Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

[John_APL]

Hi

My daughter bought a car just over 2.5 years ago on a 5 year HP deal. The car is no longer suited to her needs after she changed job and she needs to buy something more suited to motorway driving. We are considering VT on the basis that she has paid in excess of the 50% required and the residual value of the car is less than the settlement figure. When she bought the car, she didn't get a service book or user manual so in effect, has lost any previous history. We do however have copies of the service invoices since she has owned the vehicle, one from the dealership when she bough the car and another more recent when she had done circa 12,000 miles from purchase. The car has a 10K miles or 12 month service interval and has only completed circa 33,000 miles from new and just over 11,000 miles in my daughters ownership. This means that she didn't have the 12 month service done as recommended.

The car is otherwise in good and reasonable condition and well within the mileage allowance of 10K per year. We have looked at the CAP Vehicle Condition table you have provided and worry that the missing service book may put us in the "Below" category even though we would be in the "Clean" category in all other aspects. Your guidance on this would be appreciated.

The HP company is MotoNova and I have read in the forum that they charge £300 for missing service books. Given that our liability is restricted to 50% of the monies due on the agreement, is this enforceable?

Total amount payable = £10,312.40
Paid to date = £5,542.37
Balance = £4770.03
Settlement figure = £4,025.79

Thank you for such a valuable Forum; it has been very useful and enlightening.

[John_APL]

Re: Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

Hi

My daughter bought a car just over 2.5 years ago on a 5 year HP deal. The car is no longer suited to her needs after she changed job and she needs to buy something more suited to motorway driving. We are considering VT on the basis that she has paid in excess of the 50% required and the residual value of the car is less than the settlement figure. When she bought the car, she didn't get a service book or user manual so in effect, has lost any previous history. We do however have copies of the service invoices since she has owned the vehicle, one from the dealership when she bough the car and another more recent when she had done circa 12,000 miles from purchase. The car has a 10K miles or 12 month service interval and has only completed circa 33,000 miles from new and just over 11,000 miles in my daughters ownership. This means that she didn't have the 12 month service done as recommended.

The car is otherwise in good and reasonable condition and well within the mileage allowance of 10K per year. We have looked at the CAP Vehicle Condition table you have provided and worry that the missing service book may put us in the "Below" category even though we would be in the "Clean" category in all other aspects. Your guidance on this would be appreciated.

The HP company is MotoNova and I have read in the forum that they charge £300 for missing service books. Given that our liability is restricted to 50% of the monies due on the agreement, is this enforceable?

Total amount payable = £10,312.40
Paid to date = £5,542.37
Balance = £4770.03
Settlement figure = £4,025.79

Thank you for such a valuable Forum; it has been very useful and enlightening.

@R0b

Are you able to comment on this please ROb.

Thanks

[R0b]

Re: Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

Are they claiming £300 for the service book or the cost of services? If the former, I would say no it isn't enforceable just like any collection charges but also that £300 seems pretty steep for a replacement log book. If they are claiming the latter, then all you need to do is provide them with the invoices of the services done. I would take copies of those services so you have a record in case they try to dispute that there is no record of services having been carried out.

The CAP Conditions does say loose value items may be missing in the average condition, though I don't know what the cost of a service book is. That being said, the actual servicing of the car is more valuable than the book itself and she could also argue that the service book was never there when she purchased the car. It is up to MotoNova to prove that there was and if they can't then in the absence of such evidence, the consumer ought to be given the benefit. You have to remember, you only need to keep the car maintained in a reasonable condition and I would expect that a pragmatic view is also taken in terms of documents and manuals that comes with the car. You are not expected to put it in a better condition or in your daughters case, to be required to purchase or pay for a service book or other documents that were not supplied at the time of sale.

It's up to your daughter as to what she wants to do but you will realise that lenders can be very aggressive and make life difficult when exercising your right to VT so she will need to stick to her guns if she wants to follow it through, or simply agree to the charge.

[John_APL]

Re: Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

Are they claiming £300 for the service book or the cost of services? If the former, I would say no it isn't enforceable just like any collection charges but also that £300 seems pretty steep for a replacement log book. If they are claiming the latter, then all you need to do is provide them with the invoices of the services done. I would take copies of those services so you have a record in case they try to dispute that there is no record of services having been carried out.

The CAP Conditions does say loose value items may be missing in the average condition, though I don't know what the cost of a service book is. That being said, the actual servicing of the car is more valuable than the book itself and she could also argue that the service book was never there when she purchased the car. It is up to MotoNova to prove that there was and if they can't then in the absence of such evidence, the consumer ought to be given the benefit. You have to remember, you only need to keep the car maintained in a reasonable condition and I would expect that a pragmatic view is also taken in terms of documents and manuals that comes with the car. You are not expected to put it in a better condition or in your daughters case, to be required to purchase or pay for a service book or other documents that were not supplied at the time of sale.

It's up to your daughter as to what she wants to do but you will realise that lenders can be very aggressive and make life difficult when exercising your right to VT so she will need to stick to her guns if she wants to follow it through, or simply agree to the charge.

@R0b

Thanks for the prompt response! We haven't initiated the VT yet but I have read in the forum that this lender has asked for £300 for a missing service book. As to the cost of replacing it, I have contacted Chevrolet main dealers as well as Chevrolet UK; replacement books are no longer available.

When my daughter bought the car, (I wasn't with her at the time), she was told it was a one previous owner car. It turned out however that the car was owned by Enterprise Car Rental company and then sold on to the dealer when they had finished with it. I did try to contact Enterprise to see what, if any, servicing was done by them or if they may still have the missing documents but didn't get anywhere.

Thank you for your valuable help.

John

[R0b]

Re: Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

As I've said, it would be unfair for your daughter to put them in a better position than they were at the point of sale and in any event, even if it were a breach they would need to justify the £300 by reference to something rather than arbitrary amount. Also, it would be a sum for compensation and, according to the CCA under section 100, the definition of total price (for the purposes of liability) excludes any sums relating to compensation or breach of the agreement.

Sometimes, if the previous owner knows where the servicing was carried out then you can sometimes contact them and they may have the information available to them, particularly if its a well known dealership you may be able to pop into any one of their garages and see if they have a record of it, or they may just have their own local records.

Either way, expect the worst outcome and expect MotoNova to charge for it, but then pushback for the reasons above and see what they say.

[John_APL]

Re: Voluntary Termination - Missing Service and Users Manual

As I've said, it would be unfair for your daughter to put them in a better position than they were at the point of sale and in any event, even if it were a breach they would need to justify the £300 by reference to something rather than arbitrary amount. Also, it would be a sum for compensation and, according to the CCA under section 100, the definition of total price (for the purposes of liability) excludes any sums relating to compensation or breach of the agreement.

Sometimes, if the previous owner knows where the servicing was carried out then you can sometimes contact them and they may have the information available to them, particularly if its a well known dealership you may be able to pop into any one of their garages and see if they have a record of it, or they may just have their own local records.

Either way, expect the worst outcome and expect MotoNova to charge for it, but then pushback for the reasons above and see what they say.

@R0b

Thanks again; I'll keep you posted on the outcome.