Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

[dcpenno]

Hi all

I have my court letter with Mercedes intention to take me to court my defence at this point is I was advised to VT as excess mileage will not be charged, also the term you will not need to pay anymore, in section termination your rights

Wondering if it would be beneficial to add letters from people who have been given same advise from dealerships if anyone is up for it and would like to take on Mercedes or indeed any other manufactures

I have to put letter back on 07-02-17 and submit evidence 14 days after that if anyone is up for it please join in

Any legal advise at this time would be greatly appreciated. come on get on board if anyone wants more info of my experience post and I will tell all back on line tomorrow around 1900 hours due to work, boo nasty word

Cheers dcpenno

[R0b]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

Hello, you seem to be posting all over the forum but I'm not entirely sure what stage you are at.

Can you confirm whether the letter by Mercedes is the threat of raking you to court or if it is actually a court claim you have received?

If you can post up the letter for us to see then we can work out what options you may have.

[dcpenno]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

Hi ROb

I have the county court letter giving me 2 weeks to reply that date being 07-02-17

claimant being Mercedes benz financial

Solicitor being Mortimer Clarke solicitors

No real detail of there case just the following
By an agreement in writing on 13-08-12 the claimant agreed to hire a vehicle to the defendant for an agreed term in return for a monthly fee (the agreement). The defendant has returned the vehicle to the claimant. Under the terms of the Agreement the Defendant agreed to pay any costs and or charges associated with vehicle damage, excess mileage and or rental. These sums are now due and payable.

Exact words and punctuation, claim is for excess mileage only which I dispute as the agreement states in section termination your rights quote (You will not have to pay anymore) this section was pointed out to me by the salesman

Cheers dcpenno

[R0b]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

I am assuming the claim was made through Money Claims Online? If so You will need to acknowledge the claim to allow you extra time to prepare your defence to the claim. If it was online you will get 33 days from the date of issue to file a defence.

I would suggest you do not rush into filing a defence because if you haven't covered all bases, you may be setting yourself up for a loss.

Have you got a copy of all the correspondence you sent and received from Mercedes when you VT'd the agreement? did you also take photos of the car prior to handing it over?

Did you sign any documentation from them confirming that you agree to pay for any charges or damages when they collect it?

Finally, have you checked your credit file to see if Mercedes have reported any defaults on there, if so you may be able to counterclaim for breach of data protection. There are reported cases of at least £750 for such a breach but could be more depending on circumstances.

[dcpenno]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

I did sign return slip but this would not over ride CCA 100 or 99 in Mercedes emails they claim excess mileage is under condition but in condition there is no mention of mileage. I have attached the letter saying condition was covering excess mileage but in the condition requirements outlined in detail the mileage is not mentioned or even part of the document see second section covering condition below are emails just to get the jist

Email from Mercedes below
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

Registration Number:
Agreement Number: 0024866xxxxxx

Dear Mr xxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with our offices in relation to the above car.

We have attached a copy of your agreement for your reference. We would kindly refer to the bottom of the first page whereby your agreement states that an excess distance charge will be payable at the rate of 9 pence per mile + VAT if you exceed your mileage allowance.

We understand that you voluntarily terminated your agreement and do not feel that excess mileage is covered under the clause of a voluntary termination. We apologise if this was not made clear to yourself however, the opportunity to Voluntary Terminate your agreement and not being liable for any further payment is subject to the vehicle coming back to us in reasonable condition. The provisions of the Consumer Credit Act that cover a customer's right to Voluntary Terminate their agreement do permit us to include any over mileage when determining what is ‘not reasonable' and we can charge for any mileage over the contracted mileage adjusted for the time you had use of the vehicle. Please refer to section 12 of your contract of agreement which we have attached for reference.

We apologise that you were not allowed to increase your mileage allowance during the term of your contract. We have spoken to Mercedes-Benz of Warrington and they have been unable to supply us with the reason for this. As excess mileage is a contractual obligation we are unable to reduce this balance.

I understand that this is not the response you were hoping for however, the charge of £1,259.82 has been raised correctly.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact one of our advisors on 0370 240 1110. Calls to our numbers starting 03 will cost 3p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.

Kind Regards,

Ruth Seddon

De-Fleet Administrator


Refrence 0024866120729511 Mr D xxx - RE: Mercedes-Benz Financial Services - xxxx

Friday, 4 March, 2016 16:26
Mark as Unread

From: dcpenno@xxxxxxxx <dcpenno@xxxxxxxxTo: "Complaints" <complaints@mbfs.uk.com>Full Headers Printable View


Dear Laura

In response to below please find my comments.

You state on page 1 of the contract being in section (if returning your vehicle to us) in this section it starts "we will write to you near the end of your agreement reminding you of your options" this implies taking the contract to the end and not returning early as I have. It also goes on to say "You are obliged to return the vehicle in keeping with the vehicle return condition, then refers to the contract for further clarifications.

