Yes Car Credit - Help please

[chopperclaire]

I surrendered my car 8 weeks ago having had it for over 2 years and had nothing but problems with it.

Firstly after having it 8 weeks the exhuast fell off! YCC actually replaced this free of charge. Then the fly wheel on the engine went not long after - cost £1000!! Had the car repaired and it still squeaked, made noises, and was unreliable. Finally decided I'd had enough and spoke to Direct Auto about surrendering the car. Funnily enough it then broke down 2 days before they were due to pick it up, so they had to tow it!! That completely summed the car up!

Anyway, yesterday received a letter from Golds Solcitors saying I owe them £5397.32 and must pay within 7 days otherwise they will commence Court proceedings.

Am not sure what to do, as I certainly can't pay it, but also don't agree that I owe that much. I paid £235.14 per month for 26 months = £6113.64, so how can I still owe them £5397.32, when the car was only £5995? It was only a crappy Fiat Punto, not a Merc or owt!!!

Can anyone help? Does anyone know where I stand legally and what I should do?

Many thanks

Claire

[sequenci]

hello.

 

i take it the agreement was HP?

how long was the agreement for?

did you excercise your voluntary termination clause?

[bakedalasker]

Hi Chopperclaire,

 

This looks like you did not exercise your voluntary termination rights and YCC have treated your case as an "abandoned vehicle". That means they will charge you the full amount of the agreement minus your already paid instalments and the value of the car at auction.

If you exercised the VT then they would have charged you for the remaining insurances which going on your figures would have been around £1500 or perhaps less.

Anyway, not all is lost yet. The time you took out your car with YCC was a time a majority of their contracts were "wrongly executed". There are a number of legal arguments that have been used successfully to force the likes of Gold solicitors to "set aside" the debts. These arguments are of a technical nature and you need to seek legal advise here.

My recommendation is that you approach your local CAB with your issue. They are the guys leading the fight against YCC and have a specialist advisor team who are very familiar with the YCC contract. When you visit the CAB ask to speak to a specialist advisor regarding YCC and I'm sure you will end up feeling alot better.

[chopperclaire]

Thank you for your post, this is most helpful. I will arrange an appointment with my CAB. They have sent me a breakdown of my costs and I have the full agreement from when I took out the car. Hopefully CAB will be able to help me in my fight against YCC and Golds Solicitors.

[chopperclaire]

Can anyone help me please. I have been served papers from Direct Auto Finance (Yes Car Credit) for a balance of around £5000. They are claiming the same saying they repossed the car as they served a default notice. I want to defend the same as a) no default was served/received b) I returned the car under my rights to terminate the agreement c) default cannot have been served as I obtained credit with another company at the time I returned the car. Having read my Agreement with them it does state that the insurances would be payable if I returned the car, however I also dispute this as I believe I was missold these as I was not told at the time I got the car that they were "optional" it was advised I HAD to have these.

Has anyone been in the same circumstances with Direct Auto? If so can anyone point me in the right direction? I was previously advise to go to CAB, but my local one only opens two days a week, and I work full time so it is hard for me to get out of work!

Help would be much appreciated.

 

Claire

[chopperclaire]

Have drafted a response, which I have copied in below. Can anyone advise me that I am on the right lines with this. I have 14 days to respond to the Court stating my intentions.

 

The Defendant wishes to defend the claim issued by the Claimant for the following reasons:-

1) It is disputed that Default was served on the Defendant by the Claimant at any time. The Defendant requests that the Claimant provides a copy of the said Default along with proof of postage.

2) The Defendant admits that the account was in arrears, due to circumstances changing, and the Defendants partner commencing a new job which required work in advance to be carried out prior to being paid.

3) The above circumstances were explained over the telephone to a gentleman only know to the Defendant as “John”. The Defendant does have a contact telephone number for the above mentioned person.

4) It was discussed with John at the time of the arrears that the Defendant was considering returning the vehicle due to a change in circumstances and also due to the vehicle being consistantly unreliable.

5) Once the Defendant had decided to return the vehicle she contacted John to advise that she wished to return the vehicle using her rights under condition “” of the Agreement. It was then arranged between the Defendant and the said, John, for the vehicle to be returned.

6) The Defendant disputes that the vehicle in question being a Fiat Punto 1.6 ELX, registration Y724 HCN was repossessed from the ownership of the Defendant.

7) The Defendant utilised her right to return the vehicle under Condition “ “ of the Contract, copy herewith.

8) The Defendant was entitled to return the vehicle under the Condition referred to above as over half of the term of the Agreement had expired.

