Mercedes Benz Financial Services - End of lease charges

SERPS

Hi,
I am in shock as I have just received a letter from MBFS asking for damage fees of £445. The letter is dated 23/12/2010, my car was actually collected on 30th November 2010 in immaculate condition. I had it checked all over for any scratches, had tyre tread and alloys checked and had it valeted. It was 2 years old and only had just over 18,000 miles on the clock. The guy who collected it told me everything was fine the only thing he found was a dent in the door from door to door contact which was acceptable according to the tester. There was not a mark on the alloy wheels. They sent me photographs of the damage and to be honest it doesn't look like my car. The immaculate undamaged car I handed over now has scuffed alloys, a dented front door and scratches on the wing and rear bumper. There is another 140 miles on the clock so if it is my car on the photos the damage has been done after collection. The handover report has lots of ticks on it but the guy told me everything was fine.

Would be very grateful if anyone can advise what I should do.

charlearose

i had problems with lombard when they tried to get 550 from me for a two year old mazda mx5 which was being replaced by a new 09 audi tt with lings cars - thankfully due to Lings excellent help we got this money back

we asked for photos of the damage ( in colour) and a vat reciept for the work done and for it to be itemised
they suddenly did a u turn and returned the money as the photos were not clear enough they did send us photos and they were crap black and white pictures on A4 paper

my audi was written off last month and i made sure that i cancelled the standing order - they lombard tried to take a payment a week early even though they new the car had been written off and they were getting there rather large payment from my insurance company

i would advise anyone who is sending a car back to cancel the direct debit /standing order the day the car goes back or after the last payment
this way at least they dont have your money and you can argue the point let them take you to court ect if they so wish

also take lots of photos /videos of the car both inside and out which are time dated ect and also send them a letter (recorded ) stating that you have done this and so have evidence of the car exact condition the day it went back - ask them for evidence of damage to with you within 14 days along with the milage - let them know that you are aware that vechiles go to auction as well
just in case they be thinking of charging you any money for any imaginary damage

Take photos/videos of each wheel and also photos of the mileage as well as video clips of the car if you can see any dents scratches then make a note of it videos clips are great as you use state clearly that this is car ....... this is the condition of it on such and such a date this is the milage ect ect

I would also keep a copy of the handover sheet as well

most of the cars are sent straight to auction and the leasing company dont even see them its just a nice little earner for them i think lomard is one of the worse ones to do this in my experience

bigrabbit

Beware of mercedes benz leasing offers and the mercedes benz lease rip off. mercedes benz leases at the end of the lease! Beware leasing offers from mercedes benz. I had a car for 2 years, it was immaculate, under the mileage, not a scratch. I loved that car.

2 weeks after collection I get a bill for damage for £650. I query it and I'm met by 2 separate advisers on different occasions who were downright rude and stopped short of calling me a liar when i said it wasn't damaged by me. The photos are as clear as mud. I said I won't pay, they set their debt collectors on me calling every day, letters, texts. I call back same problem.

I haven't time for a fight so I paid them. My company have 4 lease cars, we won't EVER lease another MB again following their attitude. I make it my point to tell every businessman I meet my story, so far 2 business people (in 2 months) I associate with have NOT leased MB. Its now a sport to me, this will cost them more than £650 in lost orders they stung me for.

I hope it is worth it for them.

vikingaero

There are a couple of threads on MB Finance and their spurious charges when they claim cars have been damaged.

Always without fail video and take pictures of the car you are returning. Every inch of every panel should be photographed. I would even take a video of the collection agent doing the handover.

What's the betting that there's an internal memo amongst MBF pushing staff to find non-existent problems and raise charges? Times are tough and it looks like even MBF are succumbing to dumb down tactics.

taker920

This is the only area that really puts me off leasing a car. A mate of mine swore by it because he "didn't have hassle buying/selling cars, mot's etc" - but then he leased a merc!

After a bill of nearly £2k for alloys scuffs and some small car park dings he's changed his tune.

I think i'd be on edge everytime I entered a supermarket car park

smitchy73

I've had several cars through Arnold Clark up here in Scotland, and have never had any problems when returning my lease cars, even with small dings here and there. The worst one I had was when I returned a car to the finance company and they tried to charge me for non working air conditioning and a couple of other things, this wasn't a new car by any means, I just told them the AC didn't work when I bought the car but because of the age of the car it didn't bother me, but I argued the point and they didn't bother trying any further.

Good luck, will be interested to see what happens with this one.

SERPS

SERPS wrote: »

Hi,
I am in shock as I have just received a letter from MBFS asking for damage fees of £445. The letter is dated 23/12/2010, my car was actually collected on 30th November 2010 in immaculate condition. I had it checked all over for any scratches, had tyre tread and alloys checked and had it valeted. It was 2 years old and only had just over 18,000 miles on the clock. The guy who collected it told me everything was fine the only thing he found was a dent in the door from door to door contact which was acceptable according to the tester. There was not a mark on the alloy wheels. They sent me photographs of the damage and to be honest it doesn't look like my car. The immaculate undamaged car I handed over now has scuffed alloys, a dented front door and scratches on the wing and rear bumper. There is another 140 miles on the clock so if it is my car on the photos the damage has been done after collection. The handover report has lots of ticks on it but the guy told me everything was fine.

