Tweet
Hi all.
I bought a Ford Focus in March 2017 which had around 21,000 miles on the clock. I initially made the purchase as I had just started a new job previously in October 2016, which required more travelling and a bit of a stint on the M25, so I wanted something which was a bit more comfortable and solid than my Dacia Stepway which I owned at the time.
During the sales process I can recall being asking about mileage at some point, but I remember saying I didn't have a clue and didn't consider how important this was at the time. I told them that I didn't really have a clue annually - I hadn't really been keeping a tab on my journey to work so far as it was all still fresh and I was more concerned with the time it took than mileage. I gave them my home address and my work address and they roughly worked it out there and then.*Now I remember negotiating quite a bit on a deal at the time and I explained that the most important thing for me was the monthly payments. I stressed I didn't want to go over the £180 mark. The salesman left his desk quite a few times to visit his managers office at the back where they tinkered with things to try and bring my payments down. Eventually, they got me to a deal of £188 a month which sealed the deal for me. So documents were signed via email and I never really paid attention to the mileage which had been entered.
So here we are in 2020 and for an unexpected reason, I suddenly find myself looking into VT and start wondering if this is something I can do. (Bizarrely it was suggested by a salesman at a car dealership) Now looking back over the documents I notice they have entered me for an annual mileage of 6,000 miles, which is just absurd to me as when I work it out now, that doesn't even cover half my annual mileage, which if you just work out the commuting miles to and from work equals more like 13,900 miles. My car's current mileage is now at 68,000.
As you can imagine I am way over my mileage allowance and I may not have any legal leg to stand on, but I do wonder if something has been tinkered with in the sales office to help bring down my monthly payments. I know if might not have been massive but I seriously feel let by their under-estimation of my annual mileage. Not something I can prove and I guess just looking at it in black and white I don't have a case - but would appreciate advice nonetheless.
I should mention I was never my intention to even consider entering in a VT, I only happen to land upon this when I had some trouble with my Ford Focus and discovered it needed a whole new engine. You see my make and model of car comes with a massive defect (which has been widely reported online and in the media). There issue can cause coolant to leak into the engine which can damage the car so much that only a new engine will the car back on the road again. My car was towed into Ford for diagnostics and I had to wait some time before it was agreed that they would pay for the remedial works, which they eventually did. During this time, I decided to take a loan out and buy a new car whilst I waited for my Ford to be fixed - which took around 6 weeks. My wife did not feel safe getting back in the Ford after reading some of the reports of people who had the same fault where the car caught fire. I figured I would just sell the Ford to We Buy Any Car when it's fixed to cover the outstanding finance.* My settlement figure is around £5400 and We Buy Any Car valuation was at £4250. So would have been nice not to lose out. Given the current situation I'm stuck with the car for now anyway as I understandably cannot take this anywhere to be traded in.
Appreciate your time if you have read this and welcome any feedback.
Kind regards
Lee
I bought a Ford Focus in March 2017 which had around 21,000 miles on the clock. I initially made the purchase as I had just started a new job previously in October 2016, which required more travelling and a bit of a stint on the M25, so I wanted something which was a bit more comfortable and solid than my Dacia Stepway which I owned at the time.
During the sales process I can recall being asking about mileage at some point, but I remember saying I didn't have a clue and didn't consider how important this was at the time. I told them that I didn't really have a clue annually - I hadn't really been keeping a tab on my journey to work so far as it was all still fresh and I was more concerned with the time it took than mileage. I gave them my home address and my work address and they roughly worked it out there and then.*Now I remember negotiating quite a bit on a deal at the time and I explained that the most important thing for me was the monthly payments. I stressed I didn't want to go over the £180 mark. The salesman left his desk quite a few times to visit his managers office at the back where they tinkered with things to try and bring my payments down. Eventually, they got me to a deal of £188 a month which sealed the deal for me. So documents were signed via email and I never really paid attention to the mileage which had been entered.
So here we are in 2020 and for an unexpected reason, I suddenly find myself looking into VT and start wondering if this is something I can do. (Bizarrely it was suggested by a salesman at a car dealership) Now looking back over the documents I notice they have entered me for an annual mileage of 6,000 miles, which is just absurd to me as when I work it out now, that doesn't even cover half my annual mileage, which if you just work out the commuting miles to and from work equals more like 13,900 miles. My car's current mileage is now at 68,000.
As you can imagine I am way over my mileage allowance and I may not have any legal leg to stand on, but I do wonder if something has been tinkered with in the sales office to help bring down my monthly payments. I know if might not have been massive but I seriously feel let by their under-estimation of my annual mileage. Not something I can prove and I guess just looking at it in black and white I don't have a case - but would appreciate advice nonetheless.
I should mention I was never my intention to even consider entering in a VT, I only happen to land upon this when I had some trouble with my Ford Focus and discovered it needed a whole new engine. You see my make and model of car comes with a massive defect (which has been widely reported online and in the media). There issue can cause coolant to leak into the engine which can damage the car so much that only a new engine will the car back on the road again. My car was towed into Ford for diagnostics and I had to wait some time before it was agreed that they would pay for the remedial works, which they eventually did. During this time, I decided to take a loan out and buy a new car whilst I waited for my Ford to be fixed - which took around 6 weeks. My wife did not feel safe getting back in the Ford after reading some of the reports of people who had the same fault where the car caught fire. I figured I would just sell the Ford to We Buy Any Car when it's fixed to cover the outstanding finance.* My settlement figure is around £5400 and We Buy Any Car valuation was at £4250. So would have been nice not to lose out. Given the current situation I'm stuck with the car for now anyway as I understandably cannot take this anywhere to be traded in.
Appreciate your time if you have read this and welcome any feedback.
Kind regards
Lee
