Mercedes Benz reposession

[dave1509]

Hi All

 

I had a car repossessed in march

 

I bought the car 2 years ago and defaulted in November of that year due to losing my job

 

I made 8 payments then was not able to pay

 

I should have handed the car back then I know but i had no way of being able to get about.

 

Anyway, the car was repossessed by agents acting on behalf of the finance company (Mercedes Benz Finance) without any notification or court order being shown to me

I paid less than a third of the value of the car

 

MB Finance are now asking for the balance after selling the car for 17k (bought for 46, paid about 6k which should leave 23 but they say 29k)

 

I am about to negotiate a payment structure with them but I wanted to know if I have any legal recourse for not being alerted to the repossession (MB Finance had my old address and the agents tracked me down somehow at a new address) plus some items were not returned (an ipod, and a few bits) from the vehicle (hard to prove though!)

 

Any other thoughts would be very welcome

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Hello and welcome

Was this a regulated hire purchase agreement??

[dave1509]

Hi Wannabe

 

It was done through a main Mercedes Dealer, 1k deposit, monthlys of 705 and balloon of about 26k after 3 years

 

The agents who repossesed the car did not do any kind of vehicle or contents check, notification or anything - I woke up and the car wasnt there

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Do you have a copy of the original agreement? If it says Regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 at the top then will be covered by the protection of the Act and there will be certain protocol they will have needed to follow first.

[dave1509]

Hi Wannabe

 

I do - I will check

 

I guess their argument will be that they notified me at the address I provided (which I moved out of 2 months before I defaulted due to big change in circumstances)

 

The agents acting on their behalf left dozens of messages and emails with me from June last year until the car was takenm in March this year, and managed to find me through Linked in and emailed a previous employer

 

Still, the fact remains that A) - I didnt pay and still used the car

B) -Didnt notify them of change of address

C) - Ignored the calls and emails from their agents

 

Do I have a leg to stand on?

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

There are always options

First really need to know about the agreement, different rules apply for different agreements.

[dave1509]

i will find it - Will take me a couple of days

 

Thanks Wannabe - I'll be back

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Don't worry if you can't find it, you can always request a copy from them

P.S. Where did they take the car from??

[dave1509]

I will request a copy

 

They took the car from my friends private driveway where I was staying

 

in the early hours of the morning

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

I will request a copy

 

They took the car from my friends private driveway where I was staying

 

in the early hours of the morning

oooooooooooooooooooh!! :grin:

 

The only people that can come on to enter any premises to retake goods would be county court bailiffs acting on a warrant of execution. Do you know who took it??

[dave1509]

I believe it was Eurodebt recovery (who had been chasing me)

 

It may have been a court appointed bailif but I wouldnt know as I didnt see anyone and no note was left

[rcl]

you need to start gathering evidence. A copy of the agreement is a start, plus default notice, termination notice, and a copy of the court order (which I doubt exists)

 

send a subject access request to them, then sit and wait for the documents.

 

When they come, scan them in to photo bucket, blank out your personal details and then someone with loads more knowledge than me, will help you

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

you need to start gathering evidence. A copy of the agreement is a start, plus default notice, termination notice, and a copy of the court order (which I doubt exists)

 

send a subject access request to them, then sit and wait for the documents.

 

When they come, scan them in to photo bucket, blank out your personal details and then someone with loads more knowledge than me, will help you

Totally agree The only thing I would say would be to send the Subject Access Request first as we still don't know if it was a regulated agreement. You'd only be able to request a copy under section 77/78 of the Act if it was a regulated agreement.

 

Do you have any documents at all relating to this??

 

Still definitely send off the sar though, you need to know exactly what happened.

[dave1509]

I have a letter from solicitors acting on their behalf - how do I get that to you (PDF)

[dave1509]

Plus - how do I do a SAR?

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

I have a letter from solicitors acting on their behalf - how do I get that to you (PDF)

Have a google, there are loads of websites that offer a free conversion of a doc to PDF

 

Plus - how do I do a SAR?

There are template letters in the cag library. You'll need to send a £10 postal order with it too.

[bierespeciale]

What are you expecting from the finance provider exactly? you cant get the car back as its been resold, you didnt pay on time and MB agreements stipulate in their t and cs that any change of address must be notified to them, it must have been an uregulated agreement as they would not have repossessed it without a court order otherwise. You wont get the debt written off if thats what you are expecting, what can you offer in defence to request this? your best bet is to negotiate with the solicitors , (I have found them to be reasaonable people, ) or take the hit with your credit file legal action etc.

