VWFS have sent me an invoice

TheFish1

Last year there were a few issues with the parking company at the apartments where I live, involving lots of tickets and the parking company being replaced by UKPC.

At the time I owned a car and was advised not to reply to any of the letters... since then I switched to a lease car and I was late putting the new permit on my car when UKPC took over in October. I got a ticket, ignored it as per previous advice and not bothering to check if it was different for a lease car... my stupid fault that part. However, I had no intention of paying the parking charge as it was my parking space (as per my contract for the flat) and forgot about it.

Today I received a letter from VWFS with an invoice for £200 (£125 fine + £75 admin charge) as they have paid the charge but that I am liable for it.

I've had a look in my contract and the only thing related to this that I can find is 'You must pay all licence fees, taxes, insurance premiums, fines and other payments associated with the Vehicle.' They shouldn't have paid the parking charge, but now that they have do I have a leg to stand on or am I stuck paying £200 that I shouldn't have?

pogofish

TheFish1 wrote: »

I've had a look in my contract and the only thing related to this that I can find is 'You must pay all licence fees, taxes, insurance premiums, fines and other payments associated with the Vehicle.'

None of these apply to private parking tickets.

Insist they cancel the invoice/charges and if they are members of the BVRLA, point them at their own agreed conditions and procedure for handling private parking tickets.

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore as not been given here since the law changed in 2012.

Genuine residents should not be getting PCNs and I suspect your lease/AST will not mention the permit scheme anyway.

Your lease company should not be paying private parking tickets on you behalf. As you say, it is not included in the car lease agreement. By paying this they have removed your ability to appeal the speculative invoice in the first place.

You need to put the payment in dispute if it has already been taken, or tell your bank/card provider that this is a fraudulent charge and not to pay it if so billed to your account.
If the lease company is a member of the BVRLA you should be complaining to them about this as well as the lease company.

All the lease company had to do was tell the PPC that you are the lessee/hirer and their liability would have immediately been discharged. The fact they paid the scammers is their problem, not yours. You need to tell them they have made a huge mistake and you are not liable for their stupidity.

I would also look for a different lease company and make sure the new contract is worded in such a way that the lease company will not pay scam charges and will discharge their liability by passing on any speculative invoice to you.

You should also be complaining to the landowner/leaseholder about the UKPC scam that has caused this problem in the first place.

TheFish1

I finally received a response -

Good Morning,

In general terms, Fines come through to Seat Finance as we will be held as the registered keeper on the V5. We then make representation if applicable, to our hirers. If the fines are not paid or we are unable to transfer liability we will pay the fine on the customers behalf and then charge an admin fee of £25.00 (please refer to term 2.4 in your agreement)

The hirer can still appeal the fines, in order to do this we need to send out an Authorisation Letter and a copy of the V5. If the appeal is successful we would then raise a credit for the fine and admin fee.

If you require contractual information or authorisation letter, under the Data Protection Act we need to verify your details before we can proceed with your request. Please reply to this email supplying the following information so that we can verify your details against those we hold on our system.

Full address and Postcode:
Monthly payment amount:
Length of agreement:



Should I be following their process?

Thanks in advance.

DoaM

Dear VWFS,
It appears that I am able to read but you are not ... this was not a FINE! It was an invoice, a request for payment (not a demand) - the word Fine will not have appeared anywhere on the paperwork you received. As such you had no valid reason to pay this on the hirer's behalf, thus any costs you have borne are of your own making and cannot be transferred to the hirer. You DO NOT have any approval to charge the hirer's payment method for the invoice, nor for any admin charges as this situation is not covered by the hire T&Cs.

You could have easily obviated any liability by responding to the Private Parking Company with a copy of the hire agreement and the hirer's contact details ... this is exactly what your trade body (the BVRLA) says you should be doing. As you neglected to do so then any costs are yours, not the hirer's.

Yours miffedly,

Johno100

I'd also query the admin fee, the OP says £75 but their reply says £25.

TheFish1

Thanks - it was actually a £25 fee, not £75. The letter was mis-read by my mum as she received it whilst I was at work...

Johno100

So how much are they actually invoicing you for?

TheFish1

£125 - £100 'fine' + £25 admin fee.