car lease company sent wrong car

gawk

so we leased a new car for our daughter, gave it to her (balloons and all) as a surprise 18th birthday present. She was and is still so excited. we had the little black box installed from insurance company, and all was well.
6 weeks on, i get a phone call today from the leasing company saying the wrong car was delivered and the one we have has approx £2000 worth of extras on it ( the next model up).
They re asking for another £20 per month or will replace the car with the original model.
my daughter is horrified, she doesn't want to give the car back, it will cost us to have the black box removed and refitted, also insurance admin charges. The lease guy said it was completely the dealers fault. can anyone advise my best options ? Obviously i think the dealer should accept their mistake and leave the car with my daughter, after all if they take it back they can only sell it as a used car now.
thanks

photome

Maybe ask them to cover the cost of switching th black box and any other costs with the insurance,


Which model have you insured, if it's the next model up then you would have known when you insured it that it was the wrong car, if you have insured the original spec car then you may not be covered

forgotmyname

Stick lots of miles on it quickly. As above find out all the costs to swap the blackbox and change insurance over to a different car admin charges etc

Come to a compromise on the extra cost, if they are out of pocket then they will want the car back. Unless you pay.

How long have you had the car?

gawk

had the car 6 weeks. it is insured as fiat 500 pop, but is actually a fiat 500 lounge. my wife thought it was a higher spec when the car arrived. I had no idea whatsoever !! they have said the extra £20 per month is half what it would have been.

AdrianC

gawk wrote: »

had the car 6 weeks. it is insured as fiat 500 pop, but is actually a fiat 500 lounge. my wife thought it was a higher spec when the car arrived. I had no idea whatsoever !! they have said the extra £20 per month is half what it would have been.

The differences between the 500 Pop and the 500 Lounge include air conditioning, alloy wheels, a full-length sunroof, electric mirrors, different interior trim, a touch-screen stereo with remote controls on the leather steering wheel.
http://www.fiat.co.uk/fiat500/500-trim-levels

Can you HONESTLY say you didn't notice any of that, or even suspect that it was suspiciously well-equipped for a base-level car...? Your wife certainly did.
You have been offered a good compromise - a swap back to what you should have had, or pay half the difference. That increase is £20/month over the course of the lease - three years? £720. How much are you paying in total over the three years for the lease of the car?

thescouselander

If I were your daughter I'd probably be disappointed to be bumped down to the lower spec car after being used to driving the current one for 6 weeks. In fact the base spec seems pretty grim by comparison. Maybe you should phone the lease company, have a good moan and then agree a smaller monthly increase.

Alternatively maybe your daughter would be willing to make up the difference to keep the extras she's going to have benefit from.

AdrianC

thescouselander wrote: »

Alternatively maybe your daughter would be willing to make up the difference to keep the extras she's going to have benefit from.

Easy! Surely you're not suggesting she dips into her own pocket for the brand-spankin' new car that she's tooling around in...?

thescouselander

AdrianC wrote: »

Easy! Surely you're not suggesting she dips into her own pocket for the brand-spankin' new car that she's tooling around in...?

I know it's radical but I do like to think outside the box!

Jamiesmum

Why not just pay it?
Don't make it difficult for the sake of £20 a month.

As another poster said your daughter could pay it.

She's very lucky to have parents who would buy her a car anyway so it shouldn't hurt her too much.

Sounds like a good deal and your winning regardless. Just pay it.

glentoran99

and you may phone the insurance company otherwise she may not be insured

jackr5

Didn't the insurance company know it was a different model when you told them the registration plate?