Immediate Hire Purchase problems - Concept Car Credit

tonythetigeruk78

Hi everyone

I have pasted two emails below that hopefully explain my situation below. One from myself to the company explaining my issues and there reply with blatent lies.

Between my email and their reply I had 12 missed calls on my phone as they didn't want to sort it via email initially (as written words can be proved). I also had text messages threatening repossession only one day after taking the car home!!!!

Any help would be appreciated but the jist of it is however much my deposit paid would have been, it would have been added to the balance and not deducted. Plus, I was CATEGORICALLY told by the sales lady that the value of the car was £4,000. And yes I know I signed to it but after 4 hours I was drained and they rushed me.



From: Anthony
Sent: 03 July 2013 16:47
To: vicky hacking
Subject: (Reg No)



Hi Vicky

I hope you have received the insurance certificate by now! If not I’m not sure what else to do other than scan a copy of it when I receive the original through the post and email it to you.

As I said in the text there are quite a few concerns I have about the whole experience.

On the initial telephone call I was told I was accepted and that I would have a credit limit of £6,000. I was asked whether I had a deposit but not to worry if I didn’t. I said I could manage £100 maximum. All this information was incorrect and no personal information had changed since the telephone call and the appointment. I was upfront in every aspect.

When I arrived I was then told my credit limit was £4,000. This was ok as my objective was to get a car that was affordable. I was then shown a few cars and liked the Renault Clio and Ford Focus and when I asked Billie how much they were I was told they were both exactly £4,000 so I picked the Clio. Sometime later I was then told that to have the Clio I would need to pay an increased deposit but that was a reduced amount down from £650. None of this was made aware to me as a possibility of happening when I spoke with various people over the phone. I could not agree to this so I was given the option of the Ford Focus. I was still told that the deposit needed on that car was £230 but this was not possible either. After about an hour of being told it could not be reduced one of the managers agreed to reduce it to £165 so I accepted.

I was picked up at approximately 14:30 and left your office at 18:30 so the whole experience took nearly 4 hours. By the end of it I felt drained. At no point was I told there was going to be a immobiliser put on the car that would render the car useless if any direct debit payments were missed until I was about to sign the paperwork (not a problem but it would be nice to know everything before agreeing to buy the car).

The Hire Purchase Agreement states the amount of credit is £4,100 and the deposit was on top of that making the total purchase price £4,265. Had I agreed to the initial request of a £230 deposit then that would mean a purchase price of £4,330. That is not how it should work. To begin with I was told the car was valued at £4,000 and any deposit paid should then be taken of the value of the car and not added to it. Therefore, the amount of credit would be £3,835.

As you can see from the lengthy email above, nearly everything I had been told throughout the process was not true or incorrect.

I would like this looking into along with your complaints process before I hand over the deposit (something that should have been taken before completing the sale surely). This is so that if I am not happy with the response I can then get further advice from The Financial Ombudsman. I need to ensure that whatever is paid is actually coming off the value of the car and not being added on bearing in mind I was told the purchase price of the car was £4,000.

Rest assured all monthly direct debit payments will go through as agreed until this is sorted.

Yours faithfully

Anthony

From:

becky hipwood [becky.hipwood@conceptcarcredit.co.uk]

Cc:

"vicky hacking"<vicky.hacking@conceptcarcredit.co.uk>

Subject:

RE:

Date:

Jul 3, 2013 17:57






Dear Mr Dunn,

Thank you for your email of which the contents have been noted. After trying to contact you several times to resolve this, I am emailing you with my findings.

All customers on conditional approval from the finance company are approved for up to £6000. This credit limit is subject to your income and expenditure and is to the finance companies discretion. Therefore, when you arrived at the showroom with your original documents the finance company set a credit limit of £4000, which as you stated was sufficient due to your budget.

All vehicles are then shown to you which are obtainable on a credit limit of £4000 with various deposits needed. You initially chose the Renault Clio but was unable to provide the deposit needed for that particular vehicle. You were then given the option of a Ford Focus which you initially stated on the telephone you would be interested in. This was offered to you initially with a deposit of £230. The company then agreed to reduce the deposit to £165 so that you could purchase the vehicle and take it away.

The device fitted into the vehicle is as per the finance company approval. All customers with this finance company have a device fitted into their cars due to the risk involved for them lending the money. As a customer you are considered high risk due to the credit problems you have had. The finance company explained to you about the device before you sign the agreement so if you weren’t happy about this you could have explained this to the manager from the finance company.

The vehicle you purchased should have been at a cash price of £4330, however this was reduced in order for you to purchase the vehicle with the £165 deposit you agreed to pay. Therefore, you have actually acquired the vehicle at a reduced price due to the maximum credit limit given by the finance company, as explained to you on the day of purchase your credit limit was £4000 not the cash price.

In order to show that we have our customers interests we collected you at no charge from your house and brought you to the showroom, we provided you with a finance package which no one else could offer you at the time and also reduced the price of the vehicle so that you were able to drive a car away. I do not see how in any way you have been misled or badly treated.

We require the outstanding deposit to be paid as this is part of the contract which is as you have stated yourself legally binding. Unfortunately, if this deposit is not paid we are within our rights to terminate the agreement and collect the vehicle.

Please respond to this email as soon as possible with the outcome you now require so that this issue can be resolved,

Many thanks

Rebecca Hipwood
Sales Manager
Concept Car Credit Ltd

Tixy

So is your main issue that you thought you were going to purchase a vehicle for £4000 and agreed a deposit of £165 and expected £3835 to be financed?

But the paperwork states that you bought a vehicle for £4265 from which a £165 deposit has been deducted (but not paid) and so the amount on credit if £4100

Does the sales invoice also show £4265 and agree to the finance agreement?

If you are not happy with the deal it sounds like they will agree to terminate the agreement. Maybe talk to them about that or see if they have a cheaper vehicle and whether they would be willing to do a swap for you without you incurring additional fees.

KingElvis

Love that tracker idea if you try and shaft them, you may not but there are some less savoury characters out there........

Sounds like a version of Carshaft or the now legendary Yes car credit.

tonythetigeruk78

Yes KingElvis I'd never heard of it and it does sound a very good idea. I am now sorted financially for the first time in nearly a decade but past credit problems unfortunately mean I don't have much choice with the company I use. The immobiliser aspect of the issue isn't a problem because I have no intention of missing any payments, its just one of many things they kept hidden until the very last minute that kinda narked me.

And thanks Tixy you're first couple of paragraphs describe my problem exactly. There is no sales invoice but if there were I would expect them to make sure they tally. None of the cars have prices on them like most showrooms which makes me think they will decide on the price depending on how much they think they can get because I haggled them down on the 'deposit' as it was.

I don't really want to terminate the agreement as I like the car and I am trying to be really sensible in what I get (tax costs, size of engine for petrol costs, insurance costs) and they don't have much choice for 'my credit banding'.

I just wanted to see if there was any advice on whether they had to keep to their 'verbal contract' but obviously it would be a case of proving it. In reviews online I have found some have had the same issue.

Typically with this type of company I got a text that said exactly this, 'you need to answer your phoneor call the office so that your issues can be resolved or we will have to repossess the car. Regards Billie.' This was sent before the email.