is to rescind the contract and refund all monies paid under the agreement. Alternatively the court (or yourself) could award damages in lieu of rescission, though in your current situation that might be difficult to ascertain or maybe not the best option, unless that amount equates to the remaining balance of the finance amount.

Since you've only given a high level overview of the situation this is just an educated guess and you may not have the appetite for going to court but I really can't see what other option you have if you want to get out of it. If the amount being claimed is under £10k it's likely to fall within the small claims track so you would be protected in terms of paying out any legal costs though there is some limited costs you pay if you do lose (about a couple hundred quid at best and that's if a judge agrees).

Moving forward, you need to keep everything in writing or if you have to talk to them over the phone record the call if you can using an app on your phone. I would probably either write to the CEO of Santander and complain, or alternatively you could address your issues to their legal department who will probably have a better understanding of the legal aspects and may see the difficulties that the salesperson at the dealership has put Santander in (though they may still disagree with you and call your bluff on going to court). If you have legal expenses insurance you might want to make inquiries into that too because then you may be able to obtain legal representation but they generally require a potential success rate or 51% or more. I would like to think in this instance, there is over 51% chance - it's pretty straightforward I would think and its likely to rest on the facts of the case which is why you need everything to be documented.

Finally, I would be inclined to submit a Subject Access Request to Santander and the dealership of all personal data they hold about you, and it's now free of charge under the new Data Protection Act 2018 / GDPR. Take a look at the link below and select either the long form version or the short form version (I think in your case, the long form version might be better).

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...t-of-templates