Renault Battery Lease Hostage

Ectophile

forgotmyname said:

What is the process for selling it with regards to the battery lease?  What happens if you sell it and the
new keeper decides they do not want to pay the lease?

You need to get the new owner to sign a form taking on the lease.  If you don't, then you are still leasing the battery from RCI, even though you no longer own the car it's fitted into.  They will keep billing you every month.

forgotmyname

Simple as that?   So you could sell it to someone that does not pay their tax and insurance and it gets crushed they
cannot come back to you as long as a signature is on the form?

I can think of a multitude of issues with that.  New owner claims they didn't sign it, and did not even know about the
battery lease?  Form signed in a fake name/address?

Anything online where people have had these issues?  Curious what happened and the outcome.

WellKnownSid

I believe RCI needs to approve the proposed new lessee before they stop billing the present lessee.  Otherwise all the things you indicated could happen.

Ectophile

forgotmyname said:

Simple as that?   So you could sell it to someone that does not pay their tax and insurance and it gets crushed they
cannot come back to you as long as a signature is on the form?

I can think of a multitude of issues with that.  New owner claims they didn't sign it, and did not even know about the
battery lease?  Form signed in a fake name/address?

Anything online where people have had these issues?  Curious what happened and the outcome.

OK, I simplified that a bit.  The new lessor has to be registered with RCI.  So you shouldn't really hand over the car until RCI have confirmed that the lease has been transferred.

There's a good reason why no manufacturer sells battery lease cars in the UK any more.

LeaseCompanyHostage

Ectophile said:

Looking at a sample lease agreement, is it possible to get the entire vehicle transported to RCI's UK office?  Dump it there and hand over the keys.

🙂 I suspect they would continue to claim that doesn't terminate the lease, maybe even charge for fly tipping. So I'd have to try to take them to court. May as well go straight to the legal bit now, on the basis the lease termination clause is impossible to fulfill.

LeaseCompanyHostage

Not much changed this week. Phoned Renault Carlisle few more times, most of the time they just didn't pick up, when they did, right person wasn't available, was told they'd call back, they never did. 

On Friday got an email from Renault customer services with nothing new or useful in it. I emailed a whole bunch of addresses complaining. Saturday Renault Carlisle called me for the first time... But I had to explain the whole thing again and the lady said she couldn't answer my questions, servicing people would call me back on Monday.

They are all either incompetent or intentionally evasive.

LeaseCompanyHostage

Well less than 24hrs before the appointment, Lookers Carlisle finally, first time, called us back, to say they actually couldn't do it.

Would appreciate any thoughts people have of how I might escalate this further? Financial Ombudsman says I have to give it 8 weeks from formal complaint before I can file one with them. Small claims process seems to only be there for reclaiming financial loss after you've suffered it. I could try finding the email addresses of every senior Renault person I can and emailing them asking for help?

forgotmyname

Ectophile said:

OK, I simplified that a bit.  The new lessor has to be registered with RCI.  So you shouldn't really hand over the car until RCI have confirmed that the lease has been transferred.

There's a good reason why no manufacturer sells battery lease cars in the UK any more.

I wonder how many people own these vehicles and are tied into paying forever if RCI rejects all potential purchasers?  Many of the early cars
must be virtually scrap money now.

born_again

LeaseCompanyHostage said:

Well less than 24hrs before the appointment, Lookers Carlisle finally, first time, called us back, to say they actually couldn't do it.

Would appreciate any thoughts people have of how I might escalate this further? Financial Ombudsman says I have to give it 8 weeks from formal complaint before I can file one with them. Small claims process seems to only be there for reclaiming financial loss after you've suffered it. I could try finding the email addresses of every senior Renault person I can and emailing them asking for help?

Have you tried the other options suggested?

Herzlos

LeaseCompanyHostage said:

Well less than 24hrs before the appointment, Lookers Carlisle finally, first time, called us back, to say they actually couldn't do it.

Would appreciate any thoughts people have of how I might escalate this further? Financial Ombudsman says I have to give it 8 weeks from formal complaint before I can file one with them. Small claims process seems to only be there for reclaiming financial loss after you've suffered it. I could try finding the email addresses of every senior Renault person I can and emailing them asking for help?

Did you get any quotes from EV salvage/buyers to take it off you as is?

Did you get a price to buy off the battery lease?

Assuming you're not worried about getting the scrap value back for the car I'd be tempted to return the whole car to the finance company, send them a recorded letter notifying them and record yourself parking it and handing in the keys, then stop paying the lease and let them try to take it to court. 
Or I'd buy out the finance under duress and send them a money claim online (MCOL) for your money back, and argue you are doing it in that way to minimise the costs you are claiming.