Ian’s red alertl as painti peels off his car
“U-Tax called to say theyy needed my final approval to submitubmit the self-assessment. Theyy told me to allow four weeks for payment to reach them.”
Alexander expected a cheque when he received a lettertter from HMRC in November, confirming nfirming a bank transfer had beenn made to U-Tax. But he heard nothing. hing.
He tried calling U-Tax to complain but they kept putting the phone down on him and didn’t respond to emails.
So he contacted HMRC to ask them to cancel the first cheque and issue a new one direct to Ian Hamilton saw red when the paint began to peel off his car.
The Toyota Avensis was his pride and joy and he’d only clocked up 47,000 miles since new.
But Toyota would not cover the cost of a respray – despite owners of the model in Ireland having the work carried out for free.
Ian, 68, said: “I’m furious. Why should I pay for a respray? The car runs well, is mechanically sound and is looked after. But the paintwork looks terrible.”
Ian, of Kirkcaldy, Fife, complained but Toyota said he was out of warranty.
Retired engineer Ian said: “This has only happened with the red Avensis of the 53/54 era.”
I got on the case and, in a complete U-turn, Toyota offered to respray Ian’s car. They said: “We started agreeing to cover the cost of repainting cars with the same colour code up to 12 years of age but only after a field service manager has inspected the vehicle.
“If Mr Hamilton takes his vehicle back to Toyota and it meets the criteria for repainting, we will cover the cost of the work.”
Ian said: “You’ve made my day. Thank you.”