My car has still got outstanding finance

[amro2011]

I have been looking at this foroum and you seem to know alot about the problem iam in. I have recently bought a vehicle from a "friend". That person had owned the vehicle for about 18 month before selling it to me. I bought the vehicle about a month ago before I bought the vehicle i did a check on the car using mycarcheck. I was in a garage yesterday when they did theyre own HPI report on the vehicle and it came showing outstanding finance. The finance is not on the person that i bought the car from, but it is on the person that had the vehicle before that. I did ring the finance company and they stated that they have financial intrest in vehicle and are wanting it back. I am really scared and worried as the car has cost me £6000.

 

I am not being rude please only give advice or comment if you have been in simmilar situation or if you are 100% sure about what you say

[dx100uk]

moved to the vehicle repro forum.

 

dx

[dx100uk]

have aread inthis forum

 

it should now get some response being inthe rightforum

 

dx

siteteam

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

You need to know what sort of finance agreement is involved. If it is hire purchase/conditional sale, you might have acquired title. If it is a hire/lease agreement you have a problem. Ask the finance co for a copy of their agreement.

[amro2011]

HI gaston

 

 

Its a hire purchase agreement thats started in 2008 for 48 month. What do u mean by "have acquired title"?

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

OK if it's a hire purchase agreement there is a statutory mechanism by which you can legally claim ownership of the vehicle even though it would normally still belong to the finance company as their customer has never paid all his instalments and therefore never acquired ownership of the vehicle from them. Basically if::

1. You are not a trader

2. You did not know about the finance when you bought the vehicle

3. There was nothing suspicious about the transaction, e.g. vehicle unusually cheap

 

then you might be able to defeat the finance company's claim to the vehicle. The fly in the ointment is if there is something iffy about the sale by the finance co's original hirer. But that's somthing for the finance co prove. It's usual for the finance co to have some sort of questionnaire for you to complete detailing your acquisition of the vehicle so they can consider whether they might have to abandon their interest in it. Ask them, and then complete it and see what happens.

[amro2011]

Thanks for your quick reply, Yes thats exact what they said to me, they say they will send a questionaire for me to fill in. But surely if they wanted the car why did they not take it from the person i bought it from who had the car for 18 month and he didnt have it on fnance the person that he bought from had it on finance. How do i prove that i didnt know about the finance when i bought the vehicle and how do i proof how much i bought it for if i paid cash

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

OK yes fill in the questionnaire. The reason they weren't looking for the car earlier is most probably because their customer was paying them for those 18 months and they had no idea he had sold it. Usually these things only come to light when the HP stops being paid and they look to repossess the vehicle, only to find it is registered to someone else. You prove you didn't know about the finance just by saying so - what else can you do? They will want evidence of the payment. If it was cash, there must be some evidence to support it e.g. bank statement showing a withdrawal. They'll want to see that.

[amro2011]

ok, I bought the car about 3-4 weeks ago until now i have not recived a letter from the finance company I contacted them on friday and told them that my Girl friend is the new keeper, i think at this stage they must of realised that the car has been sold on. Can they just come and towe the car from outside my girl friends house with out sending me any warning letters or any sort of letters

[amro2011]

and about the payment proof as I payed cash it didnt come out of a bank. We had a previous car that we sold for £3500 and the rest was cash so i dont have bank statment showing

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

OK, then something to evidence the sale of your car like copy of log book for old car, or letter from buyer of that car. Finance companies will be suspicious about cash purchase without backup.

[amro2011]

what if I just withdrew £6000 from bank tomorow and got a receipt tomorow from bank would i be able to use that as proof