Voluntary Termination - Am I Mistaken?????

[Cornucopia]

Hello,

 

I have a Hyundai Getz 2004 model, the payments are shocking and it is a real gas guzzler so I wrote to Hyundai/Blackhorse Finance stating that I wanted to exercise my right to voluntarily terminate the agreement as I had made well over 50% of the payments. I got this response :

 

You recently advised us of your intention to terminate your credit agreement and surrender the vehicle to us. As this is a Credit Agreement, you do not have the option of voluntary termination, but we at Blackhorse Finance can act on your behalf to sell this vehicle at Auction where your liability would then be restricted to the balance on your agreement after sale.

 

If the amount raised is more than the balance, a refund will be given. Blah blah.

It then goes on to give me a list of charges for returning the vehicle ranging from £45.00 to £250.00 and a list of auction centres where we can take it.

 

Is this correct? I can't terminate a credit agreement? I didn't actually realise this was the case. Is there anything I can do? I don't want the car to go to auction as we all know it will raise nothing and I will be left with a huge bill. Is my only option to sell privately? I am mortified that I might have made a mistake like this!

 

I would be REALLY grateful for any advise you can offer!

[clint1974]

I have just done this with Black Horse. As long as you have paid 50% and it IS a credit agreement not a PCP plan or lease. I took car to Measham. Not heard anything since as i didnt sign there letter, as i advise you don't otherwise they might come back and sting you for more $ if the car sells well below book price. Or alternatively sign it but cross out there t&c's .

[Cornucopia]

I have just done this with Black Horse. As long as you have paid 50% and it IS a credit agreement not a PCP plan or lease. I took car to Measham. Not heard anything since as i didnt sign there letter, as i advise you don't otherwise they might come back and sting you for more $ if the car sells well below book price. Or alternatively sign it but cross out there t&c's .

 

 

Hello there! Thanks so much for your response. I am curious as to why they are saying I can't do it as it is a credit agreement, I was wondering if it only applied to HP? I have tried to find out information from the Citizens Advice Bureau website but nothing comes up specific for credit agreements. We have paid well over 50% of the payments. So your advice is to basically take the car to one of the centres and leave it at that? They also want to know how long is left on the tax disc. Bloody cheek, I had to buy that myself, the car didn't come with it! Do they say you can't do it hoping you will just give up??

 

Thanks so much for your time!

[clint1974]

See my thread here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/vehicle-retailers-manufacturers/41352-voluntary-termination.html?highlight=blackhorse

 

Tax is yours refund it first. Mine was untaxed and i hadnt even registered it in my name! I filled in the form telling them where i was taking it and on what date but didnt sign it. I then dropped of the car as arranged. A week or so later i got the letter back asking for my signature. I did not reply and so far so good.! You could even attend the next auction at where you take it and buy it cheap!

[Cornucopia]

See my thread here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/vehicle-retailers-manufacturers/41352-voluntary-termination.html?highlight=blackhorse

 

Tax is yours refund it first. Mine was untaxed and i hadnt even registered it in my name! I filled in the form telling them where i was taking it and on what date but didnt sign it. I then dropped of the car as arranged. A week or so later i got the letter back asking for my signature. I did not reply and so far so good.! You could even attend the next auction at where you take it and buy it cheap!

 

Thanks for that, your link takes me to the general board, am I doing something wrong?!

 

I am a bit scared of doing this! I think it is because they say I don't have the right to. My car is still reasonably valuable because they don't make this particular model anymore, it was a limited edition 1.6 auto, it really has only had one lady owner and I have done very little mileage, it has about 13,000 miles on it as I only do local journeys. Not bad for an 04 model! I am terrified of being landed with a huge bill after they have "auctioned" it. Do they really auction them or do they sell them via garages? I find it hard to believe they would actually auction them as they would make a loss, surely?

 

I hate these bloody people, I am a confident person but you get letters like that a they scare the life out of you!!

[rosiecotton]

You can't voluntary terminate on a credit agreement, only Hire Purchase.

 

The difference is, with credit agreements you own the car outright and the finance company effectively provide you with a loan to buy the car from the trader, therefore you are effectively paying off a loan. To settle, you'd need to sell the car and pay the remainder of your loan off, at a reasonable settlement figure.

