COVD-19 - Lease/PCP/Car finance Deferral Thread

[hoganscrogan]

HI chaps and chapesses, thought it might be a good idea to have a dedicated thread for this.

Idea is we collect together all lease suppliers lease deferral links and FAQ, plus advice, emails and real world experience of the FCA instigated COVID-19 assistance for people affected.


:A FOLORN HOPE: Please share your real experience or relevant links here, not just chat s**t about what you think might happen or that you can't believe it!! FACTS please!

In my experience with 4 x personal lease (family and myself)

- Skoda x 2 (VW finance) 24 month leases - 3 month pause/deferral on lease payments - lease payments resume after 3 months with 3 months added to end of contract. So 24 month lease lasts 27 months but still pay 3 x 23 monthlies. All at same monthly £ and pro-rata miles with no extra costs.

-Santander/Volvo - same as above* but can carry on for up to six months on same lease rate with pro-rate milage allowance (*see next post for details)

-BMW (Alphabet) - TBC - contact via phone, possibly same as VW eg 3 months added on to contract term so 3 months 'free'... or roll deferred payments into same lease term and hand back as contracted - will let you know once they decide and confirmed. Do not seem to be as keen to give anything away.


Links for above companies and FCA guidance below>>>

The deferrals policy kicked in from 24th April according to VW/Skoda, Volvo & BMW reps - comes off the back of this>>>

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/guidance-consu...


BMW COVID page here >>> https://discover.bmw.co.uk/landingpages/payment-de...

VW COVID here >>> https://customer.vwfs.co.uk/Frequently-Asked-Quest...

Santander/Volvo COVID >>>> https://www.santanderconsumer.co.uk/covid-19-three...

Edited by hoganscrogan on Saturday 9th May 16:31

Edited by hoganscrogan on Sunday 10th May 20:22

Edited by hoganscrogan on Monday 11th May 13:23

[hoganscrogan]

COVID DEFERRAL experience.

Just organised my Volvo V90 payment deferral - following are emails from Santander/Volvo--- Slightly different as I only have 2 months left on contract.


I can confirm that your request to extend your Hire Agreement has been accepted by the way of an informal extension.

Extension Start date - 01.07.20 (I'm not paying May June lease payments, lets see if it kicks back in for July)
Mileage Allowance - 667 MILES PER MONTH
Rental amount excluding VAT - £245.00
Extension end date - 01.01.21

If any excess mileage has been applied to the vehicle this will be charged at the excess mileage rate within your agreement.

Your Rental will then be taken by Direct Debit on your chosen date.

The original Terms and Conditions still apply for the duration of the extension.

We will be in contact with you to arrange collection of the vehicle prior to the end of your extension period.

I then emailed them >>>>What? 6 months I only asked for 3? <<<<< and they replied....

I can confirm that the template for the extension automatically assigns the 6 months however you can contact us and return the vehicle earlier within the 6 month extension for example after three months as your preferred period with no termination fee applied.

[hoganscrogan]

Nothing to eat here

[daytona355]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Jeez, how over leveraged are people to require 'payment holidays' on something as trivial as a car?

It depends on whether their income is salary plus dividends on their company I suspect.... company directors doing £12k salary and the rest in dividends can only get 80% of the £12k for furlough..... makes a big dent in an otherwise prosperous family income I expect. It’s not as simple as ‘over leveraged’ when prior to this Covid bullst, car leasing was simply a tax efficient way to own a car. They’ve been caught out by a once in a lifetime event, not over extended themselves through daftness

[hoganscrogan]

No experience with Lex or any of the other but they have these FAQ

UPDATE - the motherlode of advice and links https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-finance/advice/payme...

General news on FCA help...
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8...


LEX - https://www.lexautolease.co.uk/coronavirus << soneobe has said they will NOT extend contracts but I don't have confirmation of this. So you might pause for 3 months but then pay catchup payments after the pause, sounds like this is not what FCA guidance is after - TBC

FORD - https://www.ford.co.uk/useful-information/covid-19 - Nothing direct on website but they say
"We routinely offer a number of tools to help vulnerable customers regardless of the situation. These include reduced payments, payment extensions, payment holidays and pre-arrears forbearance. Additionally, we have introduced further special measures to help anyone leasing or financing their car through Ford Credit to offset the potential economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Please speak to us about your individual circumstances."

