Cazoo subscription cars : unfair changes to contract

ant9660

I'd already received the email - now I've got a letter with yet more bad news: "Please note that from 1st April, only our Northampton and Chertsey Customer Centre locations will be available for drop off."  That means, unless you want to pay the £149 drop off fee, you have only 7 weeks to get the car back and NOT the three months they claimed.  I think we're all being taken for April fools... 

clairel6768

Just had my email too. Particularly enjoyed the part about paying £149 for them to come and collect the vehicle. Seriously?!! And also the £250 off one of their used cars. No ta. 

karlton273

Just recieved mine today I like thousands of other families some like
Me with disabled children now have the worry of finding alternative vehicles n deposits to pay for new vehicles/ leases through no fault of our own when really they should have had a shred of decency to honour our subscriptions, n then have the gaul to demand £149 to return the car. I dont think so they can swizzle on my finger if they think they are getting that out of me when they're the ones that cancelled, the cheak of it. If they want their car back, they know where it is - they can collect it, but i certainly won't be paying for it.

karlton273

So they want me to take their car that THEY cancelled 149 miles to their nearest drop off centre -in my time with my fuel n then my own arrangements to get 149 mile back home by train etc - will they pay for all of that, i think not so they can stick their £149 up the creak down the slide up the shoot n out of some where i cant mention

tripled

Looking at the current T&C (which may be different to those originally signed up to) on the Cazoo website it says...

22.4 During the Initial Hire Period we may cancel the Hire Agreement at any time for any reason after Delivery or Collection by giving three months' notice to you. The last day of your Subscription Term will be the date falling three months after the day we sent you notice. For example, if we sent you notice on 13 April, your Hire Agreement will end on 13 July, and you must pay the Subscription Fees until that date.

22.7 On termination of the Hire Agreement for any reason, you must comply with section 10 and you must immediately pay to us together with VAT, all arrears of Subscription Fees and all other charges and sums that are due by you under the Hire Agreement.

Section 10 makes no mention of a Pickup fee, only for missed/rearranged pickups (£250), so if it were me, I'd insist that, if they want the car back, they collect it on the last day of the (amended) subscription term free of charge.

If term 22.4 wasn't in the original T&C/hire agreement signed up to, then I might also be considering a complaint to trading standards and requesting some form of compensation from Cazoo.

Pcs84

tripled said:

Looking at the current T&C (which may be different to those originally signed up to) on the Cazoo website it says...

22.4 During the Initial Hire Period we may cancel the Hire Agreement at any time for any reason after Delivery or Collection by giving three months' notice to you. The last day of your Subscription Term will be the date falling three months after the day we sent you notice. For example, if we sent you notice on 13 April, your Hire Agreement will end on 13 July, and you must pay the Subscription Fees until that date.

22.7 On termination of the Hire Agreement for any reason, you must comply with section 10 and you must immediately pay to us together with VAT, all arrears of Subscription Fees and all other charges and sums that are due by you under the Hire Agreement.

Section 10 makes no mention of a Pickup fee, only for missed/rearranged pickups (£250), so if it were me, I'd insist that, if they want the car back, they collect it on the last day of the (amended) subscription term free of charge.

If term 22.4 wasn't in the original T&C/hire agreement signed up to, then I might also be considering a complaint to trading standards and requesting some form of compensation from Cazoo.

The original terms did not include clause 22.4 - this addition was made in December 2022. 

q0s

The new terms requiring subscribers to pay subscription fees for the entire three months' notice period appear to contradict the option to return the car early by giving one month's notice:

If we give you notice to end your agreement early, you’ll have two options:

1. Stay in your current subscription car until your notice period ends and return the car.

2. Give at least one month’s notice and return the car early with no cancellation fee.

Surely, Cazoo can't charge for three months if you return the car in one month (for example, to be able to return the car to a drop-off center before it shuts down).

Has anyone contacted a solicitor about this?

karlton273

Yes asoon as i recieved that email in december where they put that term into our agreements it was obvious what was coming but for some less fortunate than others its not so easy just to find/pay for another car

Herzlos

I wonder if they can uphold the collection charge in cases where they've closed the delivery centre nearest to you. Presumably when you signed the contract the deal was that you'd return it to X location or pay £149 for them to collect it?
So if they close X location and change the deal that you need to go to Y location, 100+ miles away, that sounds like their responsibility.

Though as crap as it is, it's probably much easier and cheaper to just pay the collection fee instead of making the journey.

Probably earlier rather than later because who knows what'll happen if you leave it until the 3 month mark and can't get a collection appointment, but I guess they'll put that on you for not getting the car to them on time and not take any responsibility for not being able to collect it on time.

What strikes me as odd is that the timing is this is wrong; the used car market is softening again so a lot of these returned cars are going to be spending a while sat around losing money instead of generating lease income. But maybe the idea here is to shed liability instead of making more money, so they just need to auction most of them off. If that's the case you'd think they'd be more open to you just buying the car from them and saving everyone the hassle.

Wonka_2

Herzlos said:

What strikes me as odd is that the timing is this is wrong; the used car market is softening again so a lot of these returned cars are going to be spending a while sat around losing money instead of generating lease income. But maybe the idea here is to shed liability instead of making more money, so they just need to auction most of them off. If that's the case you'd think they'd be more open to you just buying the car from them and saving everyone the hassle.

I'm not massively up on the financial dynamics of the motor trade but IMHO I can see them bringing the assets and some cash back into the business and then folding before the founder disappears onto his next venture.