9) The Defendant wishes to point out that the only balance which would be payable by the Defendant under that condition would be the balance of the “optional” insurance premiums.

10) The Defendant further disputes that the insurance premiums would be payable as it was not advised by the Claimant at the time when the Agreement was signed that the Insurance premiums were in fact “optional” and it was stated by the Claimant that these had to be taken out in order to have the credit for the vehicle. The Defendant therefore claims that the insurances were mis-sold to the Defendant, and should therefore not be payable.

11) The Defendant furthermore believes that had the Defendant been aware of the Sale of Goods Act, that the vehicle in question could have been returned to the Claimant some time prior to this due to it being unreliable and consistently requiring repair. The repairs in question not being due to general wear and tear (as these did not qualify to be repaired under the Warranty which was in place), but major items such as the exhaust falling off within 6 weeks of owning the vehicle, and the engine having a major fault having owned the vehicle for just over 18 months, and having only travelled 8,000 in that time. The Defendant estimates that along with the balance of the car being paid, that in total she has paid around £1200-£1800 in repairs throughout her ownership. The Defendant is trying to obtain a duplicate copy of the invoices from the garages who carried out the repairs as copies were not obtained and the original were returned with the vehicle to ensure the service history was correct.

12) The vehicle in question had to actually be towed from the Defendant’s property when it was returned to the Claimant as it had in fact broken down two days prior to the date that had been arranged for it to be returned. It was therefore agreed between John and the Defendant that the vehicle would be towed by the Claimant’s representatives, and the Defendant therefore does not dispute paying any costs in this respect.

13) The Defendant did contact Golds Solicitors, representing the Claimant to request a breakdown of the costs which they were stating were owed. The Defendant to date has not received the same, and the Court claim being the only form of correspondence received from the Claimant since my request on the 13th September.

14) The Defendant believes that the Claimant cannot claim that they repossessed the vehicle as the Defendant also believes that no Default was registered with the Credit Reference Agencies at the time that the vehicle was returned, as the Defendant obtained further HP with an alternative Company prior to the vehicle being returned. The Defendant does not believe that she would have been able to do this had the Claimant served Default Notice and repossessed the vehicle.

15) The Defendant therefore claims that the Claimant is not entitled to any sums of monies which they are claiming are owed to them under the Agreement.

 

 

Any comments?

 

Claire

[bakedalasker]

Claire,

 

Please visit our site www.saynotoyes.co.uk.

 

We have a number of users who are in the same situation as you. We believe we have the right channels for you to go down.

 

You need to seek the proper legal advice when it comes to contesting the likes of DAF. They are a stubborn organisation who will try all the tricks in the book to get as much out of you as possible.

 

We believe we have the right people in place to take on DAF.

[chopperclaire]

Thank you, will have a look on the website.

 

Claire

[bakedalasker]

I can only admire anyone who takes on the likes of DAF on their own accord. I think it is a brave road to take but I'm afraid it is a dangerous one. I say this because those who have gone down this route I know of are now bankrupt.

 

I know of individuals who have had their cases "set aside" but this has been mainly because of assistance from the CAB or legal representation. In fact I dont know of anyone who has seek legal assistance to have been forced to court. All such cases have settled outside court with a majority being "set aside".

 

Regarding the legal arguments I have been given a list of them from some legal bods but I am unwilling to pass them on. These arguments are of a high technical nature and require proper representation. I personally am not skilled enough to prepare them nor am I insured against a counter claim. I do not want to leave myself open for liable misrepresentation hence my advice for any YCC victim to seek proper representation were insurance cover can be qualified. Legal bods qualify for this insurance, I dont. Need I say more.

 

Finally I would like to highlight the risk here. Most victims of YCC are being chased for thousands of pounds and are in danger of losing their homes. That is the precedent we have witnessed and this is what we have been fighting against. As I said early I admire those of you for taking on such organisations but please in the case of DAF seek legal advice. Thats all I want to say.

 

Thank you.

[chopperclaire]

Many thanks to you both for your responses.

I am a lawyer myself although Litigation is not my area, and I work in property. I have easy access to all the statutes etc, and can speak to a Litigation Lawyer here for advice, so guess I am in a better position than some.

I cannot believe they try to get away with this. They had no Court Order to repo the car, did not serve default, and I stated I was surrendering the car!!!

Have looked on the saynotoyes website who recommend a Solicitors, so have contacted them to discuss.

Will definitely not try to defend on my own based on what you have said, as along with all this happening am also 3 months pregnant and do not need the stress of dealing with it myself. I did ask them for a breakdown of the account to see if there was anything which I feel I genuinely do owe them, was then planning to put a payment proposal to them, however they didn't respond and just issued Court papers.