JAGUAR - https://www.jaguar.co.uk/offers-and-finance/existi...
"If your income has been affected by coronavirus, we have a range of options to help you. This may include the option to defer rentals for up to 3 months."

BLACK HORSE - https://www.blackhorse.co.uk/contact/coronavirus-s...
"If your income has been impacted by coronavirus, we have a range of options to help you. We may be able to give you a payment holiday or offer you other help if you need it. If you need a payment holiday, you may be able to defer your payments for 1 month or 3 months."

VANARAMA - Pickups and Vans - https://www.vanarama.com/latest-news/covid-19-outb...
"Just like a mortgage payment holiday, a van lease payment holiday is a temporary stop to payments made by a customer to a finance provider in return for use of a vehicle.

The length of the payment holiday is agreed by the finance provider & the customer. The finance company will work out what the future monthly payments will be by spreading the missing payments over the ones left to pay."

SUZUKI - https://trackssuzuki.co.uk/suzuki-gb-plc/suzuki-fi...
"Suzuki Finance customers facing financial difficulty due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) are now able to defer their monthly payments by 1 or 3 months using their enhanced self-serve application."

Edited by hoganscrogan on Saturday 9th May 17:19

[hoganscrogan]

UPDATE - the motherlode of advice and links https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-finance/advice/payme...

[JS0]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Jeez, how over leveraged are people to require 'payment holidays' on something as trivial as a car?

I’d say if someone is willing to give you 3 months effectively free rental of a car, you’d be a Schmuck not to take it.

[WonkeyDonkey]

JS0 said:

I’d say if someone is willing to give you 3 months effectively free rental of a car, you’d be a Schmuck not to take it.

Of course, 3 months of use for free is crazy!

I'm starting to feel daft myself for having savings. What's the point when you'll get bailed out with no penalty for spending wrecklessly?

[JS0]

It’s become a human right I think

It’s the wrong attitude but, as I’ve got older I’ve let my principles lapse and just take what I can if it’s on offer, you’ll end up paying for it anyway. It’s your savings, try and keep it that way!

Took me years to come off my high horse with PPI and ended up 4K better off. To think I nearly missed it on principle.

[abzmike]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Of course, 3 months of use for free is crazy!

I'm starting to feel daft myself for having savings. What's the point when you'll get bailed out with no penalty for spending wrecklessly?

I’m sure there are plenty of threads to discuss “why do people run a car they clearly can’t afford, where as I procure all my vehicles with cash....”

Some useful links are being kindly posted in here, better not to clutter it up I’d have thought.

[UKADV]

This thread has all the hallmarks of a PH classic. Bookmarked.

[PostHeads123]

Very generous of VW and the other one to give 3 months free as its at cost to them. Hopefully ALD with offer same terms luckily I don't need it but as others said 3 x months free who would turn that down? VW finance might now find ALL there customers are having payment difficulties. Unless what they mean is the car still goes back on the orginal date but you still then have a further 3 x months of payments.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Saturday 9th May 19:59

[talksthetorque]

WonkeyDonkey said:

JS0 said:

I’d say if someone is willing to give you 3 months effectively free rental of a car, you’d be a Schmuck not to take it.

Of course, 3 months of use for free is crazy!

I'm starting to feel daft myself for having savings. What's the point when you'll get bailed out with no penalty for spending wrecklessly?

I have savings. I also lease a car for work.

As it's a new car I am indeed wreckless.

Perhaps leasing is the way forward if all you have for transport is a lopsided mule.

[hoganscrogan]

Referring to my first post - been here since it was petrolheads (still never owned a TVR) 20+ year so I should have know better...


A FOLORN HOPE: Please share your real experience or relevant links here, not just chat s**t about what you think might happen or that you can't believe it!! FACTS please!

BTW - I'm a company director, heavily built, bald and have several properties with no or small mortgages - but still lease my cars.

Edited by hoganscrogan on Saturday 9th May 21:27

[hoganscrogan]

PostHeads123 said:

Very generous of VW and the other one to give 3 months free as its at cost to them. Hopefully ALD with offer same terms luckily I don't need it but as others said 3 x months free who would turn that down? VW finance might now find ALL their customers are having payment difficulties. Unless what they mean is the car still goes back on the orginal date but you still then have a further 3 x months of payments.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Saturday 9th May 19:59

TO be honest I think 'very generous' is being generous when you dig in. I'm sure there is a big chunk of self preservation in this, the lease cars owners already have auction lots filled with depreciating assets they can't sell and have a very uncertain market post lockdown.

