[RustyBitz]

Afternoon all,

My faithful 320d will be collected on Thursday morning,

Is there anything I should be keeping an out for when the car is having it’s inspection?

I have cleaned the car inside and out, taken pictures of any wear and tear with the magnetic ruler next to them.

Any advise would be great

Thanks

[UKF30]

Make sure you check paper work before signing , mileage etc

i returned a van last year and got invoice after 3 weeks of £1800 something saying we were over allowed miles by 20k or 30k , luckily i had taken pic of speedo and emailed it over and they said sorry and ignore the letter

so take pics of cars , speedo mate .

[isleaiw1]

All stuff that should be present is - jack, wheel locking nut, tool kit if they are still fitted, ser vice manual if you get one etc

CD out of the CD player

Might be showing my age a bit here....

[F30Andy]

If the company coming to pick up the car is Manheim you need to make sure you take photo's and video's of everything.

They have turned up to my office quite a few times over the years to collect cars for lease companies.

You will either get an alright one that will call you before hand and be fair on you or a total wanker one that will turn up without notice and try whacking you for as much as they can.
You might even get lucky like I have on a couple of occasions and get one that will take £250 to put down (or not) whatever you want them to.

The last one we had came to pick up the car and put down £200 worth of damages which we agreed to.
Asked him which auction house the car would be going to as we were going to try and pick it up at a bargain. He gave us the details of where it was going and told us he was heading straight to destination to drop it off.

I was already registered with BCA so set up an alert on my account for the car and waited. It turned up around ten days later on their website.

Looking at the pictures you could see parking dings that were not there when we had handed the car over and all the wheels were fully kerbed, again they were not at handover.
The tyres had been changed to some budget brand ones (we had given the car back with almost new Michelin Piolet Sports on it,) and all the floormats had been taken.
It was also handed over with an almost immaculately dakota beige interior and in the BCA pics it was filthy. Reminded me of what my dad's car used to look like after he had picked me and my mates up from football practice when it had been raining.


A few days after it popped up on BCA's website we got a bill from the lease company for £1500.

They had listed all the damage I mentioned above as well as missing service history and excess mileage (which we had not done.)

Asked them to send us a copy of the paperwork which we had signed and they refused saying we should have our own copy.
Told them we did have our own copy and it listed far less than what they were trying to whack us for.
They asked us to send over our copy and because of their refusal to send their one over we declined their request.
Argued it with them and they were sticking by their guns. We told them we would be getting our solicitors involved so they emailed us their complaints procedure!


Anyway, I had neglected to de-activate the fleet tracker that was in the car so decided to run a report to see what the car had been up to since it was taken from us.

Turns out it had been thrashed by the collection person for the best part of 7 days.
The tracker showed constant harsh acceleration and harsh braking.
It had also stopped in a pub on numerous occasions and then been driven way over the speed limit when it had left.
The report showed all the roads the car had travelled on and at what speed.
We had it showing at 140MPH + on numerous occasions.

Our solicitor knocked up an email to them after I sent him the tracker report basically saying if you choose to pursue chasing us for these charges we will make available to the various police forces where the car drove through its tracker report. From this the police may be compelled to review CCTV footage to try and identify the culprit of what is essentially a crime.

We got an email back within an hour where they were offering us their sincerest apologies.
They told us they would waive all charges and we can ignore the bill.
They also told us they would launch an internal investigation into the matter and revert back once complete.

I didn't expect to hear anything after that but a few days later they emailed to say that they had concluded their investigation and sacked the driver in question for gross misconduct.
Apparently it is common practice for some of their "senior level" drivers to take the cars home overnight if they are not due to be delivered to their end destination until the next day.
They stated his termination was not actually for keeping the car for as long as he did or for doing the excess mileage in it as apparently this is something they permit their staff to do in exceptional circumstances.
His sacking was for "Falling below the professional standards expected from drivers."

[RustyBitz]

Wow some mega horror stories, I’m actually dreading Thursday now.

Good shout on taking a picture of the mileage.

I have videoed the whole car inside and out also.

Really appreciate your help everyone

[Grant_7]

I've had 3 lease cars collected, all no problem and all without any resulting charges.

Good tips above. I would add to do the audit with the collecting driver in person. Walk around the car with him (or her) as they do their checks and agree everything there and then.

[ADS-UK]

Originally Posted by Grant_7

I've had 3 lease cars collected, all no problem and all without any resulting charges.

Good tips above. I would add to do the audit with the collecting driver in person. Walk around the car with him (or her) as they do their checks and agree everything there and then.

Agree. However, some drivers/inspectors can be totally unreasonable. I had one incident where I agreed the wear and tear but not the extent or cost he was charging me. Ended up challenging it and BMW halved the cost which was reasonable.

[ciscopete822]

Never admit to guy that this is your first time returning leased vehicle. Pretend its business as usual. You are here (f30post) which means you do look after your cars , leased or not. I am sure you are going to be fine.

