Leasing Car Repair Woes

We repaired a car a couple of years ago, the vehicle was leased and has been returned to the leasing company, it has been inspected by a company and they have said that there is a problem with our repair. They have sent pictures but we cannot see anything wrong and even their inspector says the pictures don’t show the ‘defect’.

They want to charge to rectify the work and are putting pressure on our customer, what can we do?
This is not an unusual situation, vehicle remarketing companies now appear to be seeking to recover monies to rectify alleged defects in repairs. In some cases the ‘defects’ are minimal which suggests that the companies are using the situation as a method to generate income.

The easiest way is to contact RML and ask us to assist in the creation of letters and emails. However if you are not a member and do not want to pay RML £110 (+VAT) per month for legal and HR advice you can deal with the matter personally, below are suggestions as to how to proceed. 

Clearly you will need to support the customer in this situation who unfortunately will be caught in the middle. The leasing company is required to treat their customer fairly, and if they fail to do so then your customer could make a complaint.

They should ask the leasing company for the contact details of the relevant Ombudsman and request a letter confirming that the leasing company is not prepared to take any further action. You could write a suggested letter for your customer to use and make the complaint. Once they have written to the leasing company, and if the matter is not resolved, your customer can then raise a complaint with the Ombudsman.

Vehicles that are leased are generally not required to be returned in an ‘as new’ condition as professional leasing companies realise that vehicles will wear as they are used.

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, ‘BVRLA’, is the trade body for companies engaged in the leasing and rental of cars and commercial vehicles. The BVRLA has created a fair wear and tear guide for its members.

Their guide for cars and for light commercial vehicles (vans) can be viewed here.

The first stage is to review the appropriate BVRLA guide and establish whether the alleged defect is identified by the BVRLA as fair wear and tear. If it is then explain this to the company demanding payment.

Be prepared for the company to explain that the leasing company they work with is not a member of the BVRLA. Whether they are a member or not does not change the fact that there is a clear guide prepared by the vehicle leasing industry that demonstrates that the vehicle is in a condition that the leasing industry as a whole would deem to be acceptable.

If the company decides to pursue the matter you will be able to rely upon the BVRLA guide in court and this is likely to be given considerable weight by the judge.

Also request the opportunity to have the vehicle inspected, either your estimator or an independent engineer may be able to view the vehicle. If you decide to use an independent engineer make sure he has a copy of the BVRLA guide prior to the inspection so that he can assess the vehicle in accordance with the content of the guide.

If the vehicle is not available for inspection, request a copy of the invoice to confirm that the rectification work has actually been completed. Repairs are not always carried out and you may discover that the vehicle has simply been sent to auction as it was.

If that is the case then potentially the leasing company has not incurred any loss and it would not be appropriate to make any payment. If the leasing company still tries to recover money for the rectification work then ask them to confirm the amount that the vehicle was sold for and the amounts of other similar vehicles sold in the same auction so you can identify whether the vehicle was devalued as a result of your repair.

Given the fact that the photographs provided by the remarketing company do not clearly show any issue it is unlikely that the leasing company has incurred any loss.