PCP missold policy and now stuck with mileage charges
evensteven
Posts: 4 Newbie
in Motoring
3 years ago I bought a Nissan qashqai and was informed about PCP by the sales adviser. I needed a car quickly as my old car was on it's last legs. I told them I would like to spend approx £200 a month and that was my budget. They asked the usual questions and also asked how many miles I did, to which I told them 10,000 a year.
They couldn't get near to the figure I wanted (£270) we were prepared to leave until he said he would have word with the manager (the usual tricks). He came back and siad he could do £250 a month and throw in extras such as mats and a service plan.
Anyway we agreed and were told we would have the car within 2 weeks.
That didn't happen. When I was talked through the pcp I was informed that I could hand the car back after I'd paid 50% of the total with no further payments. Or I could return it and put it down as payment towards a new one or I could buy it. I was told I could change it at anytime. I noticed that the annual mileage was 5000 on the contact and I raised this with the adviser who told me it didn't matter and it wasn't important it was only if I handed the car back early. I explained that I didn't do 5000 but 10,000 and he kept telling me not to worry. Stupidly I still signed but at the time I was reassured more than once that it wasn't important.
I now realise this isnt true as I've come to the end of my agreement and have paid 50% and wanted to hand it back. However I've done Double the mileage (31000) and have been advised of a £1500 minimum excess charges!
I tried to contact the garage and for 4 days they ignored my calls and emails so I raised a complaint with customer services.
Since then, the garage have contacted me to say they've looked into and nothing they can do. This came from their compliance manager.
Where do I stand with this as I am adamant of the conversations I had with the sales adviser who still works there and have got some copies of notes I made at the time. Also a copy of my contract which has been scrawled over by the sales adviser who underlined the bots he wanted me to deem important- such as monthly payments but NOT mileage which was hidden in a corner of the document. I accept that I signed it but the policy itself was not explained correctly and now I'm fitting a bill of £1500 to get rid of the car!
Any help appreciated
They couldn't get near to the figure I wanted (£270) we were prepared to leave until he said he would have word with the manager (the usual tricks). He came back and siad he could do £250 a month and throw in extras such as mats and a service plan.
Anyway we agreed and were told we would have the car within 2 weeks.
That didn't happen. When I was talked through the pcp I was informed that I could hand the car back after I'd paid 50% of the total with no further payments. Or I could return it and put it down as payment towards a new one or I could buy it. I was told I could change it at anytime. I noticed that the annual mileage was 5000 on the contact and I raised this with the adviser who told me it didn't matter and it wasn't important it was only if I handed the car back early. I explained that I didn't do 5000 but 10,000 and he kept telling me not to worry. Stupidly I still signed but at the time I was reassured more than once that it wasn't important.
I now realise this isnt true as I've come to the end of my agreement and have paid 50% and wanted to hand it back. However I've done Double the mileage (31000) and have been advised of a £1500 minimum excess charges!
I tried to contact the garage and for 4 days they ignored my calls and emails so I raised a complaint with customer services.
Since then, the garage have contacted me to say they've looked into and nothing they can do. This came from their compliance manager.
Where do I stand with this as I am adamant of the conversations I had with the sales adviser who still works there and have got some copies of notes I made at the time. Also a copy of my contract which has been scrawled over by the sales adviser who underlined the bots he wanted me to deem important- such as monthly payments but NOT mileage which was hidden in a corner of the document. I accept that I signed it but the policy itself was not explained correctly and now I'm fitting a bill of £1500 to get rid of the car!
Any help appreciated
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Comments
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If you terminating early and not just coming to the end of your PCP and handing the car back the excess mileage charge may not be enforceable.0
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You signed a CONTRACT - I'm guessing you didn't have a gun to your head and that no one you care about had been taken hostage to force you to sign.
How can you possibly say you were mis-sold a contract when you signed it voluntarily?0 -
You've spent £720 less over the three years because you signed up for a lower mileage. You've had the benefit of the service plan which you didn't pay for. So you should deduct those from the £1500 mileage charge.
But, as others have said, your best bet is to VT the car, if there is still time.0 -
You read the contract before signing. You noticed the difference in mileage allowance. You signed the contract anyway because you thought the headline monthly cost was more important to you.
