Hello CAG, First post, I hope you can help! I bought a used car from a local dealership back in February 2016. Its a Zafira 'B' CDTi 1.7 Elite model, 60 plate... the cooling system has been a nightmare since the day I bought it. I'll detail a full list of events. 1) Car was bought in Februrary 2016. Just prior to pick-up it was discovered to have had a coolant leak. This wasn't fixed at the time of delivery, and the car was released to my wife upon receipt of payment from her finance company (Moneybarn). 2) Car broke down the same day she collected it, the dealer recovered the car back to their branch and supposedly fixed the issue by fitting a new coolant pipe and a thermostat. 3) Car was fine for about 3 months, then broke down on motorway. Coolant bottle was dry. Recovery guy thought a stuck thermostat. Had the car recovered to my preferred garage where the thermostat was found to be faulty and subsequently replaced. The coolant cap was also replaced. 4) Car was fine for about 6 weeks, but was apparently drinking coolant and we were forever refilling. Took the car back to my local garage, where the coolant system was pressure tested (no leaks), system bled and refilled. Thermostat was tested as fine 5) Car ran fine for a week before breaking down again on motorway. Recovered back to garage who pressure-tested again (still no leak), rebled and refilled system and replaced water pump. No blockages found in any part of the system. Thermostat tested fine, and car performed as it should under garage conditions and on several road tests. 6) Car ran fine for a week on shorter journeys, but today my wife has reported that the coolant temperature light is now flashing and the coolant bottle was dry again. It'll be going back in again to be checked over yet again. The car has spent almost as much time in the garage than it has on the road... Do I have any recourse to reject the car given the amount of issues it has had with the coolant system, and given it was bought on a Hire Purchase agreement and not through a bank loan, credit card or cash? Would the fact I've had an independant garage attempt to fix the fault and not the dealer whom the car was purchased from affect any claim to reject the car? The fault was known by the dealer prior to delivery. Wife is getting reluctant to drive the car any distance given the issues she has been having, so all advice welcome.

Hello all, Firstly thank you to all of you for your invaluable help on here. Just a bit of background .. . I have an ongoing dispute involving my local council, MP and bailiff company.. . I have been reading here your very helpful posts to other people over the last couple of months and will in the fullness of time put the full details of my story on here, as it will highlight the lies and deceipt of a big bailiff firm, which I know many others have suffered at the hands of and the subsequent reduction of some very large and 'fraudulent fees' charged by said bailiff firm, however because of the possibility of further legal action would like to avoid specifics. this bailiff firm claimed recently to have levied upon a vehicle for council tax, and subsequently charged levy fees and attendance to remove fees against that vehicle. I questioned the vehicle upon which they levied as our own vehicle is on a hire purchase agreement and was given a registration number that not only isn't ours, but according to the DVLA doesn't even exist. However I would like to know from someone more knowledgable than me on here please how much basis of truth there is in the following statement from the bailiff company in question: 'I must take this opportunity to clarify your misunderstanding regarding legislation surrounding the seizure of a vehicle which has been obtained on Hire Purchase; you may not be aware we are entitled to seize goods where there is an element of ownership of the debtor. With goods on finance there is a point in time when ownership of the asset passes to the debtor or that it maybe that the finance company are prepared to waive their interest as long as any outstanding balance is settled from the sale proceeds. Either way we are entitled to pursue assets if there is potential ownership by the debtor' 'Please be advised that whilst the act of levying by our bailiff was correct, in this case I have removed the Levy and associated fees from your file, total £184.50 in an effort to resolve your complaint' Your thoughts are welcomed, as this goes against my understanding briefing paper/ stnadard notes SN04103 of the commons library on 'The current regulations of bailiffs' specifically the following part: 3.4 Limits on a bailiff’s powers to seize goods A bailiff cannot seize goods belonging to anyone other than the person named on the distress warrant. For example, the bailiff cannot take goods which belong to the defendant's partner. A bailiff cannot seize goods subject to a hire purchase or rental agreement (however, goods on credit sale can be seized because they are deemed to belong to the debtor). Any goods which the bailiff takes must be likely to fetch money at auction. Bailiffs will not remove goods if they think that they will not fetch enough to pay something towards the warrant after the cost of removing and selling them at auction has been paid. By law, bailiffs cannot generally take:  items or books which the defendant needs for his job or business, such as tradesman's tools or other equipment necessary for personal use in employment or business (however, a bailiff acting for Poll Tax, Council Tax, VAT and Tax may be able to do so);  essential household items which the defendant and his family need (such as clothing or bedding);9  items which are leased, rented or are on hire purchase agreements; or  goods which may have already been seized by bailiffs acting under another warrant By law, bailiffs also cannot take:  cars which are bought on hire purchase; or  equipment which does not belong to a business (for example, office furniture, machinery and vehicles which may be leased)10 Many thanks for your help in advance.. . and I hope that very soon I can post the full details of this case once all parties involved have seen sense. Aggreived!

