Disputing fear wear and tear on VT'd PCP Car

RensterUK

In early April I VT'd our approved used E-class Merc. Exactly a month later we received an inspection report from them demanding £720 - This breaks down as a charge for the report (which a friend got free on returning his SLK), a scuffed alloy (no dispute from us on this), 3 scratches (one of which by their own report is covered as "acceptable", the other two we are sure weren't there at collection), 4 dents (which seemingly can only be seen when using a striped board to create a "warped" reflection in the body panel), and a "poor repair" - which was in my view an excellent job replacing a faulty parking sensor and respraying the bumper, done by an independant MB specialist.

The alloy repair, and even the two scratches I'll accept. But looking at their photos, the 4 dents are seemingly invisible to the naked eye (and as such could have been there before we took the car) to me seem very much disputable. Similarly, "poor repair" surely is a matter of opinion - and maybe a further independent inspection would be a suitable solution here?

The car is almost 6 years old, with 72k on the clock. It was VT'd with (pro-rata!) less then the agreed milage. Other than the scuffed wheel, the car is (or was, when it left us!) in excellent condition. Even the guy who collected it said so - having marked no "faults" on the collection report.

On the subject of the collection report.... Unfortunately I wasnt there at the time, and despite having hand washed it the day before, he found a patch of slight dirt Id missed, and got my wife to sign an indemnity form which the way it's worded almost seems to pin any fault for damage found to the car after it leaves our possession on us, despite his report saying no damage found?

I agree with what others have said in other threads - MB are simply trying to extract money from us to cover the difference between the car's value, and the oustanding finance at time of VT. I've already drafted a letter stating our disputes to be posted on Monday by registered mail. Their report was demanding payment within 14 days of the date of the report, which would be this Friday.

Where do I stand with their deadline if disputing their demands?

I've read horror stories of MB sending in debt collectors to people that were disputing the charges - can they do this?

RensterUK

Just a quick note - I can normally spell "fair wear and tear"

bigjl

One reason why i would never have something on a pcp.

And when you VT something i am afraid this is standard policy, the finance company now has to dispose of something they didn't want back.

All the things above a normal from my experience.

I take it you purchased the car from a MB dealer? If so having paint repairs done outside of the MB dealer network is never a good idea.

Did you return at the end of the deal where payment of the lump.sum.would buy the car or VT part way through the deal as that is what i would term a VT. The finance company is normally a lot more flexible on what they cal fair wear and tear at the end of a 3 or 4 yr deal than they are after 18 months of a 4 year deal.

If you knew about the scuffed wheel i would have had it repaired for £50quid and had the scratches sorted by chipsaway.

I personally don't see what the finance company have done wrong.

meer53

I've had 4 cars on PCP and have never had any come back when letting them go, you might be right about MB wanting to get their money back. 2 of them i let go before the end of the contract, the last one was collected by the inspection guy and driven straight to the auction ! None of mine had had any work done on them but they had the usual scuffs on the alloys and stone chips on the bonnet etc. I have to agree though that if they had i would have gone to a main dealer for it to be done. Good luck with getting it reduced !

RensterUK

bigjl:

I VT'd with about 6 months to go on a 3yr deal. The car was already worth (apparently) 1k less than the outstanding finance, and the car apparently losing value at the rate we were paying for it - so handing the car back was always going to be the best option, so we decided to VT and change to a cheaper to run car.

In hindsight I agree maybe having the parking sensor work done by MB would have been wise - but I certainly couldnt fault the work, and I suspect an independent inspector wouldnt either. This might be a route I end up pushing for.

The scuffed alloy I agree I could have had repaired in advance (although inexperience meant that when I began the VT process, the first thing MB did was withdraw permission for me to drive the car, so that made this difficult). Nonetheless, I have no objection to paying the charge here.

The scratches - 50/50, Im sure they weren't there when the car was taken, and the collecting guy commented on the excellent condition of the car.

My main dispute is the dents - to me, a dent is something you can spot simply by looking at the car, NOT something that can only be seen by looking at a distorted reflection. Certainly, this sort of inspection was not offered when we bought the car, and AFAIK these "dents" could easily have been there all along.
In terms of what they are doing wrong - Im not disputing I should pay for damage (such as the wheel) to restore the car to a condition commensurate with its age and mileage. I feel they are trying to go beyond that, and restore it to "as new" condition, which IMO is unreasonable, especially if this involves damage that as far as I can tell may have been there all along.

Do you know where I stand with their payment due date by disputing what I owe? What about these horror stories involving debt collectors? Surely they can't just demand what they like and legally hold me to it - I mean, if that was the case they could have created a list of items worth tens of thousands if they wanted (exaggerating here of course, but to illustrate the point!). I refuse to roll over and do anything they want, but similarly I dont want some thugs coming round intimidating my wife and baby while I'm at work.

RensterUK

Final update folks:

Having finally had to resort to involving the BVRLA to adjudicate.... I owe MB for NONE of the dents, as they couldnt prove a thing! BVRLA involvement forced MB to admit what I'd been saying all along!

So my advice if you find yourself facing an unfair bill... Fight it all the way! But keep it polite, calm, amicable etc - try to compromise etc.... Eventually you'll get the result you deserve / want!

I hope this helps someone in the future!

verityboo

Hi, Good to hear you got it sorted.

Seems you had the same problem as people with mercedes lease cars have had judging by this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2521391

RensterUK

From what I've heard verity, MB, and VW are notorious for this sort of conduct... Care to guess if I'll buy either in future? ;-)

vikingaero

MBUK/DC seem notorious for this scam. Obviously staff have been told to bump up revenue by claiming spurious charges.

I would advise anyone handing back any car to:

(1) Take a minimum of 100 pics of the car
(2) Video the car closely in the presence of the agent/driver
(3) Refuse to hand over the car if the agent/driver isn't present and does not do a full sign out.