Car Collection Fines

[Ange.OB]

Hi, we had a car on lease and it was collected last week. They've sent us an invoice for over £4000 in charges. Over £3500 is for excess mileage and the rest is for damage, missing service history and the collection fee. There's no way we can afford this amount of money. Is there anything we can do to dispute it? Thanks

[R0b]

Hi,

To have racked up over £3,500 in excess mileage charges you must have gone way over the allowance. Most times, you are asked roughly how much mileage you would drive annually, so if you told them something significantly less than what you were driving then I'm afraid I can't give much sympathy there. However, it is not uncommon for dealers to reduce the price but not tell you that it's dropped due to the reduction in mileage and you may have an argument there but the onus is on you to prove and that may be difficult.

That aside, if it is really a lease agreement and you have handed it back at the end of the term, then your rights and remedies are limited since the contract will likely say that you agree to pay for excess mileage charges which leaves you with the misrepresentation argument as mentioned above. As for the damage charges, if the lease provider is a member of BVRLA then you can use their independent service to determine what's payable but I believe any decision is binding on both parties.