Mercedes Benz early voluntary termination query with Mortimer Clarke solicitors

bettasurveyor

Hi

I have received a county court claim form from Mortimer Clarke solicitors today… I returned a Mercedes’ early under the early voluntary termination clause in the agreement.
I understood from others that I would not owe any further monies for the car.
It was collected by BCA and they reported some damages and there were some excess miles to the agreement.. in total they billed me for around around £6500 
if you return a car under the EVT clause are you actually liable for the excess miles cost and the damage charges ?

MattMattMattUK

bettasurveyor said:

Hi

I have received a county court claim form from Mortimer Clarke solicitors today… I returned a Mercedes’ early under the early voluntary termination clause in the agreement.
I understood from others that I would not owe any further monies for the car.
It was collected by BCA and they reported some damages and there were some excess miles to the agreement.. in total they billed me for around around £6500 
if you return a car under the EVT clause are you actually liable for the excess miles cost and the damage charges ?

Yes, otherwise everyone who had excess mileage or damage would return their car early to get out of paying. 

jimbo6977

April 1st. But after midday. 

daveyjp

https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/car-finance-voluntary-termination-pcp-hp/2/

molerat

Need to get the terminology correct.

Early Termination pretty much attracts whatever fees and charges the lender can throw at you.

Voluntary Termination charges are governed by the CCA but you can be charged  for not taking reasonable care of the vehicle outside the guidelines.  The ombudsman has looked favourably on the lender for excess mileage charges as they can be considered not taking reasonable care, high mileage can devalue the vehicle as mutch as a dent. It is also likely that many borrowers were taking the ****  using low mileage to get low payments. The lender is unlikely to go to court but will trash your credit file.  https://www.motorfinanceonline.com/analysis/legal-issues-around-vts-mileage-charges/

bettasurveyor

There’s no provision for excess mileage charges in the law, so in theory, you can’t be charged for exceeding your mileage allowance. However, if you exceed the pro-rata mileage allowance, you can expect the finance company to come after you for an excess mileage penalty.

You do not have to pay this charge, but you will need to be prepared to fight it – potentially for months and against threats of legal action. Despite repeated assertions from the legal community that excess mileage is not enforceable, the finance companies keep trying to charge customers for it.

Their hope is that by bullying you, you will pay up. In plenty of cases, this works. Customers are often terrified when they receive serious-looking letters or threats from legal firms acting on behalf of the finance company, but it’s all a bluff.

One of the ways people exploit the voluntary termination clause is with very high mileage. For example, if you cover 30,000 miles per year, your car will be worth much less after three years than if you only cover 5,000 miles per year. So they sign a PCP agreement for a very low annual mileage (to keep their payments down), then drive much further than the agreed mileage and VT the car with an enormous excess mileage.

Understandably, the finance companies do not like this exploitation of a legal loophole and they do fight it.

If you’ve done 100,000 miles but your car is in good condition, it’s difficult for a finance company to argue that you have not taken “reasonable care” of your car. However, they’ll certainly try and they may well be very aggressive about it.

The finance company is highly unlikely to take you to court over excess mileage on a PCP agreement, regardless of any threats they might make. It’s an empty threat, so be polite but stick to your guns. 

bettasurveyor

I found this on the car expert website (see above) does anybody know of someone who has WON or LOST in court battling excess mileage on a voluntary termination pcp ?

MattMattMattUK

bettasurveyor said:

I found this on the car expert website (see above) does anybody know of someone who has WON or LOST in court battling excess mileage on a voluntary termination pcp ?

No, but that post above makes no sense and the provision for "excess mileage charges" are within the legal contract, they do not need a specific provision in law. The costs and calculation will also be set out in the contract which you agreed to when you took out the PCP. It sounds like it was written by an idiot with no understanding of the law. 

bris

When you take out a lease you get pricing based on milege, getting a deal for 8k a year then doing 20k is a breach of that contract and can be chargeable.

Mileage has a lot to do with a cars value, it's a legitamite charge so don't get hung up on internet lawers and see a proper one if in doupt.

Similar with damage, there is a difference between normal wear and tear and damage. 

What you can do is let it go to court, which it will and have them explain why it's cost £6500, for this they need to prove it's a value they lost.

TELLIT01

Losing a court case has the potential to accrue additional costs too.

MobileSaver

MattMattMattUK said:

bettasurveyor said:

I found this on the car expert website (see above) does anybody know of someone who has WON or LOST in court battling excess mileage on a voluntary termination pcp ?

No, but that post above makes no sense and the provision for "excess mileage charges" are within the legal contract, they do not need a specific provision in law.

I disagree, Voluntary Termination is a statutory right and so any terms and conditions within the PCP contract cannot override that right.

The grey area is whether excess mileage contravenes an obligation "to take reasonable care of the goods" as that is a condition of enforcing your statutory right. I would say it depends on the degree of excess mileage; doing say 45,000 miles on a 30,000 contract is probably easily accepted as reasonable care but if you did 100,000 on a 30,000 contract then you may struggle...