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Original poster

PCP Car Return - what to expect??!

13 replies

Gobbledegeek · 22/08/2023 20:04

Hi
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on returning a car after a PCP contract? We've had ours for four years and need to return it in September. It has some minor scratches on the front paintwork and we were thinking we would get them fixed before returning it just in case they charged an extortionate amount as it's not perfect on return. However, a friend mentioned that they might not bother about the scratches so we might be wasting our money.

Has anyone had any experience of this? Advice please!!

OP posts:
Hexcodes · 22/08/2023 20:14

Have you looked into selling it? If it's worth more than the final payment you keep the difference. Only return it if it's in negative equity.

Tiny scratches probably won't result in a charge but really hard to say, depends who is evaluating it.

TheBucktoothedGirlFromLuxembourg · 22/08/2023 20:19

How close to the return date are you? I had a letter a couple of months beforehand with guidance about acceptable wear and tear that included information about scratches. If they were below a certain length and not through to the base metal then they were considered acceptable.

TheBucktoothedGirlFromLuxembourg · 22/08/2023 20:21

They also did a visual inspection and it was fine. I did have one deep scratch repaired prior to returning it but didn't bother with a couple of more superficial ones

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DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 22/08/2023 20:33

My friend had one that they went over with a fine tooth comb a d charges him for everything plus minor dings on the alloy wheels. Cost him about £1,500 all in.

We have one on PCP and took out a car care plan to get all that stuff done, but assuming second hand prices are still good when its up, we will pay the balance on a 0% card or low interest loan, sell it privately then pay off the card/loan then use the cash as a deposit for something else. If not, then we will keep it and pay off anyway.

BIossomtoes · 22/08/2023 21:02

It depends. If you’re part exchanging it they’ll barely look at it.

Original poster
Gobbledegeek · 22/08/2023 21:33

Thanks everyone! That's all majorly helpful. It sounds as though we might be ok. We haven't had any communication at all from the vendor as they closed the showroom we got it from. We've been in touch with them to return it and they don't know, or seem to care, where we should send it back to! We're now in touch with the manufacturer to try to find out how to get it back to them. Selling sounds interesting - I'll be looking into that...

OP posts:
headcheffer · 22/08/2023 21:35

DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 22/08/2023 20:33

My friend had one that they went over with a fine tooth comb a d charges him for everything plus minor dings on the alloy wheels. Cost him about £1,500 all in.

We have one on PCP and took out a car care plan to get all that stuff done, but assuming second hand prices are still good when its up, we will pay the balance on a 0% card or low interest loan, sell it privately then pay off the card/loan then use the cash as a deposit for something else. If not, then we will keep it and pay off anyway.

Why do you have to go to the trouble of getting a new card to pay it off? Just sell the car and pay it off, and pocket the difference surely

StackBlocks · 22/08/2023 21:38

We returned ours a couple of months ago. It had some minor scratches and a fairly noticeable scuff on an alloy (did that 4.5 years into a 5 year contract, gutted!). Someone came out and inspected the car quite closely, but we were advised there was nothing chargeable. We left everything as it was because our particular company capped what they would charge for each mark and we thought it would end up costing more to fix than it would to just accept any charges - although we didn’t end up with any chargeable marks anyway.

23Elfie · 22/08/2023 21:45

I've had a few cars on PCP however have usually traded them in around 2 years in and found that the car value and what was left on the finance would cancel each other out.

Anyway - the time before last I literally just popped to the garage to have a wander around to see what they had and ended up with a guy giving me a valuation on my car. I apologised it was so dirty and his words were - ALWAYS bring it back dirty - then I can't see any scratches - been doing it since and it's served me well so far 😂

lionsleepstonight · 22/08/2023 21:57

There is an industry standard they use to establish when damage is more than expected wear and tear. Made up example, light scratch under 2 inches long and limited depth = no charge. 6 inch scratch right through all paint layers would cost X.

If you google I'm sure you'd find it. Mine had usual light scratches, and supermarket dents and wasn't charged anything.

WhyDoesItAlways · 22/08/2023 22:17

headcheffer · 22/08/2023 21:35

Why do you have to go to the trouble of getting a new card to pay it off? Just sell the car and pay it off, and pocket the difference surely

Show quote history

You can't sell a car with outstanding finance on it and if the buyer does a HPI check it will show. It's to stop people selling cars with finance and then defaulting so the new owner has the car repossessed.

I went to hand my car back over when the balloon was due and they would give me exactly what the balloon payment was. I then did a check with a local dealer that operates a bit like we buy any car and they offered me more so I sold it to them instead and pocketed the change. I dropped it off to them after dark so they couldn't inspect it too closely!

Yellowcakestand · 22/08/2023 22:37

I had quite a dent in my bonnet -absolutely no idea how it got there- and I spoke to the guy on pickup about it. I was panicking. He said dont worry, it is going to a compound near London and won't be looked at for months! That was in April 2022 and I haven't heard anything yet... eekkk

addictedtotheflats · 22/08/2023 22:40

It would be worth looking into paying the balloon and selling, we just paid £5.5K on our tuscon and they sell for about £10K (our model)

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