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I am hoping you can help me and sorry for the long post.
I leased a car for the last 4 years, of which went back on July 15th this year. When the man from Lex came to collect it, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with it and in his words said it was 'immaculate'. I told him i'd looked after it and even had it professionally valeted prior to collection along with 3 wheels doing, of which he said he could see it was well cared for and it was a nice surprise he usually picks up real tips. I told him I wanted to purchase the car so he told me where to find it (BCA Blackbush). I eventually tracked it down where I found out it was due to sell on Friday 21st July with a reserve of around £6500. I couldn't get the time off work so I let the car go. I even put the reg into WBAC and the price came in for £6138, so not far off what BCA were looking at auction (they are the same company).
On Saturday 29th July (so 2 weeks after they collected the car) I received a letter from Lex collections where to my utter dismay, they were billing me for £464 for 'poor repair' damage to my two bumpers and an OS panel. Bar having 3 alloy wheels re-done due to stone chips and scuffs and a rear drivers side door scratch attended to as it was over the 25mm, I have never had any other work done on the car and especially on those areas! I have queried this with Lex and put in a formal complaint as the pictures I have of the car the night before collection, where it looked fine and easily met the BVRLA fair wear and tear guidelines. I have asked for the POD, the report and also pictures of proof and I am yet to receive these.
To top it off, I also called BCA to find out about this damage and I was told that the car is on repair hold? I queried it and said how can it be on repair hold as it was valued at around £6500 and listed to be sold on Fri 21st? They couldn't answer me.
My car was 4 years old and 25k under what I had paid for (I had a 25k a year allowance) and went back looking great for its age and mileage. At no point was the wear and tear policy ever explained into detail and especially on a car i was going to have for 4 years with such a high mileage allocation (it was high as i was using it for business as i had a car allowance). I was given the BVRLA guideline policy by Lex and that was it.
A friend of mine works for a large car garage and she told me its quite common for cars to get damaged at auction (BCA one of the worst) and the charges to be passed onto prev clients. As such, on top of this invoice, to also query the lease itself as she said in her experience, she feels they have mis sold the lease as they have clearly not taken into consideration the mile allocation, nor the years they agreed to lease it. If they wanted a brand new car back, they shouldn't have charged me 46 payments with an allowance of 25k per year.
Therefore, my questions are, firstly was I mis sold or could I use this? I feel I have been mis sold and mis lead as I feel they are being very unfair when it comes to their wear and tear policy. As said, my car was 4 years old and had 75k on the clock (25k under the lease agreement) when it was collected, so surely fair wear and tear policy would need to be taken into consideration for the time I had it along with the mileage? If they expected a showroom car to be returned, then surely like my friend has pointed out, this should have been made clear at the point of sale? I just feel a bit duped as nothing was really ever fully explained. I was just given the BVRLA guidelines, of which I know I stuck to and my pictures prove.
Secondly, where do i stand with regards to the alleged 'poor repair' damage? I have never had anything done on these areas and especially as it had a reserve price set with a sale date? She said to get a reserve price it needs to be inspected and any damage would make it go straight to repair hold, not auction and my situation sounds dodgy.
I have been to the FO and the BVRLA and both are taking it quite seriously as like me, they think it sounds a bit odd.
Any help or advice would be great.
I leased a car for the last 4 years, of which went back on July 15th this year. When the man from Lex came to collect it, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with it and in his words said it was 'immaculate'. I told him i'd looked after it and even had it professionally valeted prior to collection along with 3 wheels doing, of which he said he could see it was well cared for and it was a nice surprise he usually picks up real tips. I told him I wanted to purchase the car so he told me where to find it (BCA Blackbush). I eventually tracked it down where I found out it was due to sell on Friday 21st July with a reserve of around £6500. I couldn't get the time off work so I let the car go. I even put the reg into WBAC and the price came in for £6138, so not far off what BCA were looking at auction (they are the same company).
On Saturday 29th July (so 2 weeks after they collected the car) I received a letter from Lex collections where to my utter dismay, they were billing me for £464 for 'poor repair' damage to my two bumpers and an OS panel. Bar having 3 alloy wheels re-done due to stone chips and scuffs and a rear drivers side door scratch attended to as it was over the 25mm, I have never had any other work done on the car and especially on those areas! I have queried this with Lex and put in a formal complaint as the pictures I have of the car the night before collection, where it looked fine and easily met the BVRLA fair wear and tear guidelines. I have asked for the POD, the report and also pictures of proof and I am yet to receive these.
To top it off, I also called BCA to find out about this damage and I was told that the car is on repair hold? I queried it and said how can it be on repair hold as it was valued at around £6500 and listed to be sold on Fri 21st? They couldn't answer me.
My car was 4 years old and 25k under what I had paid for (I had a 25k a year allowance) and went back looking great for its age and mileage. At no point was the wear and tear policy ever explained into detail and especially on a car i was going to have for 4 years with such a high mileage allocation (it was high as i was using it for business as i had a car allowance). I was given the BVRLA guideline policy by Lex and that was it.
A friend of mine works for a large car garage and she told me its quite common for cars to get damaged at auction (BCA one of the worst) and the charges to be passed onto prev clients. As such, on top of this invoice, to also query the lease itself as she said in her experience, she feels they have mis sold the lease as they have clearly not taken into consideration the mile allocation, nor the years they agreed to lease it. If they wanted a brand new car back, they shouldn't have charged me 46 payments with an allowance of 25k per year.
Therefore, my questions are, firstly was I mis sold or could I use this? I feel I have been mis sold and mis lead as I feel they are being very unfair when it comes to their wear and tear policy. As said, my car was 4 years old and had 75k on the clock (25k under the lease agreement) when it was collected, so surely fair wear and tear policy would need to be taken into consideration for the time I had it along with the mileage? If they expected a showroom car to be returned, then surely like my friend has pointed out, this should have been made clear at the point of sale? I just feel a bit duped as nothing was really ever fully explained. I was just given the BVRLA guidelines, of which I know I stuck to and my pictures prove.
Secondly, where do i stand with regards to the alleged 'poor repair' damage? I have never had anything done on these areas and especially as it had a reserve price set with a sale date? She said to get a reserve price it needs to be inspected and any damage would make it go straight to repair hold, not auction and my situation sounds dodgy.
I have been to the FO and the BVRLA and both are taking it quite seriously as like me, they think it sounds a bit odd.
Any help or advice would be great.
