Returning a leased vehicle
Discussion
Hi,
At the beginning of lockdown I decided it may be a good idea to return one of the business trucks.
An L200, 3 years into a 5 year lease. I asked them how much it would be to terminate and they came back with £0.
I asked them to confirm this and again they sent an email saying £0.
I accepted the offer and said come and collect. They said they are in lockdown and they will collect when appropriate.
I informed them the insurance would run out, they were fine and said it's covered under their insurance.
I have made other arrangements for truck replacement, insurance has run out.
Today they informed me they had miscalculated and the early termination is £2500 plus vat. I should have been told back in mid april but wasn't. They now want me to send them all the email traces from previous email conversations, which I have and can't understand why they don't seem to have them.
Where do you think I stand?
At the beginning of lockdown I decided it may be a good idea to return one of the business trucks.
An L200, 3 years into a 5 year lease. I asked them how much it would be to terminate and they came back with £0.
I asked them to confirm this and again they sent an email saying £0.
I accepted the offer and said come and collect. They said they are in lockdown and they will collect when appropriate.
I informed them the insurance would run out, they were fine and said it's covered under their insurance.
I have made other arrangements for truck replacement, insurance has run out.
Today they informed me they had miscalculated and the early termination is £2500 plus vat. I should have been told back in mid april but wasn't. They now want me to send them all the email traces from previous email conversations, which I have and can't understand why they don't seem to have them.
Where do you think I stand?
If you have altered your position in reliance on the statement that the cost would be zero, then the lease company may be unable successfully to claim the £2500. This is because what lawyers call an estoppel by representation would defeat the claim.
An estoppel prevents a party from relying on what would otherwise be its legal rights, such as a right arising under a contract. Estoppels can arise in various ways, but one way is when party A represents a fact to party B, and party B relies on the representation to its detriment, so that it would be unjust for party A to go back on the representation.
The word estoppel is an old French word, here forming part of what's known as "Law French"
An estoppel prevents a party from relying on what would otherwise be its legal rights, such as a right arising under a contract. Estoppels can arise in various ways, but one way is when party A represents a fact to party B, and party B relies on the representation to its detriment, so that it would be unjust for party A to go back on the representation.
The word estoppel is an old French word, here forming part of what's known as "Law French"
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 27th April 19:32
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