Car PCP coming to an end - Unsure of next steps

scaredycat94

Currently have a car on VW solutions PCP. 
My contract finishes in February 2021 and they're due to start contacting me about what to do for my next car. 
I have exceeded my mileage by a significant amount and also the car has damage (dints on bodywork assuming from other car doors plus a cracked bumper from an unpleasant collision with a pheasant...) which I was intending on getting fixed in the near future. 
I'd happily have another car on the same scheme but aware I'd most likely be in negative equity in the eyes of VW finance... 
I'm also not sure what my options really are - I don't really want to hand the car back and incur the charges that will come with that, I don't know if its a wise idea to finance the settlement fee for the car... also, someone has suggested to me to approach another car dealer. 
Wondering what other peoples thoughts are on this, what other people have done if they've been in a similar situation etc?

Thanks also not sure if this is the most appropriate forum or if I should direct this to the Loans forum for example...

AdrianC

You have a simple binary choice...
1. Hand the car back and pay the charges for the excess mileage and damage above fair wear and tear...
2. Pay the balloon and buy the car from them.
There is no third option.

You do not have to do 2 with your money - it could be with a dealer's money, PXing it against something else. But, as you say, there will be a shortfall that you'll have to pay.

As far as the mileage goes, remember that you've benefitted from paying lower monthlies compared to contracting for the correct mileage - because the balloon was based on the car having x,000 miles on it at the end of the contract, hence depreciating less.

As far as the damage goes, it may be cheaper to get the work done pre-return, but it may not be - and leaving it will not only be less hassle, but will certainly remove the risk of the repairs being deemed sub-standard. You should have a copy of the BVRLA fair wear and tear guide, showing what is and isn't acceptable.

WaywardDriver

In similar position with a Skoda Yeti except for the excess mileage. Skoda dealer took account of the damage in quoting for a new PCP deal on a Kamiq. Then went to Audi dealer who, to our surprise, quoted £1500 better on the overall deal for a Q2 to same spec. We confirmed he had noted the damage - he'd taken photos.
So the moral is shop around - in our case staying within VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat made it easier as dealers had access to financial records across the group.

Grumpy_chap

For the OP - how much above contract mileage are you?  If you are doing lower mileage now (because of coronavirus / lockdown) will this bring your mileage penalty to a better place by the end of the term?  

Goudy

As you want another, you can trade it in against another car, it doesn't matter where and you can try and narrow down the gap in what you owe for the excess mileage/damage.

So now you could hand it back and get charged for excess mileage and damage, for an example we can give that a cost, say £2000.

You could pay the GFV and keep it, say £8000

Or you could hawk it around a few dealers to see if they can cover some/all of what you'd pay for mileage/damage.
Let's say one dealer offers you £8000 trade for it, that will go direct to pay off the outstanding finance and you gain/lose nothing.
They offer £8500, then you've £500 (plus whatever finance contribution they offer) towards your next.
If the best offer is only £7000, then you're £1000 down, though that's half the excess mileage/damage charges.

You know the GFV and so will the dealer after they've checked, so it's not uncommon to use this as a bit of leverage on a new deal. If you can get them to offer minimum what it owes you (the GFV) you're quids in with the mileage/damage charges.  

You need to crunch some numbers, I even think VW list damage and mileage prices on their finance portal, so it should be easy.

bigadaj

WaywardDriver said:

In similar position with a Skoda Yeti except for the excess mileage. Skoda dealer took account of the damage in quoting for a new PCP deal on a Kamiq. Then went to Audi dealer who, to our surprise, quoted £1500 better on the overall deal for a Q2 to same spec. We confirmed he had noted the damage - he'd taken photos.
So the moral is shop around - in our case staying within VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat made it easier as dealers had access to financial records across the group.

Do you want to provide full details as £1500 better can be interpreted in many ways.

WaywardDriver

bigadaj said:

WaywardDriver said:

In similar position with a Skoda Yeti except for the excess mileage. Skoda dealer took account of the damage in quoting for a new PCP deal on a Kamiq. Then went to Audi dealer who, to our surprise, quoted £1500 better on the overall deal for a Q2 to same spec. We confirmed he had noted the damage - he'd taken photos.
So the moral is shop around - in our case staying within VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat made it easier as dealers had access to financial records across the group.

Do you want to provide full details as £1500 better can be interpreted in many ways.

With both cars to same spec (engine size, manual gearbox, sat-nav, heated seats) and the same monthly PCP payment, the higher part-exchange (£1000) and extra discount (£500) made the Audi cheaper. If we'd wanted automatics, the Skoda would have been cheaper.
EDIT. by cheaper I mean our deposit to achieve the same monthly payment was £1500 less for the Audi.