PCP Handback Damage Charges

Shafski

Hi, thank you in advance for any advice to anyone providing.

I got my licence July 2017 and bought my first car from Audi a week later on a PCP contract. Im 36 months in of the 48 month contract and starting to think about exchanges, handing back, or buying the car. I just wanted some advice regarding damage charges. As this was my first car, throughout the 36 months, mainly at the start of the purchase, although I've never had any accidents at all it has received a fair amount of minor-moderate class damage which I was responsible for. 

1. 1 Is a paint wear scratch on the side above the rear wheel, about 3 horizontal lines that are vertically parallel to eachother, 8cm or so in length, with a bit of rust in within the scratch. This happened in the first week I got it where the apartment I stayed at had a ridiculously narrow private entry - almost like an alleyway, a challenge for any new driver, which I messed up on once.
2. All 4 alloys are notable scuffed, I wasn't the best at parking initially or judging distances from curb.
3. I motorway drive a lot for work through roadworks etc, and there is a stone chip in the windscreen about 3mm circular. So imagine this- I had a large crack at the end of the first year I got the car through a stone hitting me on motorway which I remember, I replaced the whole windscreen through insurance £125 excess, and the next day I got a fresh chip driving on the motorway which I again saw fly to me.... What are the chances? I got that replaced again by next MOT. Then recently I got a stone chip again
4. There are a lot of stone chips on the front bumper and paint wear also.

Now I undertand a lot of this doesn't fall under fair wear and tear, so I was looking at alloy repair costs, paint repairs etc, and it seemed costly but I knew I'd have to get it done if I was planning to exchange the car again which is the most likely option. However, I then came across this...
https://customer.vwfs.co.uk/content/dam/bluelabel/valid/www-vwfs-co-uk/documents/self-serve-documents/audi-self-serve-docs/Audi%20Damage%20Charges.pdf

£36 per alloy repair?
£138 for bumper repair
£110.40 for body panel scratch repairs per body panel.

This is so much cheaper than repairing it myself? Plus they can't complain if the repair goes wrong? Am I going crazy or is this all correct? In this case theres no point in me repairing it myself and it's better to just leave it as it is and let them? (Cosmetically I'm not that bothered as people hardly notice these things and they're not large coverings of the car and blend in ok as the car is white) I just wanted clarification if that's the best option?

AdrianC

Shafski said:

I got my licence July 2017 and bought my first car from Audi a week later on a PCP contract. Im 36 months in of the 48 month contract and starting to think about exchanges, handing back, or buying the car. I just wanted some advice regarding damage charges. As this was my first car, throughout the 36 months, mainly at the start of the purchase, although I've never had any accidents at all it has received a fair amount of minor-moderate class damage which I was responsible for. 

1. 1 Is a paint wear scratch on the side above the rear wheel, about 3 horizontal lines that are vertically parallel to eachother, 8cm or so in length, with a bit of rust in within the scratch. This happened in the first week I got it where the apartment I stayed at had a ridiculously narrow private entry - almost like an alleyway, a challenge for any new driver, which I messed up on once.
2. All 4 alloys are notable scuffed, I wasn't the best at parking initially or judging distances from curb.
3. I motorway drive a lot for work through roadworks etc, and there is a stone chip in the windscreen about 3mm circular. So imagine this- I had a large crack at the end of the first year I got the car through a stone hitting me on motorway which I remember, I replaced the whole windscreen through insurance £125 excess, and the next day I got a fresh chip driving on the motorway which I again saw fly to me.... What are the chances? I got that replaced again by next MOT. Then recently I got a stone chip again
4. There are a lot of stone chips on the front bumper and paint wear also.

Now I undertand a lot of this doesn't fall under fair wear and tear, so I was looking at alloy repair costs, paint repairs etc, and it seemed costly but I knew I'd have to get it done if I was planning to exchange the car again which is the most likely option. However, I then came across this...
https://customer.vwfs.co.uk/content/dam/bluelabel/valid/www-vwfs-co-uk/documents/self-serve-documents/audi-self-serve-docs/Audi%20Damage%20Charges.pdf

£36 per alloy repair?
£138 for bumper repair
£110.40 for body panel scratch repairs per body panel.

This is so much cheaper than repairing it myself? Plus they can't complain if the repair goes wrong? Am I going crazy or is this all correct? In this case theres no point in me repairing it myself and it's better to just leave it as it is and let them? (Cosmetically I'm not that bothered as people hardly notice these things and they're not large coverings of the car and blend in ok as the car is white) I just wanted clarification if that's the best option?

Yes, it probably is cheaper than sorting it yourself. It's certainly less hassle and - yes, it means they can't complain about the repair standard. So, yes, it does make sense to throw it back in that state.

But well done for such a vivid illustration of why it's rarely a good idea to use somebody else's brand new car to do that post-test learning to drive properly...

I suspect that badly scraped wing's coming under "Excessive damage" and "retailer pricing", though... Let's see a pic.

neilmcl

Shafski said:

Now I undertand a lot of this doesn't fall under fair wear and tear, so I was looking at alloy repair costs, paint repairs etc, and it seemed costly but I knew I'd have to get it done if I was planning to exchange the car again which is the most likely option. However, I then came across this...
https://customer.vwfs.co.uk/content/dam/bluelabel/valid/www-vwfs-co-uk/documents/self-serve-documents/audi-self-serve-docs/Audi%20Damage%20Charges.pdf

£36 per alloy repair?
£138 for bumper repair
£110.40 for body panel scratch repairs per body panel.

This is so much cheaper than repairing it myself? Plus they can't complain if the repair goes wrong? Am I going crazy or is this all correct? In this case theres no point in me repairing it myself and it's better to just leave it as it is and let them? (Cosmetically I'm not that bothered as people hardly notice these things and they're not large coverings of the car and blend in ok as the car is white) I just wanted clarification if that's the best option?

So apart from the fact that the document you linked was from 2017, are you sure they're not just base prices, ie, don't include VAT and labour. There's no way any main dealer would charge those prices above, you'd normally be looking at around £70-£90 for an alloy wheel repair alone.

Scrapit

Stone chip on the screen will be cheap or even free if you have fully comp insurance.

DrEskimo

These charges are only applicable if you hand the car back, and you can only hand the car back at the end of the term, or if you Voluntarily Terminate the agreement once you've paid 50% of the total amount payable (depends on the agreement, but likely around month 40).

Handing it back or VT makes no sense if the cars trade value is more than your finance owing. So whilst handing it back may save you a couple of hundred pounds in paying for the repairs, you could lose out on much more by not trading it in (which will account for the condition within the price).

macman

As above. The point at which you can VT will depend on the deposit paid and the balloon payment. So, at what point will you reach the 50% mark?

MinuteNoodles

£36 per alloy is cheap, I spent £40 per alloy and it was only that because I'd taken them off the vehicle and they had no tyres on. Had I just driven the car in and handed them the keys it was £65 a wheel, £25 to cover labour for removing wheels and for removing and refitting tyres and balancing, and this was in Hull so hardly the most expensive place in the country.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Add VAT to these.prices, but otherwise they are correct. See following thread about VWFS.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1720606
It's not really cost of fixing things, it's loss of value at auction.

SteveVy

I recently handed a car back in and the guy from BCA told me "next time don't bother getting any repairs done yourself, let us handle them you'll save so much"  I paid £100 to get a diamond cut alloy repaired whereas with VWFS it would of been £36 so lesson learn