End of PCP

[Shauna_H]

I'm getting close to the end of my agreement and was wondering how picky dealerships are if you hand the car back or even trade it in? My front bumper has bad road rash on the left hand side, there's a slight scuff on the right hand side of the front bumper and I've changed the rear badges to black, will I need to get the original chrome ones back on before I hand it back? Also, my alloys are now destroyed with corrosion, will that make a difference when handing it back?

[Bigfeet]

Handing it back will be totally different to trading it in.

Part Exchanging is where the dealer decides how much they want to pay for it (not what is worth in case you are wondering but thats a debate for another day!) and handing it back is where you are returning the car back to the finance company. Bear in mind that you entered a contract with the finance company (not forgetting that it is their car after all) which clearly states that you will not modify the vehicle as well as keeping the car in good condition. You will have to address the issues with your car before you consider handing back, not forgetting the mileage you also agreed too.

First stop will be with the dealer to see how they value the car and take things from there.

[Shauna_H]

Handing it back will be totally different to trading it in.

Part Exchanging is where the dealer decides how much they want to pay for it (not what is worth in case you are wondering but thats a debate for another day!) and handing it back is where you are returning the car back to the finance company. Bear in mind that you entered a contract with the finance company (not forgetting that it is their car after all) which clearly states that you will not modify the vehicle as well as keeping the car in good condition. You will have to address the issues with your car before you consider handing back, not forgetting the mileage you also agreed too.

First stop will be with the dealer to see how they value the car and take things from there.

Thanks Bigfeet! I've never had a car on PCP before so I'm a bit clueless but I know its not just as easy as handing the keys back and saying bye lol. The dealership I bought it from does other manufacturers also, can I trade it in if I'm not going to buy another Citroen?

[Bigfeet]

^ Of course you can, the trade in figure is put against the GFV number from your finance. In essence your dealer is paying off the finance company to buy the car, and trust me the finance company doesn't care too much about where that money is coming from!

[lfcrule1972]

I'm getting close to the end of my agreement and was wondering how picky dealerships are if you hand the car back or even trade it in? My front bumper has bad road rash on the left hand side, there's a slight scuff on the right hand side of the front bumper and I've changed the rear badges to black, will I need to get the original chrome ones back on before I hand it back? Also, my alloys are now destroyed with corrosion, will that make a difference when handing it back?

Apologies if I've already asked this Shauna_H but can you not get Citroen to replace the corroded wheels under warranty ? I've read a lot of posts about the corrosion on the bellone wheels so I forget who's who

[Shauna_H]

Apologies if I've already asked this Shauna_H but can you not get Citroen to replace the corroded wheels under warranty ? I've read a lot of posts about the corrosion on the bellone wheels so I forget who's who

My wheels were slightly kerbed when I bought the car and now where the kerbing was there is corrosion also. Citroen said no as the wheels were damaged from kerbing unfortunately!

[Jo67]

I don't know who your PCP is with but here are the guidelines from Black Horse Finance. I'd have thought the PCP companies all used roughly the same guide but then again you seem to have bought your car second hand and that might make a difference.https://www.blackhorse.co.uk/content...itionguide.pdf

[Chris_Blue]

They will go thru every little detail if you want to hand it back- friend of mine had a mare giving his back, charged him for loads

[Shauna_H]

Eeek! I'd be out 3 new alloys looking at that link! lol I know the guys in my local garage so I think trading it in against something else is a much better option! lol

[R1K SU]

I handed my DS3 back to finance last week !! British car auctions came to pick it up and 2 guys spend over 30 mins looking over it, taking photos, videos, EVERYTHING !!! they found 2 scratches on the alloys over 50mm and that was about £51 per wheel, then
they found a slight kink at the very edge of the drivers door, it was very, very hard to see, possibly where I or previous owner had opened it and its hit a fence, £150 to have that fixed they said. I'm still waiting to hear back from that, but the previous owner was
Hertz Rentals, so I live in hope.
I have also traded a car in on PCP, soooo much easier, no hassle with and scratches or mileage, Do that if you can, you can practicaly give it to the any dealer, they will pay off what you owe to the finance job done< ( if its worth that ) and you can start another pcp on ANY other car upto 3 years old.

