Cancelling car lease before car arrives

Toppsy7

Hi

First time poster here to bear with me!

I agreed to lease a new car with a company in October, this is a personal 3 year lease, with the specification I gave them they approach the manufacturer (BMW) who then build the car and the lease company look after me

So the car is due for delivery in mid December.. issue is now I don't want it!! Well I do, but between ordering and now; we found out we have another child coming so all of a sudden I need to watch what I am spending.

How can I get out of the agreement?

At this point I have paid NO money/ deposit or anything like that. I spoke to the car leasing company, sent them the specification of the car I want, I signed the order form (which states the following - SIGNATURE BY CUSTOMER: THE CUSTOMER HEREBY AUTHORISES ************ VEHICLE SOLUTIONS LTD TO PLACE AN ORDER FOR THE SUPPLY OF THE VEHICLE DESCRIBED ABOVE) but doesn't mention anything about withdrawing from the agreement and since then have been just waiting for the delivery.

I got an email the other day from someone in the admin team to say I should expect an email soon from their 'funding' company and I'd need to sign and return that document and in the small print of her email it said "Please be aware that the funding company implement a 14 day cooling off period from receipt of the signed documents from you. Therefore, the sooner you are able to complete the documentation the sooner I can arrange a delivery date."

So at this point can I just refuse the car? Would I be liable for anything?

Can someone please help me? I have trawled online with no solution! THANK YOU!!!!

agrinnall

I don't know much about leasing but I'd be surprised if you can get out of it without paying anything given that the car has been built to your order. I suspect that the cooling off period applies to paying the finance company but wouldn't release you from owing the money to the lease company. I think you need to speak to them to find out what your options are.

Herzlos

The cooling off will most likely apply to the funding, not the car.

Your best option is to explain the situation to the leasing company - if it's not been registered to you yet they might be able to lease it to someone else. You'll likely be hit with some sort of cancellation fee though.

dannyrst

If you have signed a document, it likely referred you to some T&C's. Within there, you will find that you are liable to pay a cancellation fee or something along those lines.

Go on the website of the company you leased from and read the terms and conditions.

Toppsy7

Thanks all - there is nothing at all on the form I signed which refers me back to any T&Cs.. it's purely an order form (literally says 'order form') not a contract.

I have checked their website and there are T&Cs there which state that I need to notify them by writing and the following

"Cancellation
If You wish to cancel Your vehicle order prior to delivery You must do so
in writing. Such cancellation may result in loss of any monies paid to
********* Vehicle Solutions Ltd subject to Our discretion unless
You exercise Your rights afforded to You under the Consumer Credit Act
1974, the Consumer Protection (Distance Sales) Regulations 2002 or the
Financial Services (Distance Selling) Regulations 2004.
Any additional costs incurred by Us due to a cancellation by You will be
passed on to You. We will provide evidence of such costs upon request."

End of the day, I haven't paid them anything yet so they can't keep what they don't have...

dannyrst

You can still be liable to pay them costs if you have agreed to the T&C's. This may have been done when you requested a quote from their website or they told you over the phone.

TonyMMM

Toppsy7 wrote: »

Any additional costs incurred by Us due to a cancellation by You will be passed on to You. We will provide evidence of such costs upon request."

That gives them quite a bit of scope .... e.g. they could auction the car you ordered and bill you for any loss they make on the deal - including all sorts of admin costs and charges.

Whether they could make those stick if you refused to pay and they took court action is another matter, but it has the potential to get very messy.

Your best course is to talk to them and negotiate some sort of deal.