direct auto charges

[saddler10]

Hi, having a bit of a problem with Direct Auto. I am completely up to date with my monthly payments, however, a couple may have been a few days late. They are now sending me letters at £15.00 a time to tell me my account is in arrears. Surely these fees for letters carry the same principle as bank charges and are penalty charges, not enforcable in consumer contracts. Just wondering if anyone has challenged these £15.00 fees and what the outcome may have been. Not sure whether to pay now to stop the threats then pursue these unfair charges, or write now to say I won't pay their unlawful charges.

Grateful for any advice.
Paul

[callumsgran]

Yup, claim them back, it doesnt cost them £15 to send you a letter saying your payment is late!!!

[cazpoppies]

Hi,

I'm in the same position, was late with one payment couple of months ago and they are sending me about 2 letters every week charging me £15 a time. I've told them to bolt, these charges are unlawful and I won't be paying them!!

[saddler10]

Hi,thanks for the quick responses. I now have another letter dated 21/6 (and another £15.00 fee of course). This letter says "Do not ignore this final attempt to allow us to prevent further action being taken". Out of interst Cazpoppies, what was their response to your refusal to pay?

Paul

[cazpoppies]

HI Paul,

Can't say that I've had any response really, I called them and told them and they said they would put a note on my account but I've now had 6 from them and 3 letters I've sent them saying that I'm not paying them.
My account is now up to date as far as paying for the car is concerned and I'm going to ignore there charges. I no longer accept their telephone calls. (average of 6 to house and 6 to mobile every day)

I'm not sure that burying my head in the sand is the right way to go about this but the way I see it is that they are charging me for being in arrears but it is their charges that have put me in this position.

[saddler10]

Have just sent them a letter stating their charges are unlawful and requesting for all charges to be removed. Now I will await their response.

[cazpoppies]

Good for you Paul, let us know their response.

[saddler10]

Two letters received today from Direct Auto. The first one I opened as follows;

Thank you for your letter received today.
In accordance with our terms and conditions (section 5 Indemnity) fees are charged for each letter sent relating to an overdue payment. However as a gesture of goodwill in this instance we have removed one of the charges.

Well, in my opinion, the fact that their charges are in accordance with their terms and conditions doesn't make them lawful. Oh, and the second letter I received today? Another arrears letter and another charge! So much for their goodwill!

[saddler10]

Having received a reply from Direct auto stating that their fees are in accordance with their terms and conditions, I have written back quoting their terms and conditions to them.

Section 5 indemnity 5.2 costs REASONABLY incurred by us in preparing and sending reminders, termination and demand letters, default notices, statements of account, copy documents, settlement quotations or otherwise...

I await their reply, and more reminder letters to add to the amount that they already claim that I owe.

[cazpoppies]

Be interesting to hear their response to that.
Must admit I haven't heard anything more from them since I told them to get lost and to stop calling me but I'm sure that they will still pursue me for the charges they have applied.

[saddler10]

Well after a couple of months of continued £15.00 charges, maybe it's time to start the same process as we are using for our bank charges. I haven't paid any of these charges, so could send a preliminary request for removal of charges, rather than repayment.
Has anyone else challenged these charges yet, and what has been the response. The only response I have received to my communications is 'in accordance with our terms and conditions'.
They are also phoning several times every day.(I don't answer!) Can I ask them not to contact me by phone, am I right in thinking they're are breaking a law if they then continue to do so?

cheers, Paul

[bakedalasker]

Hi saddler10,

For the refund aimed at DAF please feel free to visit this link: -
www.saynotoyes.co.uk -> Templates For Letters

For those awful telephone calls from them why not have a look here: -
www.saynotoyes.co.uk -> Template For Harressment

[saddler10]

Thanks bakedalasker, I now have two letters ready to go, a request for removal of charges (adapted from 'refund' letter, as I've not actually paid any of their £15.00 charges, despite their threats!) and also a demand for telephone calls to stop.

cheers, Paul

[saddler10]

Have received a response to my letter regarding phonecalls, however it just says that Mr. Plowman is out of the office until mid-October and my letter has been passed on to the Chief Operations officer, Mr Gilhooley who will respond to me direct.

Paul

[bakedalasker]

Thanks Saddler10 for keeping us informed. I will be very interested to how Mr. Gilhooley responds.

[saddler10]

Hi all, the following letter arrived today, a little worrying at first but on checking back, I found that I received exactly the same letter on 4th July.

Dear saddler10,
current arrears £310.00

Despite recent reminders, payment on your account remains overdue. We now require immediate payment of the arrears.

If you are unable to make this payment, you should contact us as a matter of urgency on the number above.

May we remind you that continued failure to make payment on your account will lead to us taking further action, and may result in your vehicle being repossessed.

Please do not ignore this reminder, it is not in your interests to do so.

Well the £310.00 is all charges so I won't be paying. When they sent the same letter in July they took no further action, will they now?

Paul

[bakedalasker]

Saddler10,

My fear here is that they will start the process to take action. DAF are trying their best to bring to a close the YCC saga. Its been Providents, the owners of DAF, biggest mistake and they want rid. We are hearing of the smallest reason to repossess clients cars and from that we are assuming they want it all bringing to a quick end.

I'm afraid they will try and repossess your car, chase you for the remaining amount of your agreement then after a very short time when they have got nowhere with you will sell the debt on to a low life DCA. I say low life because anyone gaining from the YCC saga is just that. Thats my opinion.

Also the fact that you feel you have a claim regarding these charges DAF will not look at it that way and will put the emphasise on you to prove it. Expect a default notice through the letter box then the process has started.

My advice to you is to seek legal advice on this. It is not clear how long you have had the car with DAF or what you took out with them. So its difficult to give you a rough idea how much they would chase you for. If you are an average case it could quite easily be in the thousands.

Not too sure if you have studied our site www.saynotoyes.co.uk but we have loads of cases just like yours. We also know we have the right channels to advise our users to go down. A majority of our users who have taken our advise have had their debts "set aside" or at least a vast reduction to pay to what DAF chase for.

Hope to see you there.

[saddler10]

cheers Bakedalasker, I have visited your site. I have already used youtr template for intended court action, the deadline for which expires shortly. You also have a letter there for 'formally putting the account in dispute'. Should I use that to prevent further action by them. I have had the car (from Yes car credit) since April 2004.

Paul

[bakedalasker]

Hi Saddler10,

You have not received a default notice or any official dispute letter. At present all you have received is a "warning" letter.

Preparation is the word here in case you are forced to go down this road. As this is not a matter of urgency yet my advice to you hear is to seek legal advice from the CAB. You took out the contract with YCC when the way they executed their agreements where wrong. If you ask to speak to a specialist advisor at the CAB they will be able to inform you if you have a case if the need arises.

DAF might refund your charges or they might default you or do nothing. Best to be prepared for the worse case scenarios which in this case would be the default.