Hi All, I was a sole trader for some years until I had to close the business, In the first year of trading I took out hire purchase on an item, I kept up with re-payments for some time and then fell behind, what makes things worse is that I left the item at a hotel I was working at, the item was never seen again, I never told the HP company this. I buried my head and tried to pay the monthly installments and then had then reduced and now I can not a pay them at all. The HP Company are now going to apply to the courts to recover the goods, which I do not have, can anyone tell me what will happen as this is seriously affecting my health with worry. Thanks in advance.

Hi All I bought a car on hire purchase 4 months ago from a Seat dealer, last weekend the car broke (basically!). The guys from an independent garage ran it through their diagnostics system and it came back with a fault, solution 'replace ECU'. Cost of part from Seat was over £1200! Nowhere has the part though because it is on back order and no one knows when it will be coming in. I contacted CAB who were fantastic and advised me that Seat Finance should pay for the repairs. I contacted Seat Finance and they wanted me to take the car back to where I bought it from so they could diagnose the fault (using exactly the same software as the independent!). When I had the car recovered to the place where I bought it the guy I dealt with was a complete ****. He said that it couldn't be the ECU as ECU's don't break! I can feel a fight coming on about this issue so just wanted to check what my rights are to cancel a HP agreement due to faulty goods? If anyone has any advice I would be extremely grateful. CAB aren't open now until Monday and can't seem to find an answer to my question on Google. Thanks Jennie

Hi Guys, Having boasted to my friends about seeing off Clarity, one of them asked a surprising question which I'm passing on here. This friend lives in Spain and has a caravan which was bought on HP. The agreement was taken out in August 2003 and no payments have been made since December 2006 - for what reason I don't know why. The question is this: is the HP statute barred as from January (or whatever day after his last payment)? Does he still keep his caravan? It probably doesn't matter as he lives out in the middle of nowhere in Spain, but he asked the question, and so I have asked. Any comments?

Hi there, I am new here but it this looks like the place to find an answer to my question. My g/f wants to settle/terminate her car's Hire Purchase agreement as we are leaving the country (not known at the time of taking it out). The key facts are... Cash price of car = £11,667.77 Advance payment = £855.48 Rate of interest on credit = 7.72% Total charges = £3,011.31 (interest of £1,826.31, acceptance fee of £125 and option to purchase fee of £60) Finance term = 36 months Monthly payment = £208.36 Early settlement figures Quarter of duration = £9,567.55 Half of duration = £8224.71 Three quarters of duration = £6,796.16 Termination = half the amount payable under this agreement (£6,839.54) She has paid the following... 15 months @ £208.36 Advance payment of £855 Totalling £3980.40 There is a Final Payment (I understand this is also known as a balloon payment) to pay of £5406 at the end of the 36 months, but we understand that is optional. If she opts not to pay this, she can give the car back. I have heard about the Voluntary Termination and cannot work out if we can invoke it in this instance. As part of this agreement, is she liable for the whole 36 months - or can she pay 50% of the amount due over the 36 months and then give the car back and have to pay no more? Or is the Voluntary Termination only applicable when 50% of the WHOLE amount (i.e. 36 monthly payments + balloon payment) has been paid. VWFS have said that she needs to pay the difference between total paid to date (£3,980.40) and the termination cost (£6,839.54) which is £2,859.14, JUST TO GIVE IT BACK TO THEM. The car is in good condition and is under annual mileage allowance. Any help would be very much appreciated, including anything i can quote. Many thanks in advance, Themanlike