 

With Hire Purchase the HP company owns the car and hires it to you, with an option for you to purchase the car at the end of the finance term. Therefore, the car is still theirs, and you can end the "hire" agreement and pass it back to its legal owners during the course of the agreement.

 

Hope this is clear.

[Cornucopia]

You can't voluntary terminate on a credit agreement, only Hire Purchase.

 

The difference is, with credit agreements you own the car outright and the finance company effectively provide you with a loan to buy the car from the trader, therefore you are effectively paying off a loan. To settle, you'd need to sell the car and pay the remainder of your loan off, at a reasonable settlement figure.

 

With Hire Purchase the HP company owns the car and hires it to you, with an option for you to purchase the car at the end of the finance term. Therefore, the car is still theirs, and you can end the "hire" agreement and pass it back to its legal owners during the course of the agreement.

 

Hope this is clear.

 

Thank you for your response! Now I am really confused! Clint1974 returned his car, he said that you could do it with a credit agreement. Nightmare! I suspect now I am going to have to sell my car. I don't think that it is worth them auctioning it on my behalf, as it will end up being much less. Nightmare!

[ukaviator]

Hi Team

 

One disadvantage of HP is that, because you don't own the car, you cannot sell it until you've made all the payments. This also means that, in certain situations, the finance company can repossess the car if you break the contract. However, they need a court order if you've paid more than a third of the total price for the car, or if it's stored on premises, such as on your driveway or in your garage. But if it's parked on a public road or in a public car park, it's fair game for the 'repo men'!

 

If you fall behind with your payments, the finance company may terminate the agreement in writing and issue you with a 'Default Notice'. The company will then order you to return the goods - and you may have to pay the full amount owed, less what you've already paid and the sum the company gets for selling your car at auction.

 

You can end an HP agreement voluntarily by handing back the goods to the finance company. In this case, you should only have to pay up to half of the cost of the car, less what you have already paid, plus any arrears and the cost of damages to the car.

 

One valuable benefit is you can pursue the owner - the finance company - as well as the dealer for compensation if something goes wrong with the vehicle, thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I have just posted this to answer the question. As long as you have paid half, you can literally walk away. The vehicle tracking company the car loan people use, will mark this down against you and may have an increased loan APR in the future.

 

Hope this solves your problem

 

Uk. . .

[Cornucopia]

Hi Team

 

One disadvantage of HP is that, because you don't own the car, you cannot sell it until you've made all the payments. This also means that, in certain situations, the finance company can repossess the car if you break the contract. However, they need a court order if you've paid more than a third of the total price for the car, or if it's stored on premises, such as on your driveway or in your garage. But if it's parked on a public road or in a public car park, it's fair game for the 'repo men'!

 

If you fall behind with your payments, the finance company may terminate the agreement in writing and issue you with a 'Default Notice'. The company will then order you to return the goods - and you may have to pay the full amount owed, less what you've already paid and the sum the company gets for selling your car at auction

 

You can end an HP agreement voluntarily by handing back the goods to the finance company. In this case, you should only have to pay up to half of the cost of the car, less what you have already paid, plus any arrears and the cost of damages to the car.

 

One valuable benefit is you can pursue the owner - the finance company - as well as the dealer for compensation if something goes wrong with the vehicle, thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

 

Hope this solves your problem

 

Uk. . .

 

Hi there, thanks so much, everybody is being so helpful but I must be really thick as I am still unsure of my position! Car payments up to date and well over 50% of them made but this is a CREDIT AGREEMENT not HP. Rosie above says I can't take up VT with a credit agreement but Clint1974 says I can. Blackhorse Finance have also said I can't do it. All I want to do is get a cheaper car with cheaper payments and one that uses less fuel. This car was a really really bad buy. I am really confused now and don't know what to do for the best, I am worried that if I take up Blackhorse's offer to sell it at auction, I am going to end up with a huge bill and it is a really decent car in as new condition. As I said above, I think the only way I am going to get out of this is by selling it privately and hoping it's enough to settle the finance.

