Car finance - trying to charge me for "refurbishment"

Linzi73

Hi All

Hope someone could help.
So.... I handed my car back to the finance company under voluntary termination because I had paid 60% of my loan back so I was within my rights to do this.
They sent someone to assess the car and they logged ever scratch or small dent

I received a bill which had been marked by the chap who came out with my agreement as "customer cannot pay" for £638 for refurbishment costs 

They have not refurbished this car. 
The man who collected it was taking it straight to an auction in Manchester where he said it would be in the next auction 

I have indeed kept an eye out for my car and found it a month later on Ebay for sale by a garage who had purchased it. 

They are trying to make contact from the finance company and now after 2 months are starting to get threatening and saying they may have to send a company round to my house to make contact. 
I know that this is bullying tactics to make me make contact as there is,legally nothing they can do as this is not a debt that I owe them 

My car was paid on time by DD every month for 3yrs and I did not miss a payment. I had 3 months break due to Covid then resumed payment at a higher rate 

They have not lost money on this vehicle 
It's a Mercedes ML Sport with low mileage and in excellent condition for it's age (2008) so I expect they will have got at least 3k at auction so they are in no way at a deficit

I don't want to make contact as this opens up the lines of communication but is there anything I can send them to make them stop? 

Something that asks them to prove they carried out work (they didn't) 
Something that they can prove that I did the minor scratches (I bought it as an Irish import so it came with a few small stone chips and scratches) I was always careful with parking as it was huge so parked it on a wide esplanade when I had my own shop and away from other cars in car parks 

It feels very unfair that because I have now not got my business due to Covid and had to hand my car back as could no longer afford it that they are trying to sting me for over £600 for absolutely nothing when they have sold it!!! 

It's still sat on my credit file that my car finance is open 

Any advice is hugely appreciated 🙏😊

Thankyou so much 
Linzi 

[Deleted User]

What did your contract say?

It's highly likely this is detailed in there and that the debt is genuine.

But if you're not willing to talk to them, there is no way that you will get a more favourable outcome than you already have.

Linzi73

I spoke to them at length about this when I terminated the agreement and asked them to explain the refurbishment costs. I was given a website to look at and told not to worry too much. They simply wouldn't explain the justification for these costs. I said that most of the scratches weren't mine. They just refused to go into it
I'm not willing to speak to them because then it shows as you have had contact and they can keep pushing.
Legally there is no obligation to settle anything because it's not a debt 
I simply wondered if anyone had experienced similar or had an idea of what to expect next. Clearly you are in neither of those brackets so thanks for your reply but it's not of use 

k3lvc

Here is the document they're likely to be using which details their/your rights - presumably you had one of these when you took out the finance and it's part of your contract

BVRLA Returning your leased vehicle

You've used your right to VT the car and in exchange they're using their right to invoke the 'damage' clause to recoup some money.

Presumably give the age/vehicle this wasn't a main dealer/manufacturer finance agreement on a new car but instead an independent financer on a used car. If that's the case then hopefully documented in detail the condition when you took delivery and can then be clear on any change in condition over your change of ownership

There is no need for them to physically do the repairs for the damage so you following the car post-sale is a waste of your time/energy

You'll only clear this by engaging with them and proving your evidence vs theirs - if you avoid then it will be progressed and your situation is only likely to get worse

CL16Fan

I'm curious about the covid break you mentioned in your original post. We're in the same situation and our finance company is telling us we still owe those three payments even though we've gone onto the higher rate and paid off more than 50% of the total when we VT'd. Was this not an issue with you and your finance company?

Hope the refurbishment stuff gets sorted out soon for you.