Vehicle Hire Agreement

[juliemadds]

Hello. My husband has a van on a Hire agreement in accordance with the consumer credit act 1974. However the company that he originally took the agreement out with have gone bankrupt and the agreement has been passed to another company. My husband is an electrical contractor and has been struggling for work for some 18 months. When he originally took the agreement on for the van the salesman put the agreement through on a business name that does not exist just to get the paperwork through. We are now trying to get rid of the van but have been advised that we cannot cancel the agreement. I was wondering if there were any loopholes that can help us get out of this agreement as the name on the agreement is not correct (the salesman made up a name to get the sale through!) Please help. many thanks

[the_freedom_trail]

That sounds like fraud by false representation to me, if the salesman deliberately mislead the finance company as to your husband's circumstances. I wouldn't freely admit that you were happy with the salesman doing this. Who has advised you that the agreement cannot be cancelled - solicitor?

 

My advice is that if you want a loophole, then you need a very good solicitor to go through the agreement. You can do it yourself; however, you want to tread carefully as if the finance company found out they were mislead this could cause you a whole heap of trouble.

 

I must point out to you, even if there is a problem with the CCA, it does not mean that the credit agreement ceases to exist, it merely means that the finance company cannot enforce it, this means that they could still try and register a default with the credit agencies.

 

Before I advise you further, are you saying that the agreement is in the name of a business that never existed?

 

Best Regards,

 

TFT

[juliemadds]

Hi TFT thanks for that

 

The salesman tried to put the original agreement through my husbands business name first but it was declined then he tried his personal name and that was declined so then he put is through as my husbands name followed by Electrical Services. He has never traded by this name and before I contact a solicitor I was wondering if I had a good case to put to them.

 

Regards

[the_freedom_trail]

Well, when it comes to being a sole trader you can pretty much call yourself what you like and start carrying on a business. However, if he is running a Limited company then it is a different matter.

 

The trouble is that even though the agreement is not in a name identical to that of your husband's business, it does contain his last name and a description of the business that matches his. More importantly, I assume that the agreement does display the correct address for your husband?

 

Theoretically, the only way out of an agreement that used a different name would be to deny that you ever took out the agreement; however, if the matter ended up in court (which it probably would) it would be asked by the judge why has your husband been making repayments under the agreement if it is not his? It wouldn't make sense.

 

Based on what I have said above, this is not the argument you want to use because it would almost certainly fail. Your only real option would be to try and identify an error in the way the agreement was originally executed - a technicality that has the potential to make the agreement uneforceable.

 

If you are facing financial difficulties in the recession (as many people are) I would advise that you write to the hire company and explain your circumstances. Ask them if there is anyway to terminate the agreement or whether the contractual payments can be made at a reduced rate. I suggest this route as, even if you find something wrong with the agreement it would be down to a judge to find it unenforceable and by that point the hire company could have recorded numerous negative markers against your husband which will trash his credit score.

 

Be very careful about going to a solicitor, many charge £150+ and hour which is ultimately money that could be put towards you walking away from the agreement without any damage to your credit worthiness.

 

Best Regards,

 

TFT

[sea-sidelady]

I have moved your thread fore you over to the vehicle forums. You will get more advice in here.

[juliemadds]

Well, when it comes to being a sole trader you can pretty much call yourself what you like and start carrying on a business. However, if he is running a Limited company then it is a different matter.

 

The trouble is that even though the agreement is not in a name identical to that of your husband's business, it does contain his last name and a description of the business that matches his. More importantly, I assume that the agreement does display the correct address for your husband?

 

Theoretically, the only way out of an agreement that used a different name would be to deny that you ever took out the agreement; however, if the matter ended up in court (which it probably would) it would be asked by the judge why has your husband been making repayments under the agreement if it is not his? It wouldn't make sense.

 

Based on what I have said above, this is not the argument you want to use because it would almost certainly fail. Your only real option would be to try and identify an error in the way the agreement was originally executed - a technicality that has the potential to make the agreement uneforceable.

 

If you are facing financial difficulties in the recession (as many people are) I would advise that you write to the hire company and explain your circumstances. Ask them if there is anyway to terminate the agreement or whether the contractual payments can be made at a reduced rate. I suggest this route as, even if you find something wrong with the agreement it would be down to a judge to find it unenforceable and by that point the hire company could have recorded numerous negative markers against your husband which will trash his credit score.

 

Be very careful about going to a solicitor, many charge £150+ and hour which is ultimately money that could be put towards you walking away from the agreement without any damage to your credit worthiness.

 

Best Regards,

 

TFT

Many thanks for your advise. I will write to the company straight away.

 

kind regards

[crem]

Was it a standard HP agreement? If so, it probably has the Voluntary Termination clause in it whereby if you have paid 50% of the total value (including interest) then you can hand the vehicle back with nothing more to pay.

 

I assume the vehicle was bought prior to your husband struggling for work, so that would make it around 2 years into the agreement as a guess.

 

Even if you didn't put any deposit down then on a 3 year finance deal you are well past 50% already, and a 4 year deal the 50% mark would be reached around about now. If was a 5 year deal then you have to get to month 30 or so yet.