Car Finance Nightmare - Court Date Today (Help!)

[Ant84]

Parents took out car finance a few years back (2004 or earlier) and had paid up £11,500 of the total amount payable, which was £18,500. In February 2007, they were in financial trouble and wanted to voluntarily surrender the vehicle, so they dropped the car off at the finance company HQ along with a cheque for the arrears (£540). The cheque, unfortunately, was never paid as there wasn't enough money in the account.

 

The finance company gave them another week to come up with the money for the arrears but, being in financial hardship, that was impossible. Since then it's been passed on to a DCA and court forms were issued, claiming the amount of around £9,000 on the court forms (although it says £12,000 on the letter they sent around the same time) and my parents are just not in a position to pay this. Mortgage payments are well in arrears and my father is currently claiming Jobseekers Allowance having been out of work since July.

 

I should point out that they were both self employed at the time, with my mum having a part time position elsewhere. I've asked the DCA for all documentation before this afternoon's court case but have received nothing yet.

 

Is there any basis for arguing this case and, if so, what is it? Really stuck here and they certainly can't afford another £10,000 debt.

 

Thanks in advance.

[dadofholly]

What does it say in the court papers?

 

What are the particulars of claim?

 

If you are still waiting for info you may be able to state that you do not have enough information on which to defend the claim and ask for an adjournment.

[Revenant]

Hi Ant

Sorry to hear of the problem

You don't mention in your post that you've asked for relevant documentation from the DCA but they've not replied (Their failure is a help that can explained to the Court)

Is this this first time you've sought help on here re this matter as there's at least one cagger with lots of knowledge of this sort of thing and within the time scales allowed by the Courts for defence etc you would have received great advice

All I can say is that you'll have to go with what you have, explain things to the Judge and see what happens (The Judge is there to help)

Even if things don't go too well come back and let us know what happened, you'll get further help as well

Good luck

R

[Ant84]

Well we've just received the documentation from the DCA (2 hours before the court 'directions appointment'), so is there any chance of an adjournment here? Would it be a case of turning up for the hearing and requesting it or would it have to be done beforehand?

 

Particulars of Claim are as follows...

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The claim is for monies due from the Defendants upon termination of the Agreement particularised below being the amount claimed due and unpaid as shown below plus interest thereon from 05.02.07 to the date hereof at 33.3% pa pursuant to contract being 4568.74 to date and continuing at 3.76 per day until Judgement.

 

PARTICULARS

 

Date 24.05.04

Parties Claimant and Defendants

Number xxxxxxxxx

Type Regulated

 

Total amount payable 18,547.20

Paid up sum 11,443.07

Less: net sale proceeds 2,972.57

Amount claimed due and unpaid 4,131.56

 

Interest is claimed pursuant to Clause 15 of the Agreement, or alternatively at 8% pa pursuant to S69 County Courts Act 1984.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I should also point out that there was £1,840.00 of PPI added to the initial agreement, which as we all know is useless in the case of self employed individuals and, indeed, it did prove worthless as a period of financial difficulty during that period has landed my parents in this mess.

 

Any advice?

[Revenant]

This being the case with the paper work I think you have a good chance of getting the case adjourned as you've not had time to get a full defence together based on the claim made

Take verything with you including the envelope you just received as that's got the date shown

Good luck

R

[dadofholly]

My advice is to turn up - otherwise they will get a CCJ by default - you never know the other side may not turn up yet.

 

Yes point out the fact that you have only just recived the info you requested - and as such have not had time to mount a defence.

 

Whatever the outcome today - come back here for advice on how to take this on to the next stage.

[Ant84]

Well they got the judgement for just under £7,000 after the judge decided their claim for interest was ridiculous.

 

Not sure what my parents' options are now?

[dadofholly]

Well they got the judgement for just under £7,000 after the judge decided their claim for interest was ridiculous.

 

Not sure what my parents' options are now?

 

Hi Ant

 

Before guys can give you the best advice on your next actions - if suitable - they will need a bit of background info.

 

Who was it that applied for the Court Order? - name of the DCA etc.

Who was the original finance with?

Was the PPI part of the £7k awarded?

Do you have a copy of the original agreement?

 

You say they VT'd the car in 2007 - it looks like over half was paid - do you have the original Terms & Conditions - my gut feeling is there is something not quite right here.

[Mr Worried]

Hi , Reading between the lines I would say that this is not over and you need to give all the details that we are asking for.

 

Chin up

 

Mr W

 

 

 

 

Hi Ant

 

Before guys can give you the best advice on your next actions - if suitable - they will need a bit of background info.

 

Who was it that applied for the Court Order? - name of the DCA etc.

Who was the original finance with?

Was the PPI part of the £7k awarded?

Do you have a copy of the original agreement?

 

You say they VT'd the car in 2007 - it looks like over half was paid - do you have the original Terms & Conditions - my gut feeling is there is something not quite right here.

[Ant84]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies.

 

The court order was applied for by Bermans solicitors on behalf of Marsh Finance Ltd. As far as the PPI goes, this was added at the start of the agreement (so they'd have been paying interest on the £1,840 PPI) after Carcraft (I know, I know!) told my parents that they had to have it in order to be accepted for the hire purchase. I'm pretty sure a portion of the repayment amount will be for PPI, but I'm not quite sure how much yet.

 

We do have a copy of the original agreement, I can blank some of the personal details and post it all up if it's any help?

 

As for the voluntary termination, there was around £540 of arrears at the time my dad wanted to give the car back. He dropped off the car with a cheque for this amount (the cheque bounced), Marsh Finance accepted the car, had him sign it over, then a couple of weeks later they sent a letter saying they couldn't accept the car as there were arrears outstanding (which was correct) and that the car was in storage. They went on to say that if the car wasn't picked up by a certain date, then they would effectively repossess it and sell it at auction before chasing my parents for the money.

[dadofholly]

Was it Carcraft that arranged the finance for you?

 

Yes if you could post the agreement removing all the personal details etc. Terms & Conditions included if possible.

 

I will send a pm to someone who is good with car finance issues and ask him to look in. He is usually quite busy so may have to wait but he generaly has some good info.

[DonkeyB]

Here’s another case like yours, same solicitors.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?283484-RFI-RCI-amp-Bermans-LLP-forged-signatures-and-other-issues.-Help-please