[Shauna_H]

I handed my DS3 back to finance last week !! British car auctions came to pick it up and 2 guys spend over 30 mins looking over it, taking photos, videos, EVERYTHING !!! they found 2 scratches on the alloys over 50mm and that was about £51 per wheel, then
they found a slight kink at the very edge of the drivers door, it was very, very hard to see, possibly where I or previous owner had opened it and its hit a fence, £150 to have that fixed they said. I'm still waiting to hear back from that, but the previous owner was
Hertz Rentals, so I live in hope.
I have also traded a car in on PCP, soooo much easier, no hassle with and scratches or mileage, Do that if you can, you can practicaly give it to the any dealer, they will pay off what you owe to the finance job done< ( if its worth that ) and you can start another pcp on ANY other car upto 3 years old.

You're allowed a certain amount of scratches and dinges, I'd definitely have queried the mark on the door! It wouldn't be worth my while handing my car back to the finance company, I'd probably be out a small fortune lol. I think I'd do the same as what I done with the DS3 and buy a second hand car that is only a few months old so I should be ok! Just hoping that they offer me more than I owe when the time comes, I was lucky enough last time to have a deposit for the DS3 when I traded my Mini in

[R1K SU]

Mine was a 4 year PCP and even after 3 years I had to pay £338 to hand it back and the dealer said I owed about £1500 in neg eq, luckily Arnold Clark do a cheapest price guarantee, and they said they would pay the £338
May be worth going to them ?

[Bigfeet]

Mine was a 4 year PCP and even after 3 years I had to pay £338 to hand it back and the dealer said I owed about £1500 in neg eq, luckily Arnold Clark do a cheapest price guarantee, and they said they would pay the £338
May be worth going to them ?

Unless you had to paid a fee to return the car (never heard of this) or in reality your settlement was actually £1,838 and all AC were doing was chipping in.

[Shauna_H]

No Arnold Clarke in Northern Ireland lol. I took out PCP over 3.5 yrs and I'll be close to that when I'm looking to change so hoping it'll all work out ok

[Phil H]

To make my life easier, I simply paid my settlement off on a credit card, drove the car for another couple of months, then sold the car to my local dealer and made £600 back end difference as was well under mileage and then paid off the card, no interest....I was then not laying myself open to spurious damage inspections.
Makes me laugh about the kink on the door, as I bet Hertz charged for that when the car was returned to them last time.

I do miss my DS3, insofar as to it's front aesthetics, however I won't be doing PCP again, just to much pressure on what to do at the end and it effectively forces your hand, so I now own my car outright, much to my snobby neighbours disgust...it's old, it's French, it's red, it's 167bhp and I wish I had bought one years ago....a 306 Rallye, which are now appreciating in value...trust me all that tech on a car now, not important to an old codger like me. If there was such a thing as an all white stripped out DS3, with minimal kit inside, then I would have one, however may have to make my own one day for track days.

My advice would be, replace anything non standard and get the car back to original spec, ring some dealers to ask if they are buying in for some prices, then clean it well and make it look retail ready as possible, obviously the wheels will have to stay as is and tehn see how you get on.

The franchises like Perrys, Evans Halshaw and Bristol Street etc will try to tell you the car is worth nothing, or as it's diesel (if it is) nobody wants it etc, tell you they're overstocked etc, but if you find an independent group, who has a sales manager who can actually make a decision, instead of having to consult the group Finance manager, who needs to see what his stockholding looks like next Monday and ask the Regional Manager etc etc.

My worst case scenario would have been presented with a firm figure to settle the finance after the price offered by the dealer, as opposed to the licence to print money assessors at BCA or Manheim whoever does Citroen UK now.