There are a huge number of lease cars that have not been picked up in April & May due to COVID that at some point will be fed into an already constipated pipeline. Add to this, once we are out the other side there are going to be lots of people with no job or a reduced wage (I know of several companies with across the board 10% wage cuts plus furlough) and a very severely dented confidence when it comes to long term financial commitments to anything, never mind cars that they may not need, be that via leasing, PCP or cash buying.

It may sounds generous to give us 3 months free but I think they have run the numbers (historically low interest rates) and thought - let's keep the cars out there and keep the payments coming in from July when we'll have to pay our staff wages again. Remember these companies we lease from have access to govt. funded furlough for staff wages and generous loan terms to keep them going, so passing on some of the help is only fair. If you have a car that you bought outright, you're probably looking at a big drop in your assets value too, subject to make, model desirability. I don't even want to think about money invested in commercial property.

In the case of my Volvo they would have got a car back 1st July which has little chance of moving for some time, and I would not have been leasing anything to replace it. In fact Austin Allegro was due to come out of storage and get some use! Extending the lease on same terms gives me chance to see what the lay of the land is and Santander a stream of money flowing in. I say let's make use of the facility we are offered.

As a (very fortunate, very busy) company we are looking at work from home as the new norm until October, so planes, trains and automobiles will not be getting much money from us or our employees for a long while.

Edited by hoganscrogan on Saturday 9th May 23:26

[talksthetorque]

hoganscrogan said:

Referring to my first post - been here since it was petrolheads (still never owned a TVR) 20+ year so I should have know better...


A FOLORN HOPE: Please share your real experience or relevant links here, not just chat s**t about what you think might happen or that you can't believe it!! FACTS please!

BTW - I'm a company director, heavily built, bald and have several properties with no or small mortgages - but still lease my cars.

Edited by hoganscrogan on Saturday 9th May 21:27

I applaud your sentiment of getting the covid stuff out of the lease deals thread.

Perhaps best to start a wiki if you just want what company A/B/C are doing and have this as the "You're all poor/overleveraged/financially naive even though I don't know anything about you or your circumstances" thread?
Or perhaps this thread will fizzle out in a couple of days and nobody will care

[hoganscrogan]

talksthetorque said:

I applaud your sentiment of getting the covid stuff out of the lease deals thread.

Perhaps best to start a wiki if you just want what company A/B/C are doing and have this as the "You're all poor/overleveraged/financially naive even though I don't know anything about you or your circumstances" thread?
Or perhaps this thread will fizzle out in a couple of days and nobody will care

Not sure how to do a WIKI tbh, been here ages but not much of a poster! I figure this is up here, has some useful info & links and searchable, it also seems some decent deals are popping up on the lease thread so less alt chat so I'll be over there now, win win!

[PostHeads123]

The BMW Alphabet one do you know if Alphabet do that for any car they are the financer on? I got a relative went via broker for a Nissan financer is Alphabet, they lost job because of Covid.

[hoganscrogan]

PostHeads123 said:

The BMW Alphabet one do you know if Alphabet do that for any car they are the financer on? I got a relative went via broker for a Nissan financer is Alphabet, they lost job because of Covid.

'Should' be for any car, best bet is to get them to call ASAP and explain situation, FCA policy means will suspend payments for 3 month, seems to be a variation on what happens next though. I'll let you know how my BMW/Alphabet deal works out when they get back to me.

[hoganscrogan]

Called Alphabet/BMW and just confirmed today that they will be deferring payments for the next 3 months. Had to call back as the person I spoke to last week on the number provided on BMW's COVID page (0370 5050 150) couldn't find my contract or car on their system! He did say I was only the second case he had dealt with and didn't usually work in this dept.

So today rang the invoice query number on my Alphabet online account (Invoicing Queries - 0370 5050 185) and got straight through to someone who found me on the system immediately and sorted my deferral really quickly, however....

They are currently working on their systems so outcome not as clear as VW/Santander, he did say there should be an option to;

End contract on same date and roll up deferred payments into remaining monthlies, extend contract for 3 months and/or reduce contracted miles to adjust monthly payment.

On the face of it not so generous as VW/Santander, they also pointed out I could make payments of what I could afford during the deferral period, I'd say the tone of all BMW COVID comms feels more on the 'keep paying' side of the fence.

Advised me to call back end of July, early August to update, will keep you posted.

Edited by hoganscrogan on Monday 11th May 13:13