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

What are you expecting from the finance provider exactly? you cant get the car back as its been resold, you didnt pay on time and MB agreements stipulate in their t and cs that any change of address must be notified to them, it must have been an uregulated agreement as they would not have repossessed it without a court order otherwise. You wont get the debt written off if thats what you are expecting, what can you offer in defence to request this? your best bet is to negotiate with the solicitors , (I have found them to be reasaonable people, ) or take the hit with your credit file legal action etc.

More bullying!! Do you really think you are giving any credit to your company?? Now you look even more like a bunch of thugs and certainly nowhere near "reasonable people".

P.S. That's the correct spelling of "reasonable" for future reference.

 

If I were you I'd be fearing for my job right now, wouldn't it be terrible if you lost your income and you couldn't pay your bills???

 

Actually, it's more likely to be a regulated agreement, considering it was taken out AFTER 6th April 2007, rather than unregulated.

P.S. That's the correct spelling of "unregulated" for future reference.

[beachcomber60]

You will find that this is an unregulated agreement, so wont be 'protected' by the CCA 1974, also the DN falls under 'Contract Law' so again doesn't have to follow a 'Prescribed Format' or a set period to 'Remedy'.

 

How do I know? - Because I & another cagger are in exactly the same position with the same finance company. I bought my MB shortly before the 'Unregulated' limit was changed & that was 2008.

 

They will send you all details if you make a SAR & enclose a £10 'fee'. Make sure you ask for full details of where & when the car was auctioned to make sure they got the best price possible (mine was auctioned off below the 'reserve' price).

 

If you dont make a 'suitable' offer to repay the balance they will issue a Court Claim for the balance.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but as I've already said I'm in exactly the same position as you & have received a court claim - I bet its even the same Solicitors?

[dave1509]

Letter enclosed as a jpeg (I think)

 

Not sure if this has any baring on the matter but it was a PCP agreement and signed in Feb/March 08, the value was over 25k - Does that mean it will be unregulated?

Edited July 22, 2010 by dave1509

[ukaviator]

If you buy goods such as cars or furniture under hire purchase or a similar scheme, known as a 'conditional sale agreement', you don't own them until you have made the final payment. Until then, they belong to the creditor. If you miss payments before you've paid a third of the total amount you owe,this figure will be on the front of your agreement, the creditor can 'snatch back' the item.

 

If you have paid a third or more of the total amount you owe, the creditor must start court action to get the goods back, or to get you to pay. You will then receive a hearing date, when the court will decide whether you must return the item or accept any offer by you to make payment. You can ask for a 'time order', under which the court can reduce the payments to a level you can afford . The court can also make a 'suspended order', which means that the finance company can get the goods back only if you miss future payments.

 

If you want to avoid court action, you can write to the creditor to end your contract and return the goods. You will have to pay only half of the total amount you originally owed ,this figure will be on the front of your HP agreement, and the cost of repairing any damage to the goods. Most credit agreements for amounts of £25,000 or less (£15,000 or less between 19 May 1985 and 1 May 1999 are covered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Looks like yours is unregulated but you should still have had a pre-possession notice which would have allowed you at least 15 days to make arrangements to avoid car repossession.

[dave1509]

Hi

 

I didnt pay a third

 

The creditor ended the contract after 6 missed payments, I offered to pay the areears and pick up the payments but they had terminated the agreement. I spent the next months trying to raise finance to pay off the amount. Upon failure to do so, they reposessed the car (details of how they did it at the start - ie. left no notice, made no notification as to when, took it in the early hours of the morning from private property, no check before taking away, no itinerary done and non return of contents)

 

The scheme was a PCP

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Good morning

Firstly my apologies for my pedantic and angry outburst on your thread last night

I will endeavour to behave myself from now on

 

A PCP?? Unless I'm mistaken, a PCP is classed as Conditional Sale and is therefore afforded the protection of the Consumer Credit Act

 

So let's get to it!

Do you have any correspondence from them from your old address since you moved??

[dave1509]

Hi - no worries about the outburst

 

I dont have any correspondance

 

I have written a SAR asking for all the information they have on me including the finance application form (just incase) - I used the template in the library

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Excellent! I wait with baited breath

Special Brew has only increased my determination to fight harder against unscrupulous lenders, so it looks like his efforts have backfired