Will teach me to deal with these edit sods ever again!

 

EDITED due to libelous wording.

[bakedalasker]

Chopperclaire,

 

I am please you have taken this route and I know you are in good hands.

 

I do well believe what they have tried as I have heard the same story a few times.

 

I believe the fact that you have had your car repossessed without a court order, providing you have paid a 1/3 of the agreement, means you are in a position to reclaim all your payments. I hope this is the case.

 

Good luck with your case and best wishes for the arrival of the new baby.

[chopperclaire]

Thank you. I would be quite happy for it just to be ordered that I don't owe them anything. I aren't overly interested in getting anything back, just want them off my back so I don't have to worry about it.

Should be speaking to Stephensons this afternoon, so hopefully will make some progress there. If they already have the arguments and case law in place then they are certainly the best people to deal with it.

 

Your advice and comments are much appreciated and have allowed me to breathe a bit easier now.

 

Claire

[chopperclaire]

Hi,

Just to update, and to ask for some advice really.

Have spoken to some Solicitors who specliase in Yes Car Credit, they have told me they will act for me and defend but want £750 on account. However they will not tell me under what basis they are going to defend for me! They told me they needed money asap, but when I asked to speak to the Solicitor for explanation on what terms they were gonna defend was told he was out until Friday. My defence has to be lodged by Thursday at latest, and therefore I am confused as to how they are going to do this! I do not feel 100% confident with this Company, and as I am a Solicitor myself (although in a different field), having spoken to a colleague they have told me they would detail to the client a full explanation of the defence!

Does anyone have any advice for me. I am tempted to lodge the defence that I had done, as from what I can gather, as i sent this to the Sols and the woman I spoke to, they indicated they would defend on similar terms to those which I had written.

Can anyone offer any advice?

[chopperclaire]

I did amend the Defence, and incorporated the recommendations above. This is on my home PC so will post tomorrow.

 

I have the Court form here and intend to return with Intention to Defend marked thereon. I see no reason why I cannot defend myself as I feel my arguments are justifed and I am also looking up various statues at the moment.

 

The particulars of claim are as follows:-

By an Agreement dated 23-07-2004 Claimant advanced the Defendant the sum of £5740. The agreement was regulated by the CCA 1974 subject to repayment of principal sum and payment of interest and charges. The loan was payable by monthly installments of £235.14. The Defendant failed to maintain the instalment payment of 27-05-20006 and became in arrears to the extent of £470.28. Onr or about that date the Claimant issued a deafult notice to the Defendant who was required to remedy the breach within 7 days. The defendant failed to comply with the notice and is not liable to pay the total balance outstanding under the agreement of £5397.32. The claimant therefore claims £5397.32, and contractual interest from the date of issue at the rate of 19.90% until Judgement, along with costs.

 

Can I also add Golds Solicitors have been ringing me since the papers were issued asking me to propose a settlement to them which they will accept to settle the matter. I have simply advised I would not discuss with them as I am obtaining legal advice. They rang again today and I stated I would be replying to the documents issued in the next day or so.

 

Top and bottom is no default was ever received, they cannot even specify a date this was served, and I doubt it ever was!

[chopperclaire]

Papers were served 5th Oct. It states they are deemed to be served 5 days after that, so that would be 10th. I have to acknowledge and state my intention within 14 days, so that would be 24th. I then get a further 14 days to lodge a defence, which would take me to 7th November. So yes to my calculations I have a week or so to put a defence together.

I will get this typed up and post for opinions etc. I will then get a colleague of mine to check it over as don't want to involve work too much, as want to keep it as personal as possible.

[Switch]

Hi,

Just to update, and to ask for some advice really.

Have spoken to some Solicitors who specliase in Yes Car Credit, they have told me they will act for me and defend but want £750 on account. However they will not tell me under what basis they are going to defend for me! They told me they needed money asap, but when I asked to speak to the Solicitor for explanation on what terms they were gonna defend was told he was out until Friday. My defence has to be lodged by Thursday at latest, and therefore I am confused as to how they are going to do this! I do not feel 100% confident with this Company, and as I am a Solicitor myself (although in a different field), having spoken to a colleague they have told me they would detail to the client a full explanation of the defence!

Does anyone have any advice for me. I am tempted to lodge the defence that I had done, as from what I can gather, as i sent this to the Sols and the woman I spoke to, they indicated they would defend on similar terms to those which I had written.

Can anyone offer any advice?

 

If it were me I would give them a wide berth.

