PPI Claim Through Car Dealership

Michelin

Looking for some advise on where to go from here.

I bought a new car through BMW Finance in May 2005 and took PPI through them with the finance. The last payment I made to them was in May 2011 for both the finance and the PPI payment.

I spoke to BMW Finance about a claim but they said that although the policy was with them, it was sold to me by the dealership and that they were responsible for the actual miss-selling, which makes sense.

So I then spoke to the dealer who told me that as the original agreement was more than 6 years old, they probably don't have the paperwork. I queried this and said that I thought the time limit was 10 years and they told me that this is the case for banks and financial institutions but for retailers, it is actually six years from when you take out the agreement.

Does anyone know if this is the case or have any advice on what to do next?

antrobus

Do you have your copy of the original agreement?

Michelin

antrobus wrote: »

Do you have your copy of the original agreement?

Yes I have all the paperwork from both BMW Finance and the dealer.

dunstonh

I queried this and said that I thought the time limit was 10 years and they told me that this is the case for banks and financial institutions but for retailers

There is no 10 year rule. The data protection act requires documentation no longer required to be destroyed. The regulator give guidance on 6 years as being an ideal timescale.

Yes I have all the paperwork from both BMW Finance and the dealer.

So, why are you asking the dealer for a copy?

Michelin

dunstonh wrote: »

There is no 10 year rule. The data protection act requires documentation no longer required to be destroyed. The regulator give guidance on 6 years as being an ideal timescale.



So, why are you asking the dealer for a copy?

I'm not asking the dealer for a copy; they are saying that they would have destroyed it by now. As I have all the paperwork, I guess they don't really need a copy themselves then.

antrobus

Michelin wrote: »

Yes I have all the paperwork from both BMW Finance and the dealer.

Well, if you've got all the original paperwork that documents the PPI, then it doesn't matter if the dealer has mislaid, trashed, whatever their copy.

The limitation period is six years for everybody (no special rules for banks) but there's an exception in that you can make a claim as long as it's no later than three years from when you realised that you'd been mis-sold.

I think the regulation of insurance sales came in in January 2005, so I think the sale of PPI by a dealership would be covered by the FOS. (Someone with more knowledge than me should be along in a while to confirm that.) So I think you have the basis to persue a complaint against the dealership.

dunstonh

I think the regulation of insurance sales came in in January 2005, so I think the sale of PPI by a dealership would be covered by the FOS.

Correct. However, you have to have gone through the complaints process first. I am not sure that has happened yet.

Where the seller no longer has documents but the borrower does, the seller should use those where needed. The complaint will be potentially hindered if its one of the weaker complaint reasons but a strong complaint reason would not be hindered by this.

Michelin

dunstonh wrote: »

Correct. However, you have to have gone through the complaints process first. I am not sure that has happened yet.

Where the seller no longer has documents but the borrower does, the seller should use those where needed. The complaint will be potentially hindered if its one of the weaker complaint reasons but a strong complaint reason would not be hindered by this.

Thanks Dunstonh - I will write a letter now to the dealer with copies of the paperwork, the agreemend and correspondence from them when I queried the need for PPI.