Hire Car - Hirer has gone way over mileage allowance

[Wingz123]

Hi,

I have a vehicle which has been rented from me. The hirer has given notice and wants to return the car. The terms and conditions which were signed by the hirer upon receiving the vehicle stipulate that the mileage limit is 1,000 miles per week. For each mile over the 1,000 miles there will be a charge of 50pence per mile. I have worked out the hirer to be circa 12,000 miles over in total so do the maths....approx £6,000 in mileage penalty.

A phone call the other day he says he is expecting a bill from me for the additional mileage however I do not think the hirer will be forthcoming in paying the £6,000 penalty and the £500 deposit I took when he received the car is merely a drop in the ocean.

Must also mention it had been mentioned to the hirer that he is way over the mileage allowance and he needs to reduce the weekly mileage - this was mentioned ages ago.

Obviously a rental company would charge the hirers card however if that were to decline what would they do....? I’m guessing a small claims court?

Would appreciate advice please.... needless to say, I have copies of ID, national insurance number etc etc etc

Thank you,

[R0b]

Hello

First of all, it would be helpful to see the actual terms and conditions that were signed.

Secondly, are this is a hire agreement, how long has the agreement lasted for? If it was more than 3 months then it could be a regulated consumer credit agreement which in turn may mean that you need to be authorised by the FCA and may have to comply with the CCA requirements unless it can be proved that the agreement was a non-commercial agreement.

On a separate note, 50p per mile seems to be an extremely high charge so I wonder how you have calculated that amount and was there any justification for it? On the face of it, the charge for excess mileage may amount to a penalty charge and might depend on the age of the vehicle plus it's value at the time of it being hired. If the excess mileage charges alone exceed the value of the vehicle then you could have a problem as it could be argued that the charge is an unfair contract term and if a court agrees, the term itself is struck out entirely.

Most hire agreements on average have a excess mileage charge in the region of 5p to 12p per mile as an excess charge and that is usually linked to the vehicle's value and any depreciation as a result of the excess mileage.

If you want to claim the £6,000 then small claims is probably the route to go down, but you may be on to a loser based on my above comments.

[des8]

I'm intrigued by what might be behind this problem.
You are obviously not operating a rental company.
It seems that this is a single vehicle you have rented to an individual, and you are concerned about excessive mileage.
I wonder if it is a vehicle you have on finance, and are renting to an individual who cannot obtain finance himself.
If he can't obtain the finance, what makes you think he could pay any award you might win in court?
I hope I'm wrong but if not a word of warning that if discovered you could be accused of "fronting" i.e. fraud which is a criminal offence.

[Wingz123]

Thanks for the above responses.

To address both questions - the vehicle in question is a private hire vehicle (taxi in essense) and the rent has been paid weekly. I originally purchased the vehicle to use myself but a change in personal circumstances meant that the vehicle was now surplas. Rather than sell, a chap I know expressed interest in renting the vehicle from me. Prior to this both him and I had been renting a car from another rental firm. I have used exactly the same t’s and c’s given to me by that rental firm so this is exactly where the 50p per mile charge for additional mileage came from. He was happy to agree to this and signed the contract etc.

Not sure what you mean re the finance comment above - There is no finance on the vehicle and I own it outright. This chap is renting the vehicle from me on a weekly basis paid Thursday to Thursday.

Vehicle in question - 2013 Toyota Prius - value circa £7-7.5k and has 150k(ish) miles on it (as of 9th November 2018) so will more than likely have 155k now. I gave the vehicle to him on 23rd November 2017 with a mileage of approx 87k miles - at this point it was worth £12-£13k

I can provide a copy of the contract however how would I go about getting that to you?

Thanks,

[Wingz123]

I’d also say that in the weekly rent - I as the provider of the vehicle cover all

[Wingz123]

Apologies fairly new here and not sure how to edit a post. The above post was supposed to read - The weekly rent includes all maintenance of the vehicle - servicing, tyres, MOT’ing etc etc and suffice to say, more miles - greater wear and tear etc etc etc

[ostell]

There is an Edit button at the bottom right of your posts.

