Volvo leasing extortion

RugbyGeekAdam

Having a young family, I figured I'd lease a brand new car with a 5 start NCAP rating. I did this for 4 years.

On returning the vehicle I received an invoice to £2256 in excess mileage, and £1700 for vehicle repairs. That's nearly £4000 to return a vehicle.

I had a quote before I returned for damage repair (I'm talking surface scratches from branches etc.) which was £500. I didn't go ahead as I figured the dealer would charge the same.

The excess mileage was charged at 15.6 pence a mile. I clearly didn't read this in the contract, and most companies charge circa 4-6 pence a mile.

This was not a shady loan shark. It was a Volvo, from a Volvo dealer.

I simply do not have the cash at hand to pay this, and I'm obviously now down a car too.

What can I do? Do I have any grounds to argue this?

AdrianC

What mileage was included in your lease? What was the mileage on return?


If you'd taken a lease based on your correct mileage, your monthly payments would have been higher every month. If they'd been just £50/month more, then you're better off on paying your excess mileage charge. At current mileage rates, that break-even is even lower, less than £30/month.


That extra charge at the rate you quote suggests nearly 14,500 miles over the contracted figure, so an average of 3,600 miles per year over your contractual figure. Volvo's own website is clear on the annual allowances and that excess charges apply - the figures for 8,000 mile/year deals are currently 7.56p/mile for the first 5,000, and 10.08p/mile after that, but your own deal may well have been different. On those figures, 14,500 would cost about £1,350.

Volvo will work off the same, industry-standard, fair wear and tear guide as almost every other financier - https://www.drive-electric.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Fair_Wear_Tear.pdf


Choosing to pay for the damage, rather than sorting it, was a gamble you chose to take. Perhaps rectification work that cheap would have been deemed inadequate, and you'd have had to pay again anyway. The difference in that gamble makes up about £1,200 of the £4,000 you object to. The basis for those charges was available in your contract for the last four years, if you'd chosen to read it.

Aylesbury_Duck

No, you don't have grounds to argue the mileage charge because the rate and your mileage limit was all set out fully in the contract. You could challenge the repair charge, but only if you can show that it is unreasonable.

Edited to add: And it's not "extortion". You were presumably happy with your monthly payments when you took them out, even though you were paying less than you should have been for the mileage you do.

Arklight

RugbyGeekAdam wrote: »

Having a young family, I figured I'd lease a brand new car with a 5 start NCAP rating. I did this for 4 years.

On returning the vehicle I received an invoice to £2256 in excess mileage, and £1700 for vehicle repairs. That's nearly £4000 to return a vehicle.

I had a quote before I returned for damage repair (I'm talking surface scratches from branches etc.) which was £500. I didn't go ahead as I figured the dealer would charge the same.

The excess mileage was charged at 15.6 pence a mile. I clearly didn't read this in the contract, and most companies charge circa 4-6 pence a mile.

This was not a shady loan shark. It was a Volvo, from a Volvo dealer.

I simply do not have the cash at hand to pay this, and I'm obviously now down a car too.

What can I do? Do I have any grounds to argue this?

I'm afraid this is an (expensive) life lesson. If you hire or lease something and return it needing repair you will pay far in excess of the cost of having just done it yourself. Try checking out of a rental flat with an uncleaned oven and and a missing light bulb in the hall, and see how much they can inflate the price of booking an oven cleaning and changing a lightbulb.

Can you get the car back off the dealer to do the repairs yourself? Alternatively can you still buy the vehicle yourself?

I don't think there's much you can do about the mileage charge.

motorguy

RugbyGeekAdam wrote: »

Having a young family, I figured I'd lease a brand new car with a 5 start NCAP rating. I did this for 4 years.

On returning the vehicle I received an invoice to £2256 in excess mileage, and £1700 for vehicle repairs. That's nearly £4000 to return a vehicle.

I had a quote before I returned for damage repair (I'm talking surface scratches from branches etc.) which was £500. I didn't go ahead as I figured the dealer would charge the same.

The excess mileage was charged at 15.6 pence a mile. I clearly didn't read this in the contract, and most companies charge circa 4-6 pence a mile.

This was not a shady loan shark. It was a Volvo, from a Volvo dealer.

I simply do not have the cash at hand to pay this, and I'm obviously now down a car too.

What can I do? Do I have any grounds to argue this?

4 years sounds a long time for a lease? Are you sure it wasnt a PCP agreement?

AdrianC

motorguy wrote: »

4 years sounds a long time for a lease? Are you sure it wasnt a PCP agreement?

Which then raises the question of whether buying the car by paying the balloon then selling the car would have been a cheaper way to wrap it all up. Or it may have left the OP open to a greater cost, if the balloon was optimistic.



But, since the car's already gone back, and it doesn't sound like the OP could have raised the balloon anyway, it's academic.

Arklight

I personally don't know anyone who has taken out a car on PCP and been happy with what happened when they went to give it back.Unless you buy it or take on a new PCP deal you seem to be ripe for a rinsing.

davidwood681

RugbyGeekAdam wrote: »

Having a young family, I figured I'd lease a brand new car with a 5 start NCAP rating. I did this for 4 years.

On returning the vehicle I received an invoice to £2256 in excess mileage, and £1700 for vehicle repairs. That's nearly £4000 to return a vehicle.

I had a quote before I returned for damage repair (I'm talking surface scratches from branches etc.) which was £500. I didn't go ahead as I figured the dealer would charge the same.

The excess mileage was charged at 15.6 pence a mile. I clearly didn't read this in the contract, and most companies charge circa 4-6 pence a mile.

This was not a shady loan shark. It was a Volvo, from a Volvo dealer.

I simply do not have the cash at hand to pay this, and I'm obviously now down a car too.

What can I do? Do I have any grounds to argue this?

Why is that their problem? Man up and take responsibility for you actions

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Which then raises the question of whether buying the car by paying the balloon then selling the car would have been a cheaper way to wrap it all up. Or it may have left the OP open to a greater cost, if the balloon was optimistic.



But, since the car's already gone back, and it doesn't sound like the OP could have raised the balloon anyway, it's academic.

Yes, thats where i was going with that.

motorguy

Arklight wrote: »

I personally don't know anyone who has taken out a car on PCP and been happy with what happened when they went to give it back.Unless you buy it or take on a new PCP deal you seem to be ripe for a rinsing.

It does depend on the company and how your expectations map to what they are going to use as the yardstick.

We've handed a couple back over the years and had no issues - our most recent one, the dealer bought it for the residual value which worked well as there was an easy £500 of charges coming our way.

Of course, if this does turn out to be a lease, then the O/P has had little choice but to hand it back.

loskie

IIRC Volvo lease is run by Lex, the xs mileage is very clear in the ts and cs. 7ppm is usually the VAG rate which is typically low. It would have been made clear to you at the onset as would their fair ware and tear policy.
It sounds like you went in with your eyes wide shut!