Consumer Rights on personal contract hire

jim555666

Hello,

In October last year me and my colleague both received our VW CC's which we had ordered via a leasing agent who passed the order on to Johnson's VW.

When we received the car it was supposed to have Ebony inserts in the dashboard which we had spec'd. It was confirmed by Johnson's VW that they received the order for the trim from the leasing agent but this information was not relayed in the order to the factory.

They have offered us compensation instead of replacing the trim and have made out that replacing it would be a lengthy and drawn out process. In short they have strongly suggested that it would be a lot of trouble to change and agreed that being as the works involve removing the dash it may not ever be as new.

They are now not willing to improve on their offer and having told us that changing the trim will probably lead to more problems were reluctant to have the work done.

Essentially we would like to know where we stand in terms of returning the car as it is not as specified or any alternative option we have.

Many Thanks for reading.

neilmcl

You've had the car since October, I'd say you have little to zero chance in returning the car. What's wrong with their offer?

jim555666

Thanks for your reply Neil,

We have been in discussions with them since November. The offer is weak in our opinions. It is less than the value of specifying the trim on the standard model.

Spicy_McHaggis

What have you lost out on by not having that trim on a lease vehicle?

neilmcl

jim555666 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Neil,

We have been in discussions with them since November. The offer is weak in our opinions. It is less than the value of specifying the trim on the standard model.

Yeah but does it actually make any difference to the contract hire charges? You seem to be looking at this from the point of view of car ownership. You're just leasing the car, if the trim level makes no difference to the hire charges then you should only look at the offer in terms of goodwill and to cover any inconvenience.

jim555666

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

What have you lost out on by not having that trim on a lease vehicle?

Most importantly, the enjoyment of having the interior we specified. In monetary terms £325. Admittedly this is more of principle pursuit. They're avoiding our requests to book the cars in for the trim to be changed. Its been months of silly offers, originally they offered a "swanky meal".

Spicy_McHaggis

jim555666 wrote: »

Most importantly, the enjoyment of having the interior we specified. In monetary terms £325. Admittedly this is more of principle pursuit. They're avoiding our requests to book the cars in for the trim to be changed. Its been months of silly offers, originally they offered a "swanky meal".

Have you actually paid an extra £325?

Enjoyment of a piece of trim, I don't think you'll get anything for the loss of that.

jim555666

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Have you actually paid an extra £325?

Enjoyment of a piece of trim, I don't think you'll get anything for the loss of that.

Haha perhaps not but it's worth a try.

The trim was negotiated into the deal as part of a package so it's hard to say how much it cost in the end.

I get the vibe is take it or leave it kind of thing.

Thanks for your input gents.

rjparry

If you have a copy of the cars specification in your contract and the product received doesn't match what was specified, you are within your rights to return it

neilmcl

rjparry wrote: »

If you have a copy of the cars specification in your contract and the product received doesn't match what was specified, you are within your rights to return it

They would have had this opportunity back when they received the car, not nearly 4 months later.