3rd party stored car, garage withholding my car until I pay storage fees

[Rich44]

Ok not getting replies on other thread guessing length & protracted look putting people off & situation changed so....

 

1. June bought new car

2. July car broke, rejected & returned to vendor

3. Various arguments etc no refund.

4. Vendor moves car to 3rd party garage tells me (no fees mentioned) but not bothered as rejected car already.

5. Ltd Co goes under, director goes bankrupt

6. Go to claim car to minimise losses garage wants £7/day storage fees backdated to November 2015, they admit they're pursuing director already for other bills but say I am liable for storage fees.

 

How do I deal with this? I'm already £2000 down I'm not paying storage fees when I didn't agree or even know about them. They're refusing access to MY car.

[BankFodder]

It sounds very complicated – but I'm not entirely sure who is who in your story.

 

Which is the limited company which goes under and whose director goes bankrupt? Is this the vendor?

 

Who sold you the car? Is it a company or a private seller?

 

Is the garage anyone of these parties that you have mentioned above? Or are they completely independent and simply not being paid by somebody?

 

It will be helpful if you would simply re-present your story but being more careful to identify all of the parties and it will then be easier to give you some advice

[Rich44]

Ok sorry

 

1. Bought a car from limited company in June

2. Spectacularly failed in July was returned & rejected

3. Lots of arguments I was blamed for damage by Ltd company etc

4. Issued court papers after director resigned from company & said "eventually will be struck off" basically walked away from his limited company & he moved car to the local garage he paid to do his repairs - no mention of fees & assumed car was his at this point tbh

5. In Nov 15 only director filed for bankruptcy

6. Am now attempting to recover car from the 3rd party garage where it is stored but they are claiming that I owe them £7/day storage fees.

 

Does that make it any clearer?

 

To be honest at this point I'm just trying to retrieve the car from the garage where the limited company decided to store it but am being refused access and car is being held hostage racking up more & more fees on top.

 

Not trying to elicit sympathy just fill in the financial situation but I'm extremely ill & my income is ESA & the car is worth no more than £1000 as it probably needs a new autobox.

 

I've had a quote of £100 to bring it back here & am prepared to do so at a moments notice but am being blocked.

[Ganymede]

If you rejected the car and returned it then you don't own it, no?

 

The storage charges are the defunct Ltd company's.

[Rich44]

No he refused to accept the rejection (in writing) & we never got our £3000 back so seeing as the only way of recovering a tiny fraction is to get the car back that's what we're trying to do.

 

I know the storage charges are the Ltd Co's as they arranged it (at least that's the logic I had in my head lol), but I'm trying to explain it to the garage who are claiming I need to pay & have refused me access (again in writing).

 

I don't really know how to deal with them, what laws to quote, who to go to etc

 

No one is contesting my ownership of the vehicle

[BankFodder]

You've been a member of this forum since 2006. What a shame you didn't come to us in July.

 

Technically speaking I think that it is quite correct that you are no longer the owner of the car because you rejected the contract. The refusal to accept your rejection has absolutely no effect at all and it's a shame that you accepted it. You should certainly have come to see a spike lease that moment.

 

The situation now is certainly that if you carry on with the story about rejecting the contract, then you effectively hand ownership of the car over to the administrators of the bankrupt company and because the garage has in their possession, they may well be in a position to sell it.

 

I suppose that you will be best off not referring to the business of your rejection in case someone realises the legal significance of this.

 

Frankly I'm not entirely sure whether the garage might or might not have a valid lien over the car – even if it is yours.

 

However, your position may as well be that they have a contract with the company and therefore their argument is with the administrators.

 

Meanwhile, they have a duty to mitigate their losses and so therefore they should release the car to you and stop accruing any further storage charges – and you should put this to them in writing.

 

If you have any kind of legal action against and then it would be in the tort of conversion which means that they are usurping your rights of owner. Have a look at the Torts (Wrongful Interference with Goods) Act.

 

You would have to bring a small claim for the recovery of the car. It's not going to be straightforward – and if they manage to argue that they have a legitimate reason to hang onto the car then you could lose the case.

 

I'm sorry to say that I am not completely clear on this aspect of the law.

 

It sounds to me as if, given the condition of the car, given the cost of having to transport it to you, given the cost of putting into some reasonable condition – and you don't really even know if that is the end of the story – given the costs of the legal action and the risk of losing, that you might be best off letting it go and writing it down to experience – and if there is next time come to us a bit earlier.

[BankFodder]

A thought occurs to me.

 

I think also that there is a high chance of the garage is bluffing. They can't possibly have any interest in retaining and repairing the vehicle and selling it on. They really won't make their money back at all – especially as if they sell it on they will have to offer guarantees et cetera for a car which is in poor condition.

 

This means that if their bluff is called, they are faced with the risk of being in possession of a motorcar that is of no value to them and of losing all of the storage money which they believe they are owed.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think that the garage is in a very bad place will stop

 

If you really want the car back – and frankly I think you are a bit crazy – then I think that you could talk to the owner and explain to him what is going to happen if he insists on full payment – that you will simply walk away and leaving with the car and unpaid bills and not only that, that he will be unable to sell the car because he will not have ownership documents and also he will not be authorised to do so. You should also remind him that while the car is in his possession and he is refusing to let it go, he is responsible for the storage and for the condition of it and making sure that it does not deteriorate and that it is properly looked after. All of this adds up to quite a liability.

 

There you are, and gives you a bit of leverage if you really want it.

 

Also, please would you name the garage and also the directors who have been involved in it. These people sometimes fold up they companies and go on to start new companies and I think that it will help people to understand who they might be dealing with in the future.

[Rich44]

I did come to the forum sooner I said this was a simplification of the long running thread because no one was replying anymore.

 

 

 

I did start dealing with everything then and I followed as suggested unfortunately the trader has made life really hard, lied on numerous occasions I won't go into it all again.

 

 

 

The bankruptcy only cane to light when he filed his defence, he lied repeatedly about that, he said he was resigning for personal reasons on top of that as I said I am extremely ill so I've been dealing with it as best I could.

 

 

 

Tbh I don't think speaking to me like a child is very fair at all, going back to my profile to look up my membership length then tell me off tbh feels rather ott no?

 

 

 

So the fact that I have it in writing that my reasons for rejection are not accepted, not to mention it's the director that's bankrupt the company isn't he's just effectively walked away from it.

 

 

 

I can't walk away from it as it stands the car is worth over a grand as spares when your income is ESA I'm sure you can imagine that's a LOT of money & why should the garage be able to take it to recover any money they claim they're owed.

 

 

 

I'm sorry if you didn't mean to come across that way & I've taken it the wrong way but I don't post on forums lightly as I don't like social interaction much and I don't like being accused of things & defending myself. I just wanted some advice without the attitude

 

 

 

Also I suffer from 2 neurological conditions so calling someone you don't know crazy whilst not deliberately malicious as you don't know me that's the situation that can occur & is rather hurtful nonetheless.

 

 

 

I'm not naming anyone until it's sorted as I don't want anyone to know what is going on given how awkward the OR, the director & the garage are being

 

Thank you for the helpful suggestion I will write to him tonight & see what happens