insuring car after end of lease

kmb500

My lease ends on 1 May so Leaseplan is meant to collect my car before then. Currently they are not collecting vehicles due to coronavirus. This may well extend past my contract end date.

In this event, they have given me some options about extending my contract which I told them I will not be doing. My contract will end on 1 May.

Leaseplan has said they can "off-hire" the car while it is secure at my property. Meaning that it sits on my drive and I am not allowed to drive it because it is no longer my car.

However they say it needs to be insured, understandably - but I need to provide the insurance.

I fail to see why I should pay for this insurance. If I am no longer allowed to use the car and my contract has ended, then I don't see how the usual contract obligations that say insurance is my responsibility, apply.

I have had a look through my contract and it does not account for the event of Leaseplan refusing/failing to collect the vehicle.

I am not sure what to do.

I did ask about SORNing but Leaseplan said this is not an option and it need to be insured.

Any advice would be fab, thanks

rudekid48

We had a similar situation a few weeks ago with a lease expiring with Audi finance - they couldn't collect before the lease expired for the same reason, however they provided the insurance cover for it themselves as we could not use the vehicle.  When your lease expires the vehicle is no longer your responsibility and you also have no 'insurable interest' in the car i.e. if anything happens to it, you will not be financially impacted as you are no longer paying the lease or have any rights to use it.  I think you need to be firm with them as it is their vehicle not yours - you may want to encourage them to act by offering to charge them storage whilst their vehicle is kept on your property - especially if that storage cost was more expensive than the insurance....

kmb500

That's what I tried saying to the woman on the phone but she said it says in my contract terms that I would be responsible.

The part in the contract about insurance says:

"You must insure the Vehicle and keep it insured under a fully comprehensive motor insurance policy.

....

The vehicle must be insured from the Commencement Date until such time as it is collected on our behalf following termination of the Term. You are not permitted to drive the Vehicle without such insurance in place"

This seems extremely vague to me and I'm unsure of where i stand. The way I read that phrase says to me that Leaseplan could just never pick it up and i would have to keep paying insurance. But that does not make any sense.

And they have said i do not need to have comprehensive insurance for this, it just needs to be third party fire and theft.

Car_54

The contract seems pretty clear: you need to insure it.

kmb500

Car_54 said:

The contract seems pretty clear: you need to insure it.

 i don't see how the contract applies, given that I am no longer allowed to drive the vehicle - which goes against everything else writtein in the contract.

Herzlos

You could argue frustration of contract - you're not paying for it anymore, it's not your car, but they refuse to collect it, so why should you be paying for insurance on it?

Will they let you take the car to a yard of theirs?

kmb500

Herzlos said:

You could argue frustration of contract - you're not paying for it anymore, it's not your car, but they refuse to collect it, so why should you be paying for insurance on it?

Will they let you take the car to a yard of theirs?

I did ask them if I can deliver the car somewhere and they said no they need to collect it.

Scrapit

Dont insure it, see what happens. 

Theseconddeebo

rudekid48 said:

We had a similar situation a few weeks ago with a lease expiring with Audi finance - they couldn't collect before the lease expired for the same reason, however they provided the insurance cover for it themselves as we could not use the vehicle.  When your lease expires the vehicle is no longer your responsibility and you also have no 'insurable interest' in the car i.e. if anything happens to it, you will not be financially impacted as you are no longer paying the lease or have any rights to use it.  I think you need to be firm with them as it is their vehicle not yours - you may want to encourage them to act by offering to charge them storage whilst their vehicle is kept on your property - especially if that storage cost was more expensive than the insurance....

This is the answer. The contract you had with them no longer applies, evidenced by the fact you are not to drive the car . If they cannot collect the car at the end of the term then they need to provide their own insurance cover on it. 

neilmcl

Car_54 said:

The contract seems pretty clear: you need to insure it.

The contract ends on 30 April, no terms beyond this are applicable.

neilmcl

kmb500 said:

That's what I tried saying to the woman on the phone but she said it says in my contract terms that I would be responsible. 

Just remind them that as of 1st May you're no longer in contract and therefore these terms do not apply, the car is their property and you won't be insuring it.