[Cornucopia]

Hi Team

 

One disadvantage of HP is that, because you don't own the car, you cannot sell it until you've made all the payments. This also means that, in certain situations, the finance company can repossess the car if you break the contract. However, they need a court order if you've paid more than a third of the total price for the car, or if it's stored on premises, such as on your driveway or in your garage. But if it's parked on a public road or in a public car park, it's fair game for the 'repo men'!

 

If you fall behind with your payments, the finance company may terminate the agreement in writing and issue you with a 'Default Notice'. The company will then order you to return the goods - and you may have to pay the full amount owed, less what you've already paid and the sum the company gets for selling your car at auction.

 

You can end an HP agreement voluntarily by handing back the goods to the finance company. In this case, you should only have to pay up to half of the cost of the car, less what you have already paid, plus any arrears and the cost of damages to the car.

 

One valuable benefit is you can pursue the owner - the finance company - as well as the dealer for compensation if something goes wrong with the vehicle, thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I have just posted this to answer the question. As long as you have paid half, you can literally walk away. The vehicle tracking company the car loan people use, will mark this down against you and may have an increased loan APR in the future.

 

Hope this solves your problem

 

Uk. . .

 

UK, I apologise, I didn't see the last paragraph of your post. I can see that you are in agreement with Clint on this. Sorry, have got myself into a right pickle!!

[ukaviator]

To Clarify things further why not give the Citizan's Advice Bureau a call?

May put your mind at ease about the Credit Agreement.

The link went to the Motly Fool site, apologies for that.

 

Uk..

[Cornucopia]

To Clarify things further why not give the Citizan's Advice Bureau a call?

May put your mind at ease about the Credit Agreement.

The link went to the Motly Fool site, apologies for that.

 

Uk..

 

Thank you, you're a star!

[rosiecotton]

Hi Team

 

One disadvantage of HP is that, because you don't own the car, you cannot sell it until you've made all the payments. This also means that, in certain situations, the finance company can repossess the car if you break the contract. However, they need a court order if you've paid more than a third of the total price for the car, or if it's stored on premises, such as on your driveway or in your garage. But if it's parked on a public road or in a public car park, it's fair game for the 'repo men'!

 

If you fall behind with your payments, the finance company may terminate the agreement in writing and issue you with a 'Default Notice'. The company will then order you to return the goods - and you may have to pay the full amount owed, less what you've already paid and the sum the company gets for selling your car at auction.

 

You can end an HP agreement voluntarily by handing back the goods to the finance company. In this case, you should only have to pay up to half of the cost of the car, less what you have already paid, plus any arrears and the cost of damages to the car.

 

One valuable benefit is you can pursue the owner - the finance company - as well as the dealer for compensation if something goes wrong with the vehicle, thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I have just posted this to answer the question. As long as you have paid half, you can literally walk away. The vehicle tracking company the car loan people use, will mark this down against you and may have an increased loan APR in the future.

 

Hope this solves your problem

 

Uk. . .

 

 

Yep, you can hand back if it were an HP agreement as stated above - but the OP has a standard credit agreement which is treated in a different way, so VT wouldn't apply.

 

Incidentally, slightly off topic, something I've mentioned before and which seems to cause a lot of confusion, is that Section 75 would indeed be a valid course of action in the case of a credit agreement, but rather pointless with an HP agreement as your rights in an HP agreement are under the Supply of Goods (Implied Terms) Act against the HP company and not the Sale of Goods Act against the dealer. So you'd be going after the HP company anyway, not the dealer, hence S75 not being of use.

 

Sorry to keep banging on about it, but I think it's really important that this is known!

[LeeS80]

Hi All,

 

Today I recevied some of my paperwork from BlackHorse. I got into difficulty some time ago and handed the vehicle back to them. Reading my paperwork today, I noticed that they charged me £490 to put the car in an auction, and I still got left with an £8k bill!! My car was purchased via Credit Agreement too. Be very wary of handing anything back to them, as it's not always as straight forward as they tell you.....

 

LeeS.

[paul kirk]

Hi,

 

When you are talking about 50% please be aware you must have paid more than 50 % of the total amount payable which is the price of the car plus interest.

 

The amount paid is the deposit (which may include a p/ex) plus any payments made so far.

 

It doesn,t mean 50% of the payments and typically the smaller deposit you put down the longer into the agreement you have to go before you can early terminate.

