Haulier pays to end deal
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• A Suffolk haulier is warning operators to read the fine print on contracthire agreements after Mercedes-Benz Finance demanded what he calls a "ridiculous" sum to allow him to return the truck that he had leased after just seven months.
Bury St Edmunds-based Terry Hall decided to terminate his five-year contract with MB finance after a series of problems with the Atego 7.5 tanner he leased last August.
But although Hall paid more than £6,600 in instalments and deposit, MB Finance wants nearly 139,000 to take the Atego back. It would have cost just £35,000 if he had bought it outright.
Hall says the problems started as soon as he had collected the truck. "I'd only driven three miles down the road and the ABS light came on." he says. "The cab mountings had to be replaced, the sump cracked and in the end it needed a new £1,300 ABS unit—after six attempts to fix it. I've had nothing but problems with this truck and now I've decided to get rid of it, I've got this ridiculous bill at the end of it. It's just adding insult to injury."
Owen Jones, CV manager at MB Finance, declined to talk about Hall's problems except to say the "situation is being reviewed".
MB Finance has now written to Hall.