VT against British Credit Trust

[grantyblade]

Hey,

 

My girlfirend is 23 months through a 48 month HP agreement with BCT. She has an impeccable payment record with them and she has now requested to VT when the next payment is due as she wants a new car on better APR etc..

 

BCT have promptly sent the relevant documentation back to VT, with the obvious scare mongery about potential repair costs etc if the car ain't in good nick. Now there are a few scratches etc.. that I will try to iron out best I can plus 1 damaged alloy wheel. Again as I say I will ensure getting the car in best repair possible without spending too much.

 

Now the 2 problems/ dilemmas I have is firstly do we pay the £110 for them to collecty the car and hopefully the collection company won't follow procedures and check the car properly and just take it? Or do we drive it down to Leeds to one of their depots and see what happens. We live in North East so it's only roughly an hours drive away so to drive car would save £.

 

Secondly is their statement in us VT'ing that if the car doesn't mean their valuation, then we would be laible for the difference the actually makes at auction. How does this exactly work and are there any loopholes I should know about or scams they may try and play?

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

[crem]

If you are VTing a car which is shown as a clause within your agreement, which it must be or they wouldn't even be agreeing to it in the first place, then they cannot charge you anything further just because it failed to achieve their valuation at auction.

 

Your VT clause should say something like

 

TERMINATION - YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to terminate this agreement. To do so you should write to the person you make your payments to. We will then be entitled to the return of the goods and to half the total amount payable under this agreement, that is £x,xxx.xx. If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue instalments and have taken reasonable care of the goods, you will not have to pay anything else.

So, the important bits in there as I see it are:

 

1) have you paid more than half the total amount payable?

 

2) would you consider the condition to be "reasonable" for it's age? if so make sure put them to test on proving any damage they claim is unreasonable.

 

3) If you have paid 50% or more of the cost then what they make at auction is no longer your concern and they can't charge you for the shortfall.

 

4) On what basis are they justifying a charge for collection? At the very least I would insist they collect it, at their expense, from a mutually convenient location (e.g. the same place you collected it from when buying it?). I doubt there is anything in the contract stating you have to pay their transport costs.

 

Remember to hold firmly to the stated term in their contract; i.e. "if you have paid at least half the amount due then you will have nothing more to pay." If they are trying to charge you transport costs, then that by default means they want you to pay more, which is contrary to the contract!

Edited March 11, 2010 by crem

[Helford]

Hi Grantyblade,

 

I VT'd a car back to BCT in May, sent off my letter by Special Delivery and tracked the same. About a week later I had a phone call from SMA in Leeds saying they had been instructed to pick up the car. They then appointed an Exeter company to pick it up, this took place another week later. I had a letter from BCT in the interim saying that I had a £0 liability. There was NO charge for collection or any other incidentals.

 

The pick up chap was fine, although the car was good as new, albeit high mileage, he signed the V5 transfer on behalf of BCT and took the car on a transporter. I took loads of photos prior to giving up the car. No issues subsequently, other than BCT erroneously stuck a default on my credit file , when informed, they corrected this within 24 hours. They did subsequently send a statement to show how much they ' lost' at auction [Theoretically against what they would have squeezed out of me! I VT'd as the car, a large 4 x 4 was only worth about £6500 and I still owed some £13,000 ish!, I bought it before the VED rates for such were corrupted by Brown and his cohorts.]

 

I have to say, that although BCT ripped me off with their interest rate and some charges, they dealt with the VT quite professionally.

[grantyblade]

Crem,

thats great thanks, the wording on the CCA etc.. is as you put it 'in stone' that we shouldn't have to pay anything more if it fails to meet their valuation.

 

We will have paid 50% on 4th April 2010 which will fall roughly when we give car back and they and we are aware that there is only £140 outstanding. They've been very good about it. Just wondering therefore why so nice!? Guess we haven't done owt wrong tho. But thanks for your post.

 

I shall get all the paperwork out again to re-check.

 

Helford,

 

Yeah they seem to be handling the VT very well, no probs. When you sent them the VT and they replied did they give you an option to return car or for them to collect? That's what they've done in my case but to pay £110 for the priviledge of collection. I've just sent back letter stating that we shall take car to them. maybe should have waited to read your post!?? Never mind?

 

Did they go over the car with a fine tooth comb when collecting it?

[Helford]

Never any mention of paying for collection, not that they can charge, as I understand anyway.

 

The collection chap did a quick walk around only, less than a minute. I have to say, even with 60K ish mileage, the car was immaculate inside and out, so no reasons to doubt anything else. Obviously there was some wear and tear as would be expected.

 

H