Mileage over the contractual limit may or may not be charged on VT - three years ago, when you took the contract on, it used to be seen a blanket "not chargeable", AIUI, but the legal situation appears not be as clear-cut now. If, however, you pay the balloon to keep the car, then the mileage is totally irrelevant.0 -
You mis-bought, this wasn't mis-sold.
Salesperson was breaking the rules and got you to sign - conversations you had wont mean anything as the contract was signed.
Try and hand it back and you may get hit for the mileage charges, you could fight it and see where it goes but be prepared to lose.
Or find out the settlement figure against the market value to see if you are winning or not and buy it back with loan and sell on...but its probably not worth it as you may only be chasing £1500.0 -
evensteven wrote: »3 years ago I bought a Nissan qashqai and was informed about PCP by the sales adviser. I needed a car quickly as my old car was on it's last legs. I told them I would like to spend approx £200 a month and that was my budget. They asked the usual questions and also asked how many miles I did, to which I told them 10,000 a year.
They couldn't get near to the figure I wanted (£270) we were prepared to leave until he said he would have word with the manager (the usual tricks). He came back and siad he could do £250 a month and throw in extras such as mats and a service plan.
Anyway we agreed and were told we would have the car within 2 weeks.
That didn't happen. When I was talked through the pcp I was informed that I could hand the car back after I'd paid 50% of the total with no further payments. Or I could return it and put it down as payment towards a new one or I could buy it. I was told I could change it at anytime. I noticed that the annual mileage was 5000 on the contact and I raised this with the adviser who told me it didn't matter and it wasn't important it was only if I handed the car back early. I explained that I didn't do 5000 but 10,000 and he kept telling me not to worry. Stupidly I still signed but at the time I was reassured more than once that it wasn't important.
I now realise this isnt true as I've come to the end of my agreement and have paid 50% and wanted to hand it back. However I've done Double the mileage (31000) and have been advised of a £1500 minimum excess charges!
I tried to contact the garage and for 4 days they ignored my calls and emails so I raised a complaint with customer services.
Since then, the garage have contacted me to say they've looked into and nothing they can do. This came from their compliance manager.
Where do I stand with this as I am adamant of the conversations I had with the sales adviser who still works there and have got some copies of notes I made at the time. Also a copy of my contract which has been scrawled over by the sales adviser who underlined the bots he wanted me to deem important- such as monthly payments but NOT mileage which was hidden in a corner of the document. I accept that I signed it but the policy itself was not explained correctly and now I'm fitting a bill of £1500 to get rid of the car!
Any help appreciated
You'll likely get a lot more for it either- trading it in
- selling it privately
- selling it to an online buying site
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foxy-stoat wrote: »You mis-bought, this wasn't mis-sold.
Salesperson was breaking the rules and got you to sign - conversations you had wont mean anything as the contract was signed.
Try and hand it back and you may get hit for the mileage charges, you could fight it and see where it goes but be prepared to lose.
Or find out the settlement figure against the market value to see if you are winning or not and buy it back with loan and sell on...but its probably not worth it as you may only be chasing £1500.
In fairness if the salesman said "the charges only become payable if you hand the car back at the end of term, therefore simply dont hand the car back at the end of term", he wasnt lying or breaking any rules was he?0 -
In fairness if the salesman said "the charges only become payable if you hand the car back at the end of term, therefore simply dont hand the car back at the end of term", he wasnt lying or breaking any rules was he?
If that was the case then the OP would not have to pay any excess mileage charges when he VT'd - but there is a possibility that he will. Contract was still made on the basis that the stated mileage was half of the actual mileage required to keep the price down.0 -
Should check with the finance company in the first instance to see if they charge for excess mileage, some do and some dont. I was lucky with Black horse as they dont so the car got VT'd straight away with about 25k excess mileage.0
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There's a big difference between will-they-won't-they on a VT, and will-they-won't-they at the end of the contract.nightshot99 wrote: »Should check with the finance company in the first instance to see if they charge for excess mileage, some do and some dont. I was lucky with Black horse as they dont so the car got VT'd straight away with about 25k excess mileage.0
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