Guy is dying. Car is leased. What are the options?

[Sheepshanks]

Granfondo said:

Alucidnation said:

Sheepshanks said:

Alucidnation said:

We ended up selling it back to the VW dealer and made a few quid over the settlement.

Again - that was a PCP. OP is talking about a lease!

Which are quite commonly referred to as leases.

Incorrectly though!

As it happens, a PCP can be regarded as an operating lease.

But it's confusing to mix them up in situations like this as the there are no consumer termination rules for leasing as there are for PCPs and HP.

The big disadvantage with leasing is it's not flexible - you've really got to reckon on seeing it out, and it's tough luck if your circumstances change.

Having said that, I've seen on the leasing thread that VW ask for 55% of any outstanding premiums for early termination - so the same may well apply to Audi as of course it's all VWFS. I gather they're one of the lowest - some ask for 90%. When we had company lease cars there was no early termination at all - we often had cars sitting around for many months.

[Alucidnation]

https://www.vwfinance.co.uk/en/privatecustomers.ht...

Click on the FAQS link and then on the next page click the contact us link on the left and you will get a drop down box that deals with this exact situation.

Good luck op

[steve-5snwi]

on business leases our charges were 50% of outstanding rentals, or we were allowed to early terminate 1 car a year. We limited the choice of our cars so they were easy to move between drivers should we need to.

I hope the OP gets it resolved to the friends satisfaction.

[JeS10]

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

[anonymous-user]

JeS10 said:

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

That's terrible, the last thing his family want when going through such a hard time is a finance company chasing them up. And surely the point of what is effectively a secured loan is that in the event that it can no longer be paid, they can recover the car and sell it.

That aside, from a moral point of view it's pretty fked up, just goes to show how some finance companies don't give a toss about their customers, absolutely horrible and I can't begin to imagine the stress it's causing his family.

I'm sorry for your loss and I really hope it gets resolved soon.

[VGTICE]

Jbeale96 said:

And surely the point of what is effectively a secured loan is that in the event that it can no longer be paid, they can recover the car and sell it.

Surely stopping payments will have no impact on anyone since lessee is dead and VW will recover their car if they want it.

[Alucidnation]

JeS10 said:

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

Have you had contact with the supplying dealer and explained the circumstances?

[anonymous-user]

VGTICE said:

Surely stopping payments will have no impact on anyone since lessee is dead and VW will recover their car if they want it.

That's what I mean, the payments will now of course stop so therefore VWFS should just come and take the car and sell it. Ordinarily this would obviously have a massive effect on the leader's credit score, but in this scenario I'm assuming not.

Edit: by "I'm assuming not" I mean that it shouldn't affect any of his family's credit scores

[Fittster]

JeS10 said:

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

Who do they want the money from?

[valiant]

Tell them to come and take the car otherwise they can take it up with the deceased.

Sounds like a typical 'computer says no' mentality. Have you tried contacting the head honcho? Can't hurt to try.

[bigee]

I may be missing something (entirely possible ! ) but was it not a 'personal' lease ? Upon death then that contract surely no longer exists?
Reclaim car and end of...

[The Moose]

If they take the car back, then if there's any shortfall then surely they still have a claim on the chap's estate.

Just like any debt really - you can't expect creditors not to chase the estate if there is money there. Granted it's not pleasant, but it is business.

[JeS10]

The Moose said:

If they take the car back, then if there's any shortfall then surely they still have a claim on the chap's estate.

Just like any debt really - you can't expect creditors not to chase the estate if there is money there. Granted it's not pleasant, but it is business.

Exactly this. They're claiming £6100 from his estate. The direct debits have been cancelled. So yes, they'll be taking the car, and pursuing the money. Not impressed given what I've heard other finance companies doing in the same circumstances.

[anonymous-user]

I agree it sucks, but that's the thing with leasing, you have no asset to even partially cover the debt, it's purely a rental agreement. They can take the car back tomorrow and even if it's worth twenty times the outstanding debt it just doesn't matter, you're still on the hook for what's specified in the contract.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Monkeylegend said:

I would be very surprised if on presentation of a death certificate they did anything other than offer condolences, terminate the lease and take the car back with no further payment.

100% this. It's perfectly standard in the leasing industry. They'll take the car back, and terminate the lease with no penalty. They won't even ask for any monies re minor damage.

[The Mad Monk]

JeS10 said:

Exactly this. They're claiming £6100 from his estate. The direct debits have been cancelled. So yes, they'll be taking the car, and pursuing the money. Not impressed given what I've heard other finance companies doing in the same circumstances.

Don't worry about it.

It's not your concern.

I don't know why you got involved in the first place.

It's VWs money. Just like any other debt from an estate.

[JeS10]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

100% this. It's perfectly standard in the leasing industry. They'll take the car back, and terminate the lease with no penalty. They won't even ask for any monies re minor damage.

They were asked if they would do this, but unfortunately not. As people have noted death or no death, they'll be taking their money. It's maybe a good thing for people to consider, regardless of how bleak doing so would be.

As far as why I got involved, I was just trying to help out. I was also interested for interests sake. I'm not surprised that they're taking the money, personally.

[No Face]

Good on you for trying to help out. Have you tried to escalate this to a complaints team or management?

You could try emailing the VWFS MD or something - it'd probably be picked up by an assistant but worth a go I reckon.

Have a search on here for the relevant person http://www.ceoemail.com/

[MitchT]

JeS10 said:

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

What a bunch of heartless scum. I'd be going to the national newspapers with that. I guess VW are so far down the PR toilet with their emissions scandal that they don't care anymore.

[DiscoColin]

MitchT said:

JeS10 said:

Not read the 4 pages, but just so you know VWFS haven't budged. Death certificate has been presented and they still want the money.

What a bunch of heartless scum. I'd be going to the national newspapers with that. I guess VW are so far down the PR toilet with their emissions scandal that they don't care anymore.

I'd start with the pushy journos over at the BBC Watchdog team. They love to give big companies a kicking for this sort of behaviour and are so visible that they more often than not seem to get a climbdown.