Faulty lease car and Ombudsman/Court

Et1981

I rejected a faulty lease car back in August 2018. After 7 months with the financial ombudsman, their negotiator has got an offer from the business in which they will refund the payments made since then and collect the car.

Thats all fine, but in our complaint, we asked for other assosiated and reasonable costs which are not included in the offer, for example just over £500 in insurance. (I had to keep the car insured whilst still in my possesion and parked on a public road)

The offer received is not a ‘final descision’ from an actual ombudsman, but I have until 8th april to accept it, or reject it.

As i understand if a final descision is accepted from an ombudsman, the matter cannot then be heard by a court. My question is, if I was to accept this offer, does anyone know If I could try to recover the other costs in court as its not an actual ombudsman descision?

It’s been over a year since i started having problems and i’d really like to accept the offer and finally get rid of the car, but i dont want to be out of pocket because they took months to accept any liability.

Many Thanks

Bermonia

Usually offers are made in full and final settlement of a complaint - if your complaint to the FOS included these additional costs then they have been considered and your acceptance of the outcome is exactly that... whilst this would not preclude you from taking court action I would suspect that it would form a sufficient part of the defence and may be hard to argue against.

Keep in mind if you decide to go for a final decision it is only legally binding if you agree to it.

Et1981

Thanks for your advice Bermonia. I've basically got a choice of accept it and move on or wait another 6 months for an ombusman decision which may not even offer any more in the end....

The FOS appear to be extremely biased in favour of the businesses.

Bermonia

Please keep in mind that the Ombudsman decision could also change for the betterment of the firm... plus likely to be more than six months in my experience.

With all due respect the business would think it were the other way round... FOS make decisions on balance of probabilities where possible, however if evidence supplied just doesn’t support then they cannot merely ignore in favour of consumer (many people think them a consumer champion however they are required to be independent and impartial of both firms and consumers).