Hi Guys

 

As some of you may remember my car was written off a month ago in a smash on the M11. The result was five weeks signed off work with severe whiplash. Obviously there are all sorts of claims and counter claims flying around at the moment but it’s in the hands of the Solicitor now.

 

Well as if I don’t have enough on my plate at the moment I got a totally unrelated letter this morning from a finance company demanding re-possession of the vehicle due to outstanding finance being owed on that vehicle or legal proceedings will follow. The funny thing is that the named person who took the credit agreement out was not the person I bought the car from.

 

So my question is, can a finance company legally re-possess a car or take legal action against the second owner of the car since the credit was taken out. It seems a bit much to me but I have told them that it has since been written off so hopefully they will leave it at that.

 

Steve.

 

Short answer Yes!

 

Yes finance company can reposses car, because first owner should have settled finance when he sold the car to you. He obviously did not so car remains property of finance company. Use HPI to check for any outstanding finance on any future purchases of vehicles.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Robert

 

------------------

 

I only use the brakes so I can accelerate all over again.

 

http://bagpuss.swan.ac.uk/dunk300zx/

Thanks for the replies.....I think.

 

So how will the fact that the car is no more affect there entitlement are they likely to try for the insurance money and if that’s the case will I then have to take the seller of the car to court to reclaim my losses?

 

I don't know the legal answer but it's a really interesting situation. My understanding is that it is the car that they are entitled to and so all remaining salvage is theirs. I can't see how they could recoup the difference in value between the car and outstanding credit from you.

 

Keep us posted on progress. And I wish you the very best of luck with it. It's a seriously crap bit of law that allows this situation to arise in the first place ...

 

Dave

Hi Hairsy

I’m hoping that your right and legally the only claim they have is to the car, since they never made any mention of cash or re-payments when serving notice that they intend to re-posses the car it’s possible.

Thinking about it, if the car is gone then they are left with the original taker of the finance and me, I find it hard to believe that they would turn to me for their money in that situation.

I will keep you posted.

 

Steve.

 

Hi Steve,

 

Are you with the A.A? if so they'll have a legal team that will give you free advice and should know.

 

Vijay

First, as Vijay says, if you have AA (or RAC or any other similar), use their legal dept.

 

If not, FFS get some proper advice from (eg) CAB. There are situations where HP companies can come after next owners for payments.

 

Why? Until the lease is cleared, the leasing co owns the car, not the driver.

 

So if he sells it to you, he is selling a car he doesn't own and the lease co can just take it back. He doesn't have "good title" so he can't pass it to you. So it's not your car.

 

But don't listen to me - just get good advice from a pro.

 

Good luck - Gio

a mate of mine had a letter from a finance company claiming that the car was not paid for(by the previous owner) and that they wanted the car back,this as far