 

If your agreement has the 1/3rd rule ( reposession your rights) and 1/2 (early termination) boxes you will be covered by these clauses

 

Paul

[rosiecotton]

Hi,

 

When you are talking about 50% please be aware you must have paid more than 50 % of the total amount payable which is the price of the car plus interest.

 

The amount paid is the deposit (which may include a p/ex) plus any payments made so far.

 

It doesn,t mean 50% of the payments and typically the smaller deposit you put down the longer into the agreement you have to go before you can early terminate.

 

If your agreement has the 1/3rd rule ( reposession your rights) and 1/2 (early termination) boxes you will be covered by these clauses

 

Paul

 

The 1/3 rule would apply on HP agreements, though, not standard credit agreements, so unlikely to apply to the OP.

 

There is a very real difference between the two types of agreement: the ownership of the vehicle, the terms and conditions, your rights and the legislation that you can use. Always important to check this out.

[Tavmania]

Also the 50% only applies to what you have paid towards the loan and you can still be liable for any insurances taken. I.e you pay £100 pm but £25 may be towards the insurances, so you can only take into account the £75 each month in your calculations. The insurance liability is way above my head I'm affraid but somebody else may be able to help.

[Cornucopia]

Also the 50% only applies to what you have paid towards the loan and you can still be liable for any insurances taken. I.e you pay £100 pm but £25 may be towards the insurances, so you can only take into account the £75 each month in your calculations. The insurance liability is way above my head I'm affraid but somebody else may be able to help.

 

 

Thank you for all your responses. I have decided to sell the car privately as I think I will be stung if they auction it as another poster has been above. What I have learned from this is that one should do one's research before jumping in with both feet!!!!

[rosiecotton]

I think that this is the best thing for you to do in these circumstances. You are much more likely to get a fair price.

 

When you come to settle the outstanding balance on the credit agreement, make sure that they give you a reasonable settlement figure.

[Cornucopia]

I think that this is the best thing for you to do in these circumstances. You are much more likely to get a fair price.

 

When you come to settle the outstanding balance on the credit agreement, make sure that they give you a reasonable settlement figure.

 

Thank you Rosiecotton, when you say "make sure they give you a reasonable settlement figure", surely they can only ask for the outstanding balance on the finance, less my deposit? I didn't take out any insurance as it is not worth the paper it is written on. Are they likely to ask me for more?

[Cornucopia]

Hi All,

 

Today I recevied some of my paperwork from BlackHorse. I got into difficulty some time ago and handed the vehicle back to them. Reading my paperwork today, I noticed that they charged me £490 to put the car in an auction, and I still got left with an £8k bill!! My car was purchased via Credit Agreement too. Be very wary of handing anything back to them, as it's not always as straight forward as they tell you.....

 

LeeS.

 

 

Hi there, your post has been a shock to me! Do you have to pay them back £8K???? How will you deal with this?

[sizzlysaz]

Hi Cornucopia! Don't know what stage you are at with this but you really need to check with BH to find out what type of agreement you have with them, if it is a hire purchase and you sell the car privately then you would be breaking the terms of the agreement if you have not sought advice from BH first! There are no circumstances that you would not be able to Voluntary Terminate if it is a hire purchase, even if you hadn't paid the half you can still VT and pay the difference up to the half way point. If it is a PCP agreement then you can pass it back to be sold at auction (it is auction not garage, i saw you asking in an earlier post) you can minimise the charges for this by taking the car to the agreed auction site yourself rather than have it picked up, but because it is an auction they may get considerable less than the car is worth. Any outstanding liability is generally open to negotiation to spread over a lengthy period of time or shorter if you would prefer. Your best option if it isn't HP is to sell it privately and settle with BH. Hope this helps

[b2804]

remember if its hp you cant sell privately? it still belongs to the finance company:)

[sizzlysaz]

Hi, the finance company will still normally allow you to sell the vehicle privately as long as you settle in full within 7 days! Depending on the circumstances, the biggest problem would be getting someone to buy it while its still on the hpi register, but there are ways to get round that by getting the buyer to call the finance company and they can fax or send confirmation that they withdraw interest after funds clear