PCP agreement but no payments ever taken and HPI clear

[DeeDee07]

Hi,

In January 2022 I purchased a small van for £17k, put down a £2k deposit and took out a 3 year PCP deal.

In June 2022 I received an email from the dealership where I bought the van stating that they had completed the finance forms incorrectly and would I mind printing the documents off, signing them and returning them. I did this the day the email came in and I got an email back thanking me for the prompt response.

Back in November 2022 I realised that no payments for this van had been taken out of my account so I emailed the dealership to ask why. They didn't reply so I sent a further two follow up emails (I like everything in writing) but I still got no reply. I then followed up with a phone call and was told not to worry about it and that everything was ok on their end which I found a bit strange.

In 2023 I was involved in a bad accident and was in a wheelchair most of the year and got back on my feet in October 2023.

Fast forward to today (April 2024) and just out of interest I got my bookkeeper (the van was used for business purposes) to check back through our main business account to see if any payments had been taken out for this van. We have quite a large business and have a fleet of 17 vans so keeping track of all the payments coming out is difficult as there is so many but there is none coming out at all to the finance company that was used for this vehicle.

I found this very strange so I did an HPI check and the vehicle has come back completely clean and clear of all finance and has no outstanding debts against it.

Following this, I called a friend who works for a large car dealership and he used their HPI service to double check as he said that their system gives much more detail than the HPI checks the general public can buy online. Again, this vehicle came back completely clear. My friend also told me that once I have signed the agreements they expire after 30 days so the dealership should not have been emailing me in June 2022 to resign the documents as the original documents would have expired and a credit check would need to have been carried out again.

I want to do the right thing. However, my friend has told me that if I take the van back to the original dealer they will apologise, give me my £2k deposit back and then just sell the vehicle again as they will already have been given the money from the finance company back in January 2022.

Legally where do I stand? I have a vehicle that I paid a £2k deposit on but have never paid a single monthly payment and the vehicle is showing as completely HPI clear. 

What do I do with this van? Do I return it to the dealer? Sell it? What is my legal stance on this as I have emailed the dealership three times and called once and I have had no response other than to be told not to worry about it from the dealer.

Any advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated.

Kind Regard's 

[dx100uk]

no you cant sell it, it belongs to the finance co.

who are?

why dont you contact them?

do you want to keep it?

dx

[DeeDee07]

I have also contacted the finance company and they have no record of the sale.

I gave them all the details from the documents and they said they have no record of it.

I'd actually like to trade it in now as we could do with a larger van for deliveries but I dont know what to do.

[dx100uk]

have you got this in writing from them?

dx

 

[DeeDee07]

No buddy, just on the phone.

I only called them this morning as it has me slightly worried.

I don't want to be hit with a large bill but if the finance company state they have no record of the sale and the dealership told me not to worry about it then what on earth do I do?

I certainly don't want to take out a finance agreement from today as obviously the interest rates etc are alot higher today than they were 2 years ago.

[dx100uk]

get it in writing from the finance company. send them a full copy of the signed? agreement you have.

once you have that in writing.

the world is your oyster with the vehicle.

dx