Would be very grateful if anyone can advise what I should do.

Update
I rang MBS Finance to object to charges and was told to put my comments in writing. I wrote to them nearly 2 months ago and I have heard nothing since. Fingers crossed I won't hear from them again. Put me off ever leasing again.

BlueScouse

Mercedes Benz Finance seem to exist to rip off as many individuals as possible by charging ridiculous end of lease charges. In my case, I returned a Chrysler Grand Voyager in excellent condition and then received a bill for £1,300! I managed to get this reduced by over £300, and still felt as though I had been totally conned. I have now paid as I don't want the hassle and expense of going legal, but I am determined that I will never go near these con-men again and I would advise everyone else to avoid them too.

Flyboy152

BlueScouse wrote: »

Mercedes Benz Finance seem to exist to rip off as many individuals as possible by charging ridiculous end of lease charges. In my case, I returned a Chrysler Grand Voyager in excellent condition and then received a bill for £1,300! I managed to get this reduced by over £300, and still felt as though I had been totally conned. I have now paid as I don't want the hassle and expense of going legal, but I am determined that I will never go near these con-men again and I would advise everyone else to avoid them too.

Why didn't you get the car repaired yourself?

Hanlon296

Hi,

I've been reading through much of the above as I'm in the same situation, although there don't seem to be too many updates, have people given up and settled? I'd quite like to know if anyone has anymore news.

My story (in a nutshell), had a smart for 3 years, sent it back with 17,000 miles on the clock, one scratch which I had expected but other than that, in good nick I thought at the end of March. Smart (MBF) then bill me for about £700 for two scratches and missing service history. Following the advice of my father (also in the same situation with smart whose car got collected a few weeks prior to mine) and the general advice given in this Forum thread, I wrote a letter:



Dear Mr Beecher,
In response to your letter dated 11th April, I have to say I am both shocked and disappointed by the service of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Not only did you fail to collect my vehicle on the agreed date without the decency to contact me telling me otherwise, but you now seem adamant that the vehicle was returned with damages proportionate to 1/5th of the vehicles total.

When booking my date for vehicle collection, I was informed it would be on the 25th March, between the hours of 9 & 10am. Not only did these hours pass by, but no information about the agreed collection or possible postponement was given to me until I chased this up myself. Other time slots were given, and again weren’t met, when finally I received a voicemail at 5.58pm assuring me that my vehicle would be collected within the next 45mins (straight to voicemail, no phone call) did I ring back to discover the office was closed at 6pm. Immensely unprofessional and frustrating, sending a clear indication that your day was clearly finished whilst I was expected to hang on for a driver who didn’t show again, didn’t ring me and I had no form of contact information in order to liaise with them. It was disgusting and a total waste of a day for me.

When I rebooked, the car was eventually collected a whole 5 days later, forcing me by this point to reschedule my workload and an important pre-tender client meeting that I had previously arranged in my role as Structural Engineer for my new employer. With the additional travel expense of having to endure an extra return journey to ensure my vehicle was collected.

With regards to your letter; the damage I both accept and dispute. I accept the scratch to the Quarter Panel (A) LH, as this was inspected prior to handover and I was aware that this fell outside of the accepted limits. The ‘scratch’ as you call it on the Wing Front LH is clearly not longer than the 25mm limit you imposed as shown on your photo and as such should be deleted from the invoice.

With respect to the service history, the service interval is one year or 9,000 miles. The vehicle was returned with less than 17,000 miles on the clock and well within limits from the mileage perspective. I should also point out, that at no point was I made aware that the vehicle needed a service when it was in for an MOT with yourselves at the Mercedes-Benz main dealership (Birmingham), the day before it was due to be collected (see MOT certificate for confirmation of the date). If you wish to pursue the charges for the missed service, I will in return seek compensation for the two valuable days lost due to the collection fiasco, chargeable at my company’s standard hourly rate for my services plus travel costs.
Yours Sincerely,


Mr S Hanlon.


The did actually send a reply a few weeks ago stating more of the same, pay now etc. They had actually sent it to my old address and not the one I included as the reply address on the letter, which indicated to me they hadn't even bothered to read my reply, so I decided to ignore it and wait until they had indeed read my letter and wrote back to the correct corresponding address. They also sent through an invitation for a open smart event coming up too, I decided to ignore that one too.

I have a friend who is also in the same boat now too with a smart car, I believe they're chasing him for about £400-500.

I just find their attitude and tactics both despicable and atrocious and there's nothing 'fair' about any of this.

I will try and keep updates as to where I am with my dispute with them until the situation is resolved amicably with both parties best interests, until then, I'll keep fighting them.

Regards,

Sean.