 

750 on account, yes I can understand that.

 

However, the questions I would be asking are:-

 

1. Why do the Particulars of Claim have to be submitted by Thursday latest.

 

2. If there is nobody available until Friday, who is dealing with my Particulars of Claim for them to be filed by Thursday.

 

3. Why can they not tell you on what basis they are going to defend.

 

4. They told me they needed money asap, mmmmmmm whys that then.

 

5. What commission (if any) are say no to yes on.

 

Sorry, but alarm bells would be ringing if it were me. Have you checked them out to see if they are members of the Law Society.

 

If it were me I would defend myself and I may well be doing this very soon as my partner got a car from YCC and I have some issues with the insurances, she was ripped off big time.

 

I would post here for sure and also at i think justclaim.co.uk which is a great legal forum that has some very bright members.

 

Given your position I don't see why you could not prep yourself with the help of the guys and girls here and then run it by someone at your place of work, and save yourself some cash in the process.

[chopperclaire]

Sorry, my error in typing. It say is "NOW" liable to pay.... etc etc I wish it did say not! lol

 

Thanks for your post Switch, I think you are right, and alarm bells are ringing in this regard. I feel confident enough to defend myself and have plenty of people on hand to help me out. The people on here are wonderful and luckily I have a colleague who will run things over for me.

 

I will put my defence on here either tonight or tomorrow, and any recommendations/suggestions would then be great.

 

Thanks

Claire

[Switch]

they are in the law society. Do you have the name of the solicitor who you were dealing with Claire ?

 

 

That's a good start, but the whole thing just smells a bit fishy to me, doesn't it you.

[chopperclaire]

No, they wouldn't give me it! The only messages I got was from a girl called Natalie who I could tell was not a Solicitor and was more like an assistant. She could not answer any of my questions and I think I confused her with my legal jargon! I know they are registered with Law Society and are within Top 100 Law Firms, but if I provide the service they have given me, I would be on my way out the door by now! Am not happy to part with that kind of money unless I know on what terms they are planning to defend me.

[buzz]

Karnevil,

 

Sorry I forgot,

Certainly, if Claire wishes to visit us at www.saynotoyes.co.uk, we will definitely look through her defence and see if there is anything she has missed. We have certain clauses we can use that we dont publish for obvious reasons. You dont know who is watching...

For reasons given in the previous post I would rather this be done on the saynotoyes site .

 

Would be especially interested to know who the solicitors you are referring to Claire. You mentioned in a previous post that you were going to ask your colleague , a litigation lawyer, for advice on this matter. What did he suggest and would it be any cheaper using his services ?

 

 

 

 

Buzz

 

Buzz

[Robertxc]

For reasons given in the previous post I would rather this be done on the saynotoyes site.

If you're not prepared to contribute usefully on this forum, why are you here?

We have certain clauses we can use that we dont publish for obvious reasons.

Presumably if you've used these 'clauses' before, YCC and their lawyers know all about them by now.

 

To read some of the posts on the subject, you would think that YCC had magical powers or something. In reality of course, they're no different from any other company. They still have to abide by the regulations, and if they don't, they can be dealt wth. Some of the banks we deal with on this site have approached claimants very aggresively, and there are plenty of people who have dealt with potentially ruinous disputes successfully. As far as we can see, there's nothing about YCC which can't be dealt with by an individual with support from other forum users.

[dolly]

Just giving this a bump to see how you are getting on?

[chopperclaire]

Hi

Just to let you know I am attending a Direction Hearing on Monday at my Local County Court. I have obtained advice from a colleague who has set out all the relevant documents, which I need to take with me, and has given me a bit of background info on the Judge, who apparently is a very reasonable man who's daughter has just had a baby (I will be sticking the pregnancy bump out, hoping for the sympathy vote!)

My colleague advised that they have only set 10 minutes aside for the case, and she thinks that this is in my favour, and it may be that they will throw it out straight away. She said my arguments in defence completely stand up, and they will have to produce documents and provide evidence to argue my defence points!

We will wait and see! Am a bit nervous, but I am calm and cool-headed and have all the facts in front of me! I am also quite good at speaking, so hopefully I will be able to get my points across and succeed in stopping this shower of S***E ripping me off!

Will let you know how I get on!

Claire x

[mummyemma]

Hi

 

I would be very interested to hear how you got on as they are doing exaclty the same thing to me to. I have filed my defence and they are planning on contiuning. So i intend on fighting. There is no way im paying anymore for those insurances and they were misold to me to.

 

Good luck

Emma

[dolly]

Best of luck for the hearing today. Let us know how you get on.