Disputing lease car admin fees

Keep789

My wife had a lease car arranged by a company called NHS fleet solutions. Unfortunately, my wife had to change employers and was not able to transfer the lease car to her new employer in October 2022. The car has to be handed back 2 months short of the agreed lease. 

The contract clearly stipulates that in such event an early termination fee needs to be paid via a net pay deduction. 

15. In the event that your employment ceases before the end of the lease, then any termination charges (as set out in the booklet “Car Lease Scheme”) will be recoverable from your net pay and the car must be returned before you leave employment of the organisation..

. 3 months after handing the vehicle back they are now asking us to pay the early termination fee directly to them. 

I am currently disputing this as they are in breach of the contract they created. The fee should have been taken with the final car payment in my wife’s salary. We have not signed or agreed anywhere to pay such a fee directly to them and for all we know it could have been deducted from the monthly pay. 

I have raised my concerns and asked for this to be investigated by them internally as this is their error and as such are liable. 

They have warned that they will pass this to their collection company ACT if this invoice is not paid in 30 days. They have never sent an official invoice btw. 

My questions are as follows: 

Do I have to pay this? 

Will referral to ACT affect my credit score? 

Thank you 

Brie

You don't have to pay anything as it wasn't your car.  Your wife may have something to pay and it should be her raising any dispute.  It won't affect your credit score for the same reason.  

You say your wife "had" to change employers.  Is there a reason for this that might mitigate what happens with a lease arrangement?  Redundancy or TUPE terms?  Some termination dispute??

Keep789

Thanks I meant her score not mine obviously. 

She just changed employer to a different NHS trust. This is actually where this car came from but the company being discussed here would not transfer it back.

Thanks  

Wonka_2

Keep789 said:

We have not signed or agreed anywhere to pay such a fee directly to them and for all we know it could have been deducted from the monthly pay. 

Thank you 

Surely she knows whether it was deducted from her salary ??

If not then she should either

a) contact previous employer and ask what the process should be and whether she pays employer or lease company
b) pay lease company what they're asking (assuming it's the correct amount)

a) or b) may also depend on whether there was a salary sacrifice element which may muddy the waters on the amount

Whatever the situation there's no need to make this more complicated - she's only likely to come out of this badly if she delays payment unnecessarily

Nobbie1967

Your wife owes the money and needs to pay it. The term you quote is just giving warning that it can be recovered directly from her net pay, but the fact that she owes the money is already covered by “as set out in the booklet “Car Lease Scheme”

green.lander_2

Hi Keep 789, my wife is with the NHS in a similar scheme and there are limitations on it as not all trusts work in he same way as you have found out. We may move house shortly and its the key reason whey we want out of the scheme with a private lease as she may decide to rejoin with bank work without this hanging over us. Your wife would have had a really good deal and will need to pay this as that is what she signed up for, they system is slow!

Chazbing

Hi I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment. They issued the early termination fee I their end in June, I handed the car back in August and now they are asking for £480. They told me me when I last spoke to them in September that everything was paid for. The contract stated that the fee will come out of my dalery before the car goes back but now they are looking for up front payment. How did you get on if you don't mind me asking? Thanks