Stellantis early lease termination problem

Doverkid1

We leased a Vauxhall Corsa in 2020 using Vauxhall Finance, and decided to terminate the lease a few months ago. They have recently been taken over by Stellantis.  The car was collected on 02/07.  Six weeks later (2 days ago) we received a letter from Stellantis demanding a payment of over £700 for repairs to various scratches and ‘dents’.  Under BVRLA terms, we should have received a summary breakdown of charges and photo evidence justifying the charges within four weeks of collection, neither of which we have received. The letter has quite an aggressive tone. We’ve contacted Stellantis as best we can through their messaging service on their website (there is no email address to contact)  but so far we’ve had no acknowledgement. Has anyone else run into similar problems?  Any advice?

Arunmor

You generally can't terminate a lease early without paying the balance of the lease, how many months were outstanding and what were the monthly payments?

Phoenix72

Arunmor said:

You generally can't terminate a lease early without paying the balance of the lease, how many months were outstanding and what were the monthly payments?

Not sure how that relates to the question asked?

OP - how was the car given back? Was it collected from your home? If so did the agent not go over any issues?

Doverkid1

This is the type of lease where the balance is effectively repaid by returning the car.  There was no charge for the finance itself, just for ‘repairs’. The car was collected from our home, and we did acknowledge the various scratches identified. Our argument is that a) they did not notify us of costs within the 4 week period and b) they have not sent us a breakdown of the costs with photos.

Phoenix72

Doverkid1 said:

This is the type of lease where the balance is effectively repaid by returning the car.  There was no charge for the finance itself, just for ‘repairs’. The car was collected from our home, and we did acknowledge the various scratches identified. Our argument is that a) they did not notify us of costs within the 4 week period and b) they have not sent us a breakdown of the costs with photos.

Assuming they are BVRLA members I would write (pen and paper) to say they have not complied with the BVRLA terms.

Doverkid1

Phoenix72 said:

Doverkid1 said:

This is the type of lease where the balance is effectively repaid by returning the car.  There was no charge for the finance itself, just for ‘repairs’. The car was collected from our home, and we did acknowledge the various scratches identified. Our argument is that a) they did not notify us of costs within the 4 week period and b) they have not sent us a breakdown of the costs with photos.

Assuming they are BVRLA members I would write (pen and paper) to say they have not complied with the BVRLA terms.

Yes, I was thinking of doing that. These companies make it so hard to actually talk to anyone.  Even an online chat would have been something. Thanks for the advice.

flashg67

If you can't resolve it I'm pretty sure the BVRLA have an arbitration service.  I'm surprised you received no initial condition report at the time of collection though.

Phoenix72

flashg67 said:

If you can't resolve it I'm pretty sure the BVRLA have an arbitration service.  I'm surprised you received no initial condition report at the time of collection though.

Even if they did, the BVRLA guidance says that if they intend to charge they must notify within 4 weeks with photo's etc. OP says it was 6 weeks.

Petriix

Was this actually a PCP arrangement and not a "lease"? That would make more sense for a voluntary termination. The distinction is quite important.

I'd always advise taking a high definition video of the condition of the vehicle (inside and out) at the point of collection to make it easy to dispute any spurious claims for damage. 

Doverkid1

Yes, I think it was a PCP.  The BVRLA rules still cover the return though.