Black Horse Ltd and HPI register

[jane641]

Hi,

I purchased a car from Car Giant in 2003 using a personal loan through Black Horse Ltd which the sales people at Car Giant sorted out for me (I won't do this again but at the time it seemed the easiest option and I was a bit of a novice)!

I am now looking at selling the car and saw some threads from others on here which said that when they had got a loan from Black Horse for a car they noticed that they had also been placed on the HPI register even though it was not Hire purchase, so I thought I had better check and lo and behold my car is on the HPI register showing outstanding finance!

I have checked my loan agreement and it is definitely a personal loan and not a Hire Purchase Agreement and under the T&C's there is no mention of being placed on the HPI register only that if I sell the car I need to pay them back the loan within 7 days (which is what I planned to do anyway, however can't sell the car 'cos it is on the HPI register!).

I have composed a letter to send to Black Horse (using ideas from letters from other threads) which goes like this:

[Black Horse Ltd,
St William House,
Tresillian Terrace,
Cardiff,
CF10 5BH


04/06/2007


Dear Sir / Madam,


Agreement Number: XXXXX
Vehicle Registration: XXXX


After recently obtaining a HPI check for the above vehicle I am a little confused as to why it is recorded that there is outstanding finance shown against this vehicle.

In 2003 I took out a personal loan with yourselves in order to purchase this car and therefore this is NOT a hire purchase agreement and the car should NOT have been placed on the HPI register.

This is an abuse of the use of the HPI register.
Additionally, due to the vehicle being placed on the HPI register, this makes my loan a secured loan (as it is taken out against property).

I request that you either:

• Remove the car from the HPI register altogether, or
• Recalculate the loan as one that is secured, at the appropriate rate, and repay me the overpayment that has already been made.

I request that this matter is dealt with within 14 days.

Failure to act will result in a complaint being made to the Financial & Leasing Association for misuse of the HPI register and the Office of Fair Trading for breach of your consumer credit license.

I shall look forward to your response.

Yours Sincerely,]


I was wondering what anyone else thought about this. Is there anything else I should be adding? Does it sound OK?
Has anyone else got anywhere with Black Horse and managed to get them to take their car off the HPI register? The other threads I have read don't seem to add the outcome of their complaint!

Thanks,
Jane

[gyzmo]

In my time in insurance, when dealing with total loss cases (and black horse amongst several others refused to remove incorrect details form the system), all we did was threaten to leave the written off car at their premesis and charge them for the privilege of it. That usually got a response.

They can be hard work.

[tooth_fairy]

Just double check your paperwork, we thought we were getting a personal loan through Black Horse via Cars4u (Cardiff), indeed that is what we asked for, what we got was a 'attached personal loan' ie, it is Attached to the vehicle, after a long tussle about being mis-sold by Cars4u, who have ceased trading now and Black Horses obligation because we had signed paper work for 'personal loans' and not attached loans they let us give the car back with no penalty but they are hard work.

[jane641]

Thanks for your replies.
I have doubled checked and it is definitely a 'personal loan' only so have sent off the above letter and I'll see what response I get.

[jane641]

Hi,

I haven't been on this site for a while but on checking my PM's a couple of people have asked how I got on with this and requested I update my thread.
So, just to let people know, I never did receive any correspondence back from Black Horse . In the end I actually got a loan out with another company and paid Black Horse off in full, so I no longer have any dealings with them and the car is all mine.
I won't be using them again that's for sure!
Good Luck with any of you who are battling them at the moment.