Voluntary Termination with VWFS

[johndobey]

Hello,

I'm getting close to VT'ing my VW and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with VTing with Volkswagen Financial Services and excess mileage. (on 18k limit and done 50k)

Suggestions are welcome on whether it is worth fighting for excess mileage with VWFS.

Regards

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Sorry for bumping this thread but would appreciate if anyone could help with this or if there's someone who has already gone through a VT with Volkswagen Financial Service, I'm going to send them a letter next week and not sure what to expect.
Interestingly I couldn't find too many complaints with VWFS and excess mileage on ombudsman decisions, so I have a little bit of hope.

[R0b]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Not that I have used VWFS but I would suggest fighting this - there's no case law on the matter and could go either way. There are arguments for both sides so they would have to take you to court on it to recover the charges, which in turn means having their agreement scrutinised and potentially creating a precedent.

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Even though I will try to do that, I'm afraid I will end up with the same result as when I tried to reject the car because of various faults the dealership didn't want to fix because, and I quote the service manager here, my car "isn't a Bentley", and I ended backing up after the adjudicator and VWFS staff informed me that I could drive the vehicle (given I was at that time dependent on _A_ vehicle) and afterwards told me that I can't reject it because I "accepted" the faults by driving the vehicle.

Anyway, I will send the following letter tomorrow (using a slightly modified template of mr. peterband that I found around here), will update this thread with results (if any), quite prepared to pay for a large sum either way.

_______________
_______________
_______________
Date:
To: Volkswagen Financial Services...
____________


Dear Sir/Madam


VOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT


Agreement No: XXXXXXX

Customer reference: XXXXXX

Registration Number: XX13 XXX

Volkswagen XXXXXXX


I am writing to notify you that I am exercising my right to terminate the above Agreement under Section 99 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. You will understand that the aforementioned section permits the debtor to terminate the agreement at any time before the last payment is due. There is no restriction regarding the exercising this statutory right, particularly none in respect of any perceived arrears or monies due on termination.


I understand that I shall be liable to you for the amount calculated under the formula in Section 100 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Please forward notice of any sums lawfully due for consideration and payment.


The above agreement will be terminated 14 days from the date of this notice.


Please send me details of how the vehicle can be returned to you.


You will be aware that statute prevents you from levying a charge for the recovery of this vehicle; guidelines also state that if you require me to deliver this vehicle it must be no more than a short (reasonable distance) from my registered address.


Please confirm receipt of this request at your earliest convenience.


Please also note that failure to collect or arrange the return of the vehicle within 14 days of the 30th of September 2015 will result in a charge of £9 per day for storage of the vehicle.


I would also like to take this opportunity to express my dissatisfaction and disappointment....(added here a sentence of how _immensely satisfied_ I was with the vehicle and their conduct)


Yours faithfully
Myself
Date
Signature

[judgemental24]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

People are forgetting that you signed a contractual agreement as a condition of finance the excess mileage penalty.

You mention a VT or voluntary termination

What agreement do you have as excess milage is normally done on personal contract hire/lease, not Hire purchase which that template above is used for

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

@judgemental24 I understand and whilst I would've been happy to pay the excess mileage, I only realised/understood what effects it could have about a month ago or so when I started into looking how I could VT the agreement. This was my first car as a young driver and I purchased it in a rush and I had a myriad of issues with this car but have always kept everyone up to date with anything that might affect the agreement (or at least what I knew it might).
I have signed a 9000 miles limit at the suggestion of the sales person as I had no idea how many miles I would do in a year (he also hinted that it would keep the monthly payments low and I won't have to pay it at the end), but changed address about 2 months after I bought the car and immediately informed the dealership to update their records. Also serviced the car accordingly and had various complaints put through to Volkswagen Finance when I was well above the mileage limit.

I also have an email which I send to the dealership asking them if there is anything I need to update as a result of moving house, while I understand the dealership and VWFS might have overlooked this, I had no idea (and still don't) whether the excess mileage on the agreement could be adjusted. Now I want to avoid having to pay everything in a lump sum, rather than paying it at all.

TL;DR but to answer your question, I have a PCP agreement.

