jimfacebinface
Paid Member
Afternoon all,
I've dug out my old thread because I thought people would be interested to know the outcome, should anyone find themselves in a similar situation.
After pretty much a year of tooing and frowing, it's been successfully challenged and won, but it hasn't been easy. I'm sure a lot of people would have given up and had the car repaired, but I just couldn't justify that and why should I have?
In the beginning, the garage from where the car came (a very renown RS specialist) categorically stated that they will not front any of the repair cost and that my expectation of their involvement was out of order. I offered to contribute a large amount towards the repairs on the basis that they fix any consequential damage. They didn't accept this.
From this point, the finance company took over the case. They sent out several independent assessors to see the vehicle and the damage. All verdicts came back that it wasn't reasonable to expect me to pay for any damages, though no true liability could be proven given what had happened.
The finance company took A LONG TIME to get things moving and they don't like to keep you in the loop of things. You really have to press on them to get anything done. It ended up with me having to do a lot of their research for them, as their offering was to take it to a Halfords Autocentre for them to inspect and repair, which I refused of course, but this dragged it out further. I eventually got them to agree to having it recovered to a garage of my choice.
Once the car was inspected, it was found it had pretty much completely detonated, much to the dismay of the finance company when they realised how much it was going to cost. From this point, they tried everything they could to back out of the deal, hence the length of the case.
In March this year, the Financial Ombudsman was involved to review the case and they were given all information from the moment of breakdown up until it was recovered to my favoured garage.
So to cut a long story slightly shorter for you, the Ombudsman sided with me and that the whole scenario had been handled completely unprofessionally, both by the finance company and by the dealer. Their decision is final and is enforceable by law.
They have instructed the finance company to: have the car fully repaired at a garage of my choice and not at my expense, repay all finance payments from the date of sale to the date the car is returned to the road (with 10% annual interest) and to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation before the car is returned. On top of this, they now owe the garage storage costs since February. All in all, the bill they've got to pay is around £12K. A hard pill to swallow given the sale value was £8K and it might have cost them around £2K to put right, especially when I offered to contribute. I'm sure they'll be having their own battle now with the dealer who sold the car who hopefully feels quite red-faced. Funnily enough, partway through this battle, the dealer offered to have the car returned to them for repair, something I asked for 10 months prior and luckily, the Ombudsman saw through it and denied them the luxury.
Yes, it might have taken close to a year (breakdown in August), but let this be a lesson to not give in to the pressure of these companies. If you have done no wrong and you're feeling let down, just take it to a higher power. I only wish I had involved the Ombudsman much sooner. They were more than happy to take on the case and very helpful and encouraging. They must take great pleasure making sure these sorts of companies meet their comeuppance.
It has restored my faith in the system that there is someone who is truly fighting for "the man" in cases like this. I originally thought it was going to end up costing me a fortune but luckily I was in a position to keep fighting (I had use of another vehicle).
Anyway, I hope that none of you have to go through the motions I have, but if you do, don't give up. Persevere and see it through and justice will prevail.
I'm dead excited to get the car back and looking forward to driving it again.
Cheers
James
I've dug out my old thread because I thought people would be interested to know the outcome, should anyone find themselves in a similar situation.
After pretty much a year of tooing and frowing, it's been successfully challenged and won, but it hasn't been easy. I'm sure a lot of people would have given up and had the car repaired, but I just couldn't justify that and why should I have?
In the beginning, the garage from where the car came (a very renown RS specialist) categorically stated that they will not front any of the repair cost and that my expectation of their involvement was out of order. I offered to contribute a large amount towards the repairs on the basis that they fix any consequential damage. They didn't accept this.
From this point, the finance company took over the case. They sent out several independent assessors to see the vehicle and the damage. All verdicts came back that it wasn't reasonable to expect me to pay for any damages, though no true liability could be proven given what had happened.
The finance company took A LONG TIME to get things moving and they don't like to keep you in the loop of things. You really have to press on them to get anything done. It ended up with me having to do a lot of their research for them, as their offering was to take it to a Halfords Autocentre for them to inspect and repair, which I refused of course, but this dragged it out further. I eventually got them to agree to having it recovered to a garage of my choice.
Once the car was inspected, it was found it had pretty much completely detonated, much to the dismay of the finance company when they realised how much it was going to cost. From this point, they tried everything they could to back out of the deal, hence the length of the case.
In March this year, the Financial Ombudsman was involved to review the case and they were given all information from the moment of breakdown up until it was recovered to my favoured garage.
So to cut a long story slightly shorter for you, the Ombudsman sided with me and that the whole scenario had been handled completely unprofessionally, both by the finance company and by the dealer. Their decision is final and is enforceable by law.
They have instructed the finance company to: have the car fully repaired at a garage of my choice and not at my expense, repay all finance payments from the date of sale to the date the car is returned to the road (with 10% annual interest) and to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation before the car is returned. On top of this, they now owe the garage storage costs since February. All in all, the bill they've got to pay is around £12K. A hard pill to swallow given the sale value was £8K and it might have cost them around £2K to put right, especially when I offered to contribute. I'm sure they'll be having their own battle now with the dealer who sold the car who hopefully feels quite red-faced. Funnily enough, partway through this battle, the dealer offered to have the car returned to them for repair, something I asked for 10 months prior and luckily, the Ombudsman saw through it and denied them the luxury.
Yes, it might have taken close to a year (breakdown in August), but let this be a lesson to not give in to the pressure of these companies. If you have done no wrong and you're feeling let down, just take it to a higher power. I only wish I had involved the Ombudsman much sooner. They were more than happy to take on the case and very helpful and encouraging. They must take great pleasure making sure these sorts of companies meet their comeuppance.
It has restored my faith in the system that there is someone who is truly fighting for "the man" in cases like this. I originally thought it was going to end up costing me a fortune but luckily I was in a position to keep fighting (I had use of another vehicle).
Anyway, I hope that none of you have to go through the motions I have, but if you do, don't give up. Persevere and see it through and justice will prevail.
I'm dead excited to get the car back and looking forward to driving it again.
Cheers
James