Hi, Hopefully this is the most appropriate subforum for my question but please point me in the right direction if not... I volunteer with a charity and, one and half years ago, that charity bought a minibus/van on Hire Purchase. At the time, the HP agreement was signed by the chairperson of the charity commitee, who is since no longer involved with the charity - when the van was bought the salesperson apparently advised that this was the right thing to do and apparently s/he gave the that the agreement was effectively in the charity's name, rather than an individual's. Fast forward to last week and the charity received a phonecall from the finance company - Close Motor Finance - who said that they had been informed by the DVLA that the person whose name is on the finance agreement is not the registered keeper, cue threats of repossession etc. The person who signed the finance agreement has never in fact been the registered keeper, but the charity did not realise that this was in breach of agreement (presumably an oversight on the part of the salesperson...). Firstly, can someone confirm that the registered keeper MUST be the same person that signed the finance agreement? Secondly, the options would appear to be as follows: (a) Pay off the £3,000 or so remaining on the agreement - problem with this is the charity does not have the money; or (b) Transfer the registered keeper to the person named on the finance agreement - problem with this is that they are no longer involved with the charity and would like to be rid of the financial responsibility/risks involved; or © Pursuade someone to buy the van with a fresh finance agreement; or (d) Transfer the HP agreement - this is not possible, right? Are there any other things that should/could be considered? Thirdly, what's the position regarding breach of agreement/repossession? Is it the same process as for arrears on repayments? (FYI, this is in Scotland.) Thanks if you've got this far. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi, I bought a car under HP and, due to adverse financial conditions, fell behind with the payments. I have paid well over 1/3 of the total cost. A ROG order was requested and granted. The finance company did not collect the vehicle and after 6 months - only then becoming aware of such an option - I applied for a Time Order and a hearing date was scheduled. At this point the car was repossessed from the street. From browsing previous threads it appears that the car was taken unlawfully as no Warrant of Delivery was applied for, nor a court bailiff. I had to apply for an adjournment so I used that application to vary the original application and asked the Court to order all all sums paid by me to be returned as per s.91 of CCA. The hearing is in a couple of weeks. My question is whether anyone has actually succeeded in such a claim? I understand that it appears from the Civil Procedure Rules that a Warrant should be applied for, however does that mean that not following those rules would contravene s.90 (which rather generically calls for "a court order") which would then allow s.91 to be invoked? Thank you for your help!

Hi all, Yesterday I signed a Hire Purchase Agreement for a car with Black Horse, through a car dealership. The agreed monthly payment is £190/month, in 48months. I got a phone call today from the car dealers saying that there had been a mistake by Black Horse and that I have to go back to them to sign a new agreement with a monthly payment of £211/month. My question: is the agreement I've signed legally binding or can they now make me change the conditions? I'm sure that if I had made a mistake they wouldn't change the agreement for me once signed, at least not without a cost, so do I have to go back and resign something that is already agreed only to end worse-off? Thanks for your help

Hi my daughter recently took out a finance agreement on HP with Black Horse for the purchase of a car. At the car dealers they were offering 7 day free driveaway car insurance but she was advised that she could not drive the car away because she was under 21. The dealer signed over the V5C to her boyfriend at a totally different address to that on the finance agreement and not her and allowed him to drive away the car. At no point did the dealer ever sign over the V5C to her. The boyfriend has insured the car in his name at his address and is refusing to return it to her. We have contacted the police but have been advised it is a civil matter. As the V5 has never been signed over to her from the dealer is the contract void? She is up to date with payments where do we go from here?