Help! Hippo Car Leasing trying to charge me £600 for cancelling

tightauldgit

Grumpy_chap said:

DullGreyGuy said:

A right to cancel isnt the same as a fee free right to cancel. 12a acknowledges your right to cancel but 4a states that if you do cancel:

Agreed, but I think if clause 12 is read in it's entirety, this is a full refund ("reimbursement") less costs of returning the car (presumably nil if the car has not been delivered) and adjusted for the diminished value of handling the vehicle (again, presumably nil if the car has not been delivered).

It is clear that this clause 12 is written to comply with the CCR.

If I were the OP, I would be drawing attention to the clause 12 and stating that there is no cancellation fee applicable.

I thing the failure to reference clause 12 under clause 4 is an error.  It looks like Hippo had a set of T's&C's and then simply added the clause 12 at the end when the CCR came about.

Looking at the Which? guide, the refund should be full under CCR.  CCR is legislation so trumps any T's&C's about a cancellation fee of £600 (or whatever):
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations-ajWHC8m21cAk

But even with the CCR it's not a right to cancel without any charges. They can charge you for the portion of the service already delivered and recover reasonable costs of cancellation. Now whether that amounts to £600 is a different question 

Ectophile

If this is a regilated contract, then it's subject to FCA rules, and you can complain to the ombudsman.

So as a starting point, raise a formal complaint with Hippo that the £600 is unreasonable, given how little work they had done up to that point.  Tell them that if they don't agree to a substantial reduction, you will take it to the ombudsman.

born_again

Ectophile said:

If this is a regilated contract, then it's subject to FCA rules, and you can complain to the ombudsman.

So as a starting point, raise a formal complaint with Hippo that the £600 is unreasonable, given how little work they had done up to that point.  Tell them that if they don't agree to a substantial reduction, you will take it to the ombudsman.

Op Last Active

9 May at 3:39PM

So has not returned to answer any questions.
You can purchase a car straight away via the Hippo site through one of their 3rd party dealers.
So it is possible that the OP did buy a car & all has gone through, but Op has now got cold feet...

This reminds me of another tread a couple of weeks ago along similar lines. Where a car had been bought, but it was from dealer the finance co had referred the OP to.. Which had us questioning this situation, as we had never come across it.

Can't find thread now...🤷‍♀️

Grumpy_chap

born_again said:

Can't find thread now...🤷‍♀️

I think you were referring to this thread, but it is all quite a different situation as fas as I can tell:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6443473/rights-on-a-faulty-car/p1

born_again

Yep. 1st line.

Purchased a car through a finance company on 13th February. Had to use their recommended garage

Exactly how Hippo work. 

Grumpy_chap

born_again said:

Yep. 1st line.

Purchased a car through a finance company on 13th February. Had to use their recommended garage

Exactly how Hippo work. 

As far as I could tell, the other thread was a sub-prime car finance lender.  The issue was a fault with the car.

Hippo is a straightforward lease company.  The issue in this thread had nothing to do with the actual car.

born_again

Hippo are not a lease company. That is very clear on their site.

 We are a Credit Broker not a Lender and can introduce you to a limited number of lenders.

Their representative representative has a 18.9% interest rate.. Based on a Hire Purchase (HP) agreement. We expect more than 51% of our customers to achieve this rate.

So clearly not a prime lender.

Grumpy_chap

born_again said:

Hippo are not a lease company. 

 We are a Credit Broker not a Lender 

How do you define a lease company?

That part in bold is a standard statement at the bottom of most lease companies.  A few examples:
https://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk/
https://www.firstvehicleleasing.co.uk/
https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/
https://www.carwow.co.uk/lease-cars

It is necessary for multi-brand lease companies to work with different finance providers as the best deals can be tied to manufacturer links with the big automotive finance houses, for example Ford - ALD or BMW - Alphabet

DullGreyGuy

Grumpy_chap said:

born_again said:

Hippo are not a lease company. 

 We are a Credit Broker not a Lender 

How do you define a lease company?

That part in bold is a standard statement at the bottom of most lease companies.  A few examples:
https://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk/
https://www.firstvehicleleasing.co.uk/
https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/
https://www.carwow.co.uk/lease-cars

It is necessary for multi-brand lease companies to work with different finance providers as the best deals can be tied to manufacturer links with the big automotive finance houses, for example Ford - ALD or BMW - Alphabet

Its the same discussion with insurance, if you buy from a broker (eg the AA) is the AA your insurer (as the brand on the paperwork) or Aviva (the insurance company who the AA placed the business with and the one taking the risk)? Legally Aviva is.

Unless the companies themselves are providing the finance then they are a broker, some may be hybrid where they provide the finance to some and broker to others but most are pure brokers.

In common parlance people call the broker the wrong thing and often dont understand the term underwriter which most use for the true lease/insurance provider.