I VT'd my car at the beginning of February and it was collected by the auction company,

it failed to sell in the first auction and as far as I know it sold in the second one on the 21st March.

Now I made an extra payment after the VT and just let them have £80 for collecting the car as I wanted it out of the way as it was parked on the road,

I phoned Advantage to request a refund of the remaining money only to be told there was a charge for bringing the car up to standard,

it turned out I owe them £173 for refurb of 4 wheels and painting scratches on the rear bumper.

Given that the car was 10 years old I thought this to be unreasonable

got the car auction to take some photos for me on the 21st March,

guess what no work had been carried out.

today Advantage called me chasing up the money

I asked them for proof of work in the form of an invoice

they said the work doesn't have to be carried out

just that is what it would have cost so I owe it.

Also they said my account was still open and wouldn't be marked as settled until I paid,

I told them this charge is nothing to do with the credit agreement itself so it should be marked as settled.

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

That's advantage for

They always 'take advantage' of people that don't research things properly

Under the act they cannot charge anything.

You shouldn't of paid for collection either!!

from my notes:

Section 99 of the Consumer Credit Act gives the debtor the right to terminate a hire purchase agreement,

simply by giving written notice of termination.

.

The right to terminate applies at any time before the final payment becomes due, unless the creditor has already terminated.

.

contrary to the line taken by many finance companies,

.

the debtor need not have paid half the total amount payable,

.

and nor do they have to pay any arrears,

.

before exercising the right to terminate.

.

Sections 99 and 100 set out the debtor's liability on voluntary termination. The sections are complex,

.

but their main effect can be summarised in brief as follows.

.

.If the sum of payments made and arrears before termination exceeds 50% of the total price,

than the debtor is only liable to pay the arrears.

.

Otherwise, the debtor is liable to pay half the total price, less any payments already made.

.

so the debtor can terminate at any time if he has reached the 50 % mark

.

the debtor can terminate at any time before the 50 % mark but would be liable for payments still to reach the 50 % mark,

.

does not matter if the account is in arrears at the time or request to do a voluntary termination.

.

you need to specifically nail them down that this is a VT and NOT a VS [volutary surrender].

dont get caught out!!

take extensive photos of the car inside and out

and underneath and in the engine compartment ALWAYS.

if they try and charge a repo fee or collection fee they cannot:

173 Contracting-out forbidden.

(1)A term contained in a regulated agreement or linked transaction, or in any other agreement relating to an actual or prospective regulated agreement or linked transaction, is void if, and to the extent that, it is inconsistent with a provision for the protection of the debtor or hirer or his relative or any surety contained in this Act or in any regulation made under this Act.

This term is covered by the above section of the CCA 1974 in that it breaches this:

99 Right to terminate hire-purchase etc. agreements.

(1)At any time before the final payment by the debtor under a regulated hire-purchase or regulated conditional sale agreement falls due, the debtor shall be entitled to terminate the agreement by giving notice to any person entitled or authorised to receive the sums payable under the agreement

In other words nothing can stop you voluntarily terminating.

The only charges you must pay are the ones contained in the legislation and itemised in section 101, the charge mentioned is levied after the agrement is terminated and is void in any case. All it means is that no one will collect the terminated car(their car), well that is ther problem it is no longer yours , your attachment to the car has been terminated.

.

although dependant on the way your agreement is written, they can charge excess mileage

.

this has been accepted at county courticon level, but afaik has not been tested in a higher court

..

..............example letter..ADAPT TO SUIT.............

.

You must vt under s99/100 cca1974. do not sign any of their forms, or agree to pay anything.

.

The car has just to be in reasonable condition for its age.

If you have paid in excess of 50%,

with no arrears there will be nothing to pay.

.

Send them the following letter,

they MUST action your request,

you should endeavour to be present at the vehicle inspection---

.

VOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT UNDER S99/100 CCA 1974

.

Account No: (xxxxxxx)

.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to notify you that I am exercising my right to terminate the above Agreement

under Section 99 of the consumer credit act1974.

.

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.

.

**As I have/have not paid more than the amount calculated under the formula in Section 100 the amount due is £XXXX/zero.

.

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 in writing within 7 days of receipt.

.

-Yours etc...

..

The VT has been done using the appropriate letter,

the issue now is they are trying to charge me a fee that would bring the car up to a reasonable standard even though they state the work has not taken place and the car has been sold.

They also state that the fee is to cover the sale value of the car although as I stated how can they do that when the car is being sold at auction,

I have also told them I intend to push this all the way using all agencies available,

my wife spoke to the Financial Conduct Authority a couple of days ago and they stated that this could possibly be verging on a criminal offence on the part of Advantage Finance depending on the T's & C's of the agreement which only states reasonable condition.

I can easily prove that the particular alloy wheels supplied on these cars are all prone to corrosion and as for a few paint scratches on the rear bumper of an estate car when it's ten years old is in my opinion reasonable, especially when there were far more serious scratches on the drivers door. This is going to be interesting to see if they really want to pursue this.

Advantage also state that my account will not be marked as settled on credit reference until this is settled even though this is not the credit agreement, is this correct?

pers i'd ignore them

they've already rouked you for getting the car back

is it on your file?

Just an update,

checked my bank account this morning to find Advantage have refunded the over payment minus the £80 collection fee so I'll settle for that.

It would seem that my insistence of taking it to the financial ombudsman and the mention of a possible criminal offence on their part for claiming money for work that wasn't done had an effect.

It would appear that when they charge you for bringing the car back up to spec they don't actually do it and the auction were very helpful in supplying photos to prove it.

good result

though they were rather cheeky charging £80

it specifically states in the act that they cannot charge anything

I'll swallow the recovery charge as it's a fair trip from mine to the auction site and it saved a day off work.

Strange that they refunded without informing me so will be interesting to see how long it takes to mark the credit file as settled.

Just proves that if you're forceful and stick to you're guns they will back down.

As I explained to them I didn't have an issue with the finance deal as I was fully aware of what I was signing up too,

what did annoy me was after being a prompt paying but also satisfied customer they chose to treat me in this way,

so maybe that had bearing on their about turn.

no their about 'half turn' was because the Consumer Credit Act specifically states that they cannot make charges.

so they've gone halfway

now you want the rest or you'll complain to the FOS

that costs them +£400 now I think or even more even if the 'win'

sorry but if you think they are being 'nice' to you are WRONG

they've stolen £80 from you GO GET IT BACK.

else threaten them with going to the FOS

you'll WIN hands down