Thread: Black Horse Hire Purchase Agreement - Car Taken **please Help**

In November 2007, i purchased a vehicle from a motor dealer and the finance was arranged through Black Horse Finance. The car was always kept clean and insured. All the payments were going out on time. In October 2008, a friend of mine had borrowed the car and for some reason was stopped by the police and the car was compounded. I went to collect the vehicle from the compound and was told that Black Horse had refused to release the car to me. I contacted Black Horse and was told the their Fraud Investigator that the vehicle had been taken as there was no insurance on it and I had leased it out to a car hire company. All this was untrue as the car was comprehensively insured and I have never leased it to anybody. Black Horse failed to give me a clear reason and the car was sold. I purchased the car for £14,500 and the total finance package came to £19,000. Black Horse sold the car for £5000. I have made a complaint and they have sent me a statement of my account showing that I still owe £10,000. They claim that the reason my agreement was terminated was because I had broken the Terms & Conditions of the contract. It does say in the contract that if the vehicle is seized by any authority, Black Horse MAY terminate the agreement. The police have never confirmed to me why the car was taken and it was them who had informed Black Horse. Furhter to this, Black Horse are asking me to pay £500 for reposession fees. These fees were for them instructing a collection agent to recover the vehicle. I went to collect the car from the compound the day after it was taken but Black Horse refused to release it hence the car stayed in incurring more daily charges. My complaint is still ongoing but I don't think they are listaning to me. Are they allowed to do this ?? I still maintained my monthly payments after the car was taken but I am now expected to pay £10,000 for a car i do not have. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME.

You may need lagal advise on this, suggest you get a solicitor to at least review the contract and the circumstnces of its siezure and return to the finance company. they are the legal owners.
If the person you loaned the car to was not insured they can impound it.
Finance companies only usually take it back on non-payment so they must have a good reason in this case and then they need a court order if you have paid over one third of the agreement costs.
For their claim for the outstanding costs and in court they will have explian the reasons why they did what they did and that they acted in a justifiable and reasonable way.
Get a full explaination from them in writing as to the events and why they acted in the way they did and record that you dispute their actions being justified; to get it all on record when they start chasing you for the money.

Thank You Raydetinu,

I know that the person who was driving the car when it was taken was definitely insured as he had taken out his own insurance policy on the car. I would never allow for anybody to drive my car without insurance. I have tried contacting the Police regarding this but the officer concerned is never available when i call nor does he return my calls.

I have tried looking for a solicitor who specializes in HP agreements locally, but they are asking for £100 per consultation. I am a bit hesitant as i do not want to pay so much money only to be told to contact the police and finance company.

Black Horse have contradicted what they haave said in their response. The fraud investigator wrote to me informing that the agreement was terminated as the car had been leased to a hire comaony but when i made a complaint, i received a letter from Black Horse stating that the car had been taken as it was not insured. I know it was insured !.

This is so frustrating.

You now need to collect all the information that you can relating to the siezure; police report detailing the circumstances as to why it was stopped in the first place the officers reports giving the name of the driver; then proof by certificate that he was in fact insured ( not all are on the database hence some are seized incorrectly ); copies of all your payments to prove up to date; request proof from them about it being leased to hire company, or if you can prove it was not; petrol receipts on your card; neighbours that it was on your road drive during that period; anything that you can through at them to counter their claims really.

530man

you need to get all the info off of black horse
i think a SAR is in order on this one

if what you say is correct, black horse have terminated the agreement unlawfully
you are entitled to get back every penny you have paid them and no default

but get the SAR in to find out what is going on

Originally Posted by postggj

530man

you need to get all the info off of black horse
i think a Subject access request is in order on this one

if what you say is correct, black horse have terminated the agreement unlawfully
you are entitled to get back every penny you have paid them and no default

but get the sar in to find out what is going on

How do i get the Subject access request ? Do i just write them a letter requesting this ?

Data Protection Act 1998

Subject access request

Dear Sir/Madam

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx (or multiple numbers if more than one account)

Please supply me with all data that you hold on me. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, the following:-

1. The original signed, executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.
2. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations by your company, or by any previous creditor
3. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with ORIGINAL CREDITOR.
4. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.
5. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).
6. Details of any collection charges added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.
7. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.
8. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998
9. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.
10. Copies of statements for the entire duration of the credit agreement.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.
If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

Yours faithfully,


print but don't sign your name

enclose a 10 pound postel order and send recorded delievery

Thanks Postggj,

I'll send the letter out today and will let you know how i get on.

I wrote to the Police asking for all the information as to why the vehicle was initially stopped and then seized. The investigating office has responded by telling me that the vehicle was initiall stopped 'Under the powers of The Road Traffic Act 1988' and then seized as the Police Officer was not satisfied that the driver was insured to drive the vehicle. The officer claims that he spoke to me at the time, on my mobile, and I allegedly confirmed to him that the driver was my cousin and i had 'hired' the vehicle to him !! That is a complete lie. I have never spoken to the Police Officer. I know the car was insured, as the driver was issued a HORT1 (producer) and he produced proof of insurance within 7 days. I have written back to the police asking them to double check which number their officer called as i can guarantee it wasn't mine and also what proof they have got that the vehicle was being used for hire seeing as they told Black Horse this which is why Black Horse refused to let the vehicle be released to me.

I am now awaiting the outcome

I have requested the SAR from Black Horse and am also awating this

Originally Posted by postggj

530man

you need to get all the info off of black horse
i think a SAR is in order on this one

if what you say is correct, black horse have terminated the agreement unlawfully
you are entitled to get back every penny you have paid them and no default

but get the SAR in to find out what is going on

I have received the SAR from Black Horse. Amongst the paperwork, there is a fax from the police to Black Horse Finance informing them that the car was being used for hire and was uninsured to do so but there is no evidence of this. The police have confirmed that the vehicle was insured at the time for me & my wife to drive it. I raised this with the police but the officer was reluctant to go into details. I am currently considering reporting this to the IPCC.

Brilliant, this thread was the last thing I needed to read. They've done exactly the same to me!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...d-finance.html