Overcharged car leasing?

sueatlunch

My daughter leased a new car and when returning it after the leasing term was up she was charged £551.20 for a missing service history and a further £500 for a service to the returned car.

I think she has been overcharged but not sure and want to know how to fight this.

JQ.

She needs to read the T&C's very carefuly, as ultimately the answer will be in there.

However, it does sound like she's not serviced it correctly, as a result the car may be worth £500 less than the lease company were expecting, for which she has been charged and then she's also been charged the £527 to get it serviced. If she's not been servicing then the lease company levying such charges does not sound unreasonable. However we can't comment on whether the size of those charges are reasonable without knowing what the car is, how many services it missed, how many miles it's done, how long the lease was etc etc. If it's a Porsche that's never been serviced in 3 years then it sounds cheap, if it's a Skoda Fabia then it sounds expensive.

vikingaero

Were the services due or did she just blindly drive the car for ages without servicing it?

Hintza

She missed the service, so now the warranty will be void sounds cheap to me.

MSchippie

sueatlunch wrote: »

My daughter leased a new car and when returning it after the leasing term was up she was charged £551.20 for a missing service history and a further £500 for a service to the returned car.

I think she has been overcharged but not sure and want to know how to fight this.

The lease company are quite within their rights to charge for the depreciation caused by having an incomplete service record AND for the cost of the service. The lease company would have issued your daughter with their version of the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) Fair Wear and Tear Guidelines with the car and this would have been spelt out clearly in there.

sueatlunch

Thanks everyone for reply. A hard lesson learned here I think. However, just to clarify, she had a Smart car which she leased for 2 years. This car was serviced at the beginning of the contract by this garage. I think the problem was she found it very difficult to find a garage that would service a Smart car, many refused saying they are not a designated garage.

I still think its a bit steep charging £500 for only missing one service and a further £500 for a final service upon return of the vehicle. Incidently the car was in perfect condition. They charged for replacing a pollen filter and stuff like that.

Evenso it looks like they were within their rights just the same but wow how expensive!

Max_Planck

If she had called the lease company I'm sure they would have been able to provide a list of their approved garages that they use for maintained contracts.

As far as the charges are concerned, yes they might appear steep but when you take into consideration the reduced value of the vehicle and all the outstanding issues that need sorting as it hasn't been maintained for 2 years you can probably see why.

Like you say though, a hard lesson.