This does not refer to early termination at any time, but does imply returning at the end of the contract.

You then go on to refer to (Excess mileage) This does say earlier termination but does not refer to any stage to determine earlier than what period. with this point in mind please explain the statement on Page 2 of the hire purchase agreement referring to and explaining my rights (TERMINATION: YOUR RIGHTS) also boxed in bold black outlines,

You have the right to end this agreement. To do so, you should write to the person you make your payments to. We will then be entitled to the return of the good and to half the total amount payable under this agreement. That being £xxxxxx If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue instalments and have taken reasonable care of the goods, you will not have to pay any more.

Reasonable care is covered on page 3 also boxed in bold black outline, but does not refer to excess mileage.

You seem to infer that (TERMINATION: YOUR RIGHTS) Does not apply to me.

I look forward to your response, again I will not make payment until I am satisfied and will take to the ombudsman as I think this agreement is deliberately misleading if what you say below is correct

Many Thanks
D xxxxxx
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 1/3/16, Complaints <complaints@mbfs.uk.com> wrote:

Subject: PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL - FAO: Mr David Pennington - RE: Mercedes-Benz Financial Services - Dxxxxxxx
To: "'dcpenno@xxxxxx'" dcpenno@xxxxxx
Date: Tuesday, 1 March, 2016, 14:17

PRIVATE &
CONFIDENTIAL
Registration number: DxxxxxxAgreement
number: 002486612xxxxx
Dear Mr xxxxxx,
Thank you for taking the time to raise your
concerns with our De-Fleet department regarding your excess
mileage invoice.
I was
disappointed to read that you have been left dissatisfied
with the charges raised following the return of the
vehicle. It is never our intention to cause our customers
any distress or aggravation at any point in their journey
with us and I am sorry that has not been case in this
instance. I feel that it is important for me to
express that, whether you are returning your car at the end
of your agreement or upon use of the Voluntary Termination
clause, as you have not exercised your right to purchase the
car, an excess mileage charge will be raised should your
return mileage exceed your total mileage allowance. This
obligation is set out within the first page of your
agreement, under key information. The
provisions of the Consumer Credit Act that cover a
customer’s right to Voluntary Terminate their
agreement do permit us to include any over mileage when
determining what is 'not reasonable' upon the cars
return. It is stated in your agreement under ‘Excess
Distance’; ‘If the vehicle is returned to us
(whether at the end of the period hire or an earlier
termination), we will calculate the total distance travelled
by the vehicle whilst in your possession (the “Total
Distance”)’.
Your mileage allowance was recalculated to 35,000
due to the vehicle being returned 6 months early, therefore
you exceeded your mileage allowance by 11,665 miles. I can
confirm the charge of £xxxxxx has been raised correctly
and remains due.
Whilst I
note this may not have been the response you had hoped for,
I trust the above has provided you with the reassurance that
I have fully investigated your complaint in line with our
obligation to treat our customers fairly. Should you be at all
unhappy with our handling of your complaint you have the
right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman
Service, free of charge – but you must do so within
six months of the date of this response. If you do not refer
your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our
permission to consider your complaint and so will only be
able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if
the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of
exceptional circumstances. The Ombudsman contact details are
Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9SR Tel:- 0800 023 4 567 or 0300 123
9 123, website
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Laura
StaceyDe-Fleet Complaints
SupervisorMercedes-Benz Financial
Services UK Limited A company registered in England and
Wales Registration Number: 2472364 Registered Address:
Tongwell, Milton Keynes, MK15 8BA
In respect of regulated consumer credit activity,
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Limited is authorised
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. In respect
of insurance mediation activity, Mercedes-Benz Financial
Services UK Limited is an appointed representative of
Daimler Insurance Services UK Limited. Daimler Insurance
Services UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the
Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England
3510012.
This e-mail is confidential and may also be privileged.
If you are not the intended recipient please notify the
sender IMMEDIATELY. You should not copy the e-mail or use it
for any purpose or disclose its content to any other
person.

[R0b]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

First of all, I would suggest you remove your personal info from those emails, this is a public forum.

Secondly have you acknolwedged the claim yet? You need to do that asap.

The next step would be to file a fully pleaded defence. Since the particulars of claim are pretty poor and fail to properly establish their damages, you may be wise to set out the particular clauses and references to the CCA as a background.

Did Mercedes say that you must sign the slip or they won't collect the car or anything to that effect?

Whilst signing the slip would not overrule the rights under the CCA you have actually made yourself more difficult because you now have to persuade the court. The county court is like a game of lottery and a lot of judges are inconsistent so t is entirely possible for the judge to find against you on that basis.

[dcpenno]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

I was told to sign to confirm my intention to VT to arrange collection as I was not permitted to drive the car once VT was confirmed

[R0b]

Re: Excess mileage after VT court procedings in place

I see, well as I've said above you need to file an acknowledgement of service immediately if you are intending to defend the matter, which will give you additional time to file a defence. Have you done this yet?