[R0b]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Not so sure we are forgetting that he has signed a contract, just because there is a term in his contract about paying excess mileage doesn't automatically mean he is liable for it. Voluntary termination under the CCA has arguments from both a consumer and lender perspective. Under the contract the mileage has been exceeded on a pro rata basis then it should be expected that the person pays for the excess mileage as it is reasonable to say that the car would be worth less than it's value if the mileage hadn't been exceeded.

On the flip side, where a car covers a lower mileage than the contract states and the contract doesn't allow for a refund on this, then the excess mileage could be construed as a penalty and therefore not enforceable? Also, there is nothing within the CCA that means he has to pay any excess mileage and that a contractual term cannot override the Act (supposedly confirmed by trading standards).

As i said, arguments either side and maybe the reason why there's no real case law on this is the fact that lenders don't want to set a precedent and would rather make a gain from those who would just pay the excess mileage instead of fighting.

Assumign it is regulated by the CCA of course.

[judgemental24]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

You are bound by that PCP contract. The liabilities of that contract will l always belong to the hire company until a settlement figure is paid at the end of the agreement. You are only hiring the vehicle, you never own it.

You do have protections under the CCA 1974 as this will be a sort of condition sale agreement

I tend to agree with the excess mileage and penalty charges. It will go on the age of the vehicle, the contractual term and condition of the vehicle, (average mileage) including mechanical wear and tear at the end of that agreed contractual term. The contract does have the excess mileage as a contractual term which you signed and agreed to. Ithink it will be very hard to convience a judge that contractual term is unfair

The thing to remember is if the creditor puts negative information about you with the credit agencies, even in good faith it can take months and months to get it removed. All the time your credit rating to get another vehicle is in the toilet

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Just was updated after calling everyone that the car will be collected tomorrow, that is 2 over the 14 days period, not sure if I have any grounds to charge them for insurance and/or parking? (it's not a huge amount, £40 something, but still went out of my pocket)
[MENTION=70489]judgemental24[/MENTION] I'm not that worried about my credit rating for the short term at least as I sorted out another vehicle, haven't cancelled my DD yet though and they are still taking payments it seems, not sure how that's going to end up either but will wait and see I guess.

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Vehicle was collected today, took about 30 minutes to get the appraisal, in my case exterior/interior came out as "new condition" with minor scratches here and there but nothing unexpected or major yet. I have to say it was a bit dodgy as it was done on the phone and I was asked to sign under "I agree with the appraisal..." before actually seeing the appraisal, but I did ask if anything is wrong that I should know about before signing.

Assuming this bit is done I'm now trying to figure out what the next step might be, I will call VWFS first thing tomorrow morning to find that out as it seems easier than it might be and will update this thread.

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

A VWFS advisor just confirmed over the phone that I have nothing more than 50% of the agreement to pay, so all good without too much trouble.

[Amethyst]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Try get it in writing.

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

On the phone, she advised me that they do not collect any mileage or damage data when you are doing a Voluntary Termination, as long as - and I quote - "the vehicle is roadworthy", there is nothing else to pay, that after one of her colleagues advised me otherwise.

I doubt I will be able to get this in writing from them..

[johndobey]

Re: Voluntary Termination with VWFS

Almost a month away from this and I still can't believe they didn't ask for anything else to be paid on top of the 50% (or maybe I'm expecting something through the post that has just been sent and I don't know?) but I just found out by doing a bit of research that my old car was sold about 1-2 weeks ago at auction for roughly £3000 less than what I had left on my finance, which is quite interesting for me.

All in all is good and I'm happy with the result, there was a small problem with less than £50 to be paid on the agreement which someone first advised me that I will pay when I get a closing bill which includes damages and mileage etc, but apparently when speaking to someone else from VWFS they confirmed that only applies at the end of the agreement and not when you VT. This shows to me they are either not trained when it comes to voluntary termination, thought to avoid this subject as much as possible or simply forget about it as it probably doesn't happen that often.

Last thing I would like to mention is that I would suggest paying off whatever is left of the amount on the agreement up to 50% if you are reading this and VT'ing before actually reaching that point, this can leave a mark on your credit file that will most likely be hard to clear off and argue against.

Happy this subject can be closed now, thank you guys for the extremely useful resources posted on this forum, it helped a ton!