Help Needed with VW/BCA Car Lease Return

Northernlight101

Hi all, my first post on here and I’m hoping there might be someone who can offer some advice on a problem I’ve encountered with my lease car return.

To summarise, I had a 2 year lease on a golf which came to an end at the beginning of June this year. As per the usual protocol, I arranged for a BCA representative to come and inspect and they confirmed that everything was in order and there would be no charges. Normally they then arrange for collection within the next week, however I was going on holiday so this wouldn’t work.

I spoke to BCA on the phone about this and they said in such cases I could find a local VW garage and if they had room I could leave it with them and they would collect from there. I rang around and found a dealership in London that would do this and then called back to BCA with the details and proceeded to drop the car off.

I thought that was the end of the matter until at the end of August when I got a letter from VW saying they had noted my car wasn’t insured and they had put temporary cover on? I immediately called them and to cut a long story short, BCA never collected the car and VW thought I still had it.

This then resulted in them saying that there would be another inspection due to the time elapsed and I would be charged a daily rate for the additional time. I said that this was ridiculous as I didn’t even have the car and had followed all instructions and so I lodged a complaint. VW then wrote back to say they had investigated and it was nothing to do with them as the arrangements were between BCA and me. I disagreed as BCA are their agents and I didn’t hear anything further so hoped it had been resolved internally.

Until yesterday when I received a letter from VW with charges for £1000 for the daily rental rate for the period and a further £250 for damage following the second inspection (lost wheel hey and bumper scrapes).

I am understandably livid at this whole situation but have no idea who I am best taking this up with as VW have washed their hands and BCA say ‘they never got my call’. Which is a lie and makes no sense as I would hardly just dump my car knowing I would be on the hook for more payments.

I’d be grateful for any advice on the matter?

Thanks

DUTR

Why could you not leave it where you purchased the car from?
Or hand it back early if you knew you were away, just write off the additional payment if that bring s a full close to the matter.

neilmcl

Raise a formal complaint with VWFS, then if this doesn't resolve anything complain to the FOS.

neilmcl

DUTR wrote: »

Why could you not leave it where you purchased the car from?
Or hand it back early if you knew you were away, just write off the additional payment if that bring s a full close to the matter.

Really, would you "write off" £1250 just for a bit of peace of mind!

OP, did you actually get confirmation from BCA that they would be collecting your car from said dealership?

DUTR

neilmcl wrote: »

Really, would you "write off" £1250 just for a bit of peace of mind!

OP, did you actually get confirmation from BCA that they would be collecting your car from said dealership?

£250 I would which is what the OP wrote.

AdrianC

Northernlight101 wrote: »

To summarise, I had a 2 year lease on a golf which came to an end at the beginning of June this year. As per the usual protocol, I arranged for a BCA representative to come and inspect and they confirmed that everything was in order and there would be no charges. Normally they then arrange for collection within the next week, however I was going on holiday so this wouldn’t work.

You booked a holiday to coincide with when the car was due to go back.

I spoke to BCA on the phone about this and they said in such cases I could find a local VW garage and if they had room I could leave it with them and they would collect from there. I rang around and found a dealership in London that would do this and then called back to BCA with the details and proceeded to drop the car off.

And when you returned from holiday, did you check the car had been collected as planned?
When you didn't receive any paperwork relating to the collection and end of lease, did you follow it up?

I thought that was the end of the matter until at the end of August when I got a letter from VW saying they had noted my car wasn’t insured and they had put temporary cover on?

I assume it was still taxed by them, so they would have been liable for a continuous insurance fine if they hadn't insured it. Just as well it hadn't been nicked while it was left uninsured at this dealer, eh?

BCA say ‘they never got my call’. Which is a lie

Can you prove that? If not, it's their word against yours.

and makes no sense as I would hardly just dump my car

Except that's what you did.

Right up until you have confirmation that it has been collected, it's your responsibility. You chose to be away at the time collection was due, and preferred to leave it in the care of an obliging but unrelated third party than arrange to vary the collection date to better suit you. You did not then follow up, checking it had been collected. Nearly three months later, VW received notification of a continuous insurance offence being incurred on a car that was still your responsibility - and that's what prompted them to ask you where the car was.

Perhaps BCA did drop the ball. But that's why you needed to follow up.


NeilMcL/DUTR - the most sensible "additional payment" would have been one required to return it before or after the holiday. The £250 quoted is for damage while it was left at the dealers, and the £1k is for rental for the three months it was at the dealer. Neither of those would have been incurred at all if the OP had been a bit more on-the-ball with arranging the return.

neilmcl

DUTR wrote: »

£250 I would which is what the OP wrote.

Northernlight101 wrote: »

Until yesterday when I received a letter from VW with charges for £1000 for the daily rental rate for the period and a further £250 for damage following the second inspection (lost wheel hey and bumper scrapes).

Looks like they want £1250 to me

neilmcl

AdrianC, I don't agree with your assessment. Hindsight is a great thing and whilst it would've been advisable for the OP to confirm that the car was indeed collected he had followed the instructions and had an agreement from BCA that the car would be collected and therefore anything beyond this is not his responsibility.

Northernlight101

All points above taken and hindsight is a great thing.

I have never leased a car before and had assumed that once I had spoken with BCA who confirmed the point of drop off and contact details for the service manager at the vw dealership that it would have been sufficient once the garage took possession of my keys. This was the main west London vw dealership after all.

I appreciate that it now seems like an argument of my word against theirs, but to suggest that I simply dumped the car makes no logical sense (it wasn’t even my closest dealership). I couldn’t return to the original dealer as it was in deepest Kent and I live in London.

There should be some consumer protection around this point as The onus shouldn’t have been on me when I followed their instructions to the letter?

AdrianC

Northernlight101 wrote: »

I have never leased a car before

Yet you originally said...

As per the usual protocol, I arranged for a BCA representative to come and inspect ... Normally they then arrange for collection within the next week

I understood that to be based on your previous experience.

and had assumed that

...assumption...

once I had spoken with BCA who confirmed the point of drop off and contact details for the service manager at the vw dealership that it would have been sufficient once the garage took possession of my keys. This was the main west London vw dealership after all.

VW West London, Brentford?
They're owned and managed by Inchcape, one of the UK's biggest car dealership chains. They are a separate business to both VW Financial Services (part of VAG group) and BCA (one of the UK's largest car auction chains).

There should be some consumer protection around this point as The onus shouldn’t have been on me when I followed their instructions to the letter?

Let's go with your version, that BCA agreed to collect it from the dealership, rather than BCA's version, that there's no record of any such agreement. If so, then they may well be liable.



But one of the golden rules of any legal dispute is that there is an immutable onus on you to mitigate and minimise your losses. Any costs arising from your failure to do so are not claimable. It would be eminently reasonable to expect you to have mitigated those losses by calling BCA and the dealer on your return, to ensure it had been collected and was being processed. You would still be liable for any damage incurred at the dealership, unless you arranged sign-off of condition on arrival to their premises, but the window for that damage would have been minimised. The car would still need to have been insured by you right up until collection.

neilmcl

OP, can you confirm on thing please. Did you actually get a firm date when BCA would be collecting your car from the dealership?