[RustyBitz]

Originally Posted by ciscopete822

Never admit to guy that this is your first time returning leased vehicle. Pretend its business as usual. You are here (f30post) which means you do look after your cars , leased or not. I am sure you are going to be fine.

That’s a good shout

Really useful tips on this thread, thank you everyone.

[StraightSix-d]

Originally Posted by F30Andy

If the company coming to pick up the car is Manheim you need to make sure you take photo's and video's of everything.

They have turned up to my office quite a few times over the years to collect cars for lease companies.

The last one we had came to pick up the car and put down £200 worth of damages which we agreed to.
Asked him which auction house the car would be going to as we were going to try and pick it up at a bargain. He gave us the details of where it was going and told us he was heading straight to destination to drop it off.

I was already registered with BCA so set up an alert on my account for the car and waited. It turned up around ten days later on their website.
"

This is really useful as I'd like to purchase my 330d after it's returned to stock/auction. Are all these cars only sold via BCA or are there other venues for this. And did you manage to buy back your car? Thanks!

[nickcuprar]

Make a note of the time you gave the car up as-well as any pictures of the mileage. Just incase they get done speeding on way back to auction.

Remember to take plate off any congestion charges, tolls etc if any apply.

Tyre tread depth just incase. But as long as you are legal shouldn?t be an issue

[F30Andy]

Originally Posted by StraightSix-d

This is really useful as I'd like to purchase my 330d after it's returned to stock/auction. Are all these cars only sold via BCA or are there other venues for this. And did you manage to buy back your car? Thanks!

It depends on who the finance company are.
I believe Alphabet use BCA as their default stock shedding facility.

The collection driver will know where the car is going and will be able to tell you.

We didn't want to buy the car back after it had been treated how it was.

It ended up being purchased by some second hand car dealer in Cheshire. (I found this out by just watching where it was on the tracker.)

I even called them pretending to be a potential customer and they gave me a load of shit about the car being taken in part exchange from its "one careful lady owner."

[StraightSix-d]

Originally Posted by F30Andy

It depends on who the finance company are.
I believe Alphabet use BCA as their default stock shedding facility.

The collection driver will know where the car is going and will be able to tell you.

We didn't want to buy the car back after it had been treated how it was.

It ended up being purchased by some second hand car dealer in Cheshire. (I found this out by just watching where it was on the tracker.)

I even called them pretending to be a potential customer and they gave me a load of shit about the car being taken in part exchange from its "one careful lady owner."

Ah, thanks. Mine's through Arval, so I'll check with them. I can't believe dealers still use the 'one careful lady owner' shtick. I'd be more reassured if it was a one careful lady(boy) owner. No offence to ladyboys : )

[AndyEssex330d]

Originally Posted by StraightSix-d

Ah, thanks. Mine's through Arval, so I'll check with them. I can't believe dealers still use the 'one careful lady owner' shtick. I'd be more reassured if it was a one careful lady(boy) owner. No offence to ladyboys : )

Haha this reminds me of the Autotrader ads back in the day, some modded up saxo VTR, all the Halfords trimmings, Macdonalds chips and cum stains in the back... 'one careful middle aged lady owner'.

[RustyBitz]

Morning all,

Thank you so much for all the advice over the last few days.

The car has been collected and really happy with the report only charged for the front alloys £68 each and a dent over 30mm.

The guy was great and said the car has been well looked after.

[F30Andy]

Originally Posted by RustyBitz

Morning all,

Thank you so much for all the advice over the last few days.

The car has been collected and really happy with the report only charged for the front alloys £68 each and a dent over 30mm.

The guy was great and said the car has been well looked after.

Who was the collection agency?

[RustyBitz]

Manheim

[F30Andy]

Originally Posted by RustyBitz

Manheim

Quality!

Did they tell you where the car was going?

[McBeemer]

Originally Posted by RustyBitz

Morning all,

Thank you so much for all the advice over the last few days.

The car has been collected and really happy with the report only charged for the front alloys £68 each and a dent over 30mm.

The guy was great and said the car has been well looked after.

Phew ..... Great result

I've been following this thread & have a collection next week (Alphabet)

Just out of interest, what mileage roughly did you hand it back with? , as I'm sure condition is partially mileage related.

I'd been hanging back on the alloy repairs, as I've got damage on 3 of mine, but I doubt very much that I could get them repaired as cheaply as £68 each and without the hassle.

How thorough is the inspection inside?

I would imagine a huge sense of relief when signing the paper for collection with everything agreed

[evdok]

£68 for each wheel? sounds a lot, surely a mobile wheel repairer would have been cheaper.

[McBeemer]

Originally Posted by evdok

£68 for each wheel? sounds a lot, surely a mobile wheel repairer would have been cheaper.

Diamond cuts (403M) are around £100 each to repair around here and you've got the hassle of organising it etc.

[evdok]

Crikey refurb prices are on the rise.