[Jinxer]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-Toyo...DX3s:rk:6:pf:0
Is the car the same as this one.

[Wingz123]

Hello Jinxer,

Yes same shape however that link you sent to me screams scam. The car is massively underpriced to lure people in to paying a deposit and there not actually being a car - there are a lot of cars on Ebay like this sold or rather advertised by people with zero feedback that don’t even exist. With 35k miles on that car should be priced around £13-14k now. Not that this would be completley out of the question but raises alarm bells but why on earth is a London registered taxi being sold from the tip of Scotland. As I say, not completley out of the question but I have my suspicions with this listing.

thanks,

[wales01man]

If you have a legal contract signed by both of you post it up suitably redacted no names or identifying details others will offer help

[des8]

Thanks for the above responses.


Not sure what you mean re the finance comment above - There is no finance on the vehicle and I own it outright. This chap is renting the vehicle from me on a weekly basis paid Thursday to Thursday.

Thanks,

Glad to hear that.
I was concerned that you were helping a mate out, and perhaps were unaware of the implications.
It happens

[R0b]

Just because a clause is in the terms and conditions does not always mean it is lawful and legitimate. I would suggest you read this article about whether loans are regulated by family members or friends as I suspect in your case it might be if the person is a sole trader/working self employed.

If you are required to be FCA authorised then you will have committed a criminal offence and if a claim was brought, then a defence could be that you shouldn't be allowed to benefit from your own wrong.

As I mentioned above, 50p per mile seems to be an extremely high excess mileage charge but it does depend on the circumstances and it may be reasonable to charge that rate where the vehicle is being used for taxi purposes.

Also you gave the figures below regarding the value of the vehicle, where did you get those figures from? The value seems to be a little on the higher given that it is a 5 year old vehicle with 150k miles on the clock, even at 87k your valuation seemed a little too high. You will be required to prove that the values you've stated are the going rates for a vehicle like yours taken into account age and mileage. I certainly know I wouldn't pay £7k for a vehicle with 150k miles on the clock when I know there could be much better deals out there.

Without seeing the contract, difficult to know your position. You can do this by taking a photo and uploaded it with personal details redacted but the terms and conditions we do need to see.

[Wingz123]

Thank you again for the responses above. I shall see to uploading a copy of the hire agreement today.

Re values - I have been in the automotive industry for approximately 15-18 years. I imported the vehicle from Japan (imports command slightly higher resale values than UK versions) - The Japanese road laws with regards to vehicle roadworthiness are considerably more strict thatln that of say the UK and as such the vehicles are percieved to having been very well cared for and maintained. This contributes to the increased value. Second to that the fact this car is plated with a PCO plate (London taxi license) for another year you are in essence buying a business as the car can be put to work immediately. A private hire driver in London could earn circa £1k plus BEFORE taxes and associated costs per week and as I say, the value of my Prius and similar Prius’ reflect that but we digress....

Shall upload the hire agreement a little later today.

[R0b]

I appreciate you might have expert knowledge having worked in the industry, but a court isn't simply going to take your word for it. You are expected to provide values of the vehicle or if there are no known valuations available to work from then a sensible and plausible explanation as to how you came up with that figure.

Although you might suggest imported vehicles are perceived as hvaing been well maintained and so the value increases, someone else could argue that's merely your opinion, where's the evidence.

We are still talking about the value of the vehicle and not the what the hirer might earn, so unless you can back up your arguments with evidence, I think a could would reasonably accept a valuation taken from somewhere like What Car or Parkers in which case that might suggest a much lower resale price than what you are seeking.

Anyway, will await the contract and we can take it from there.

[Wingz123]

Please see attached agreement...

Would also like to add that when the car was received by the hirer the outgoing mileage was 87,031. The hirer has had the car for 57 weeks (taken Thursday 23rd November 2017) and as such the maximum mileage the car could return to me with would be 144,031. As I say, on the 9th November 2018 (when car was last MOT'd) the mileage was 150,138.

So lets for example take that 9th November 2018 mileage and say he returned it with that mileage even though now being 24th December there is probably another 2-3k miles on the car. He would be 6,107 miles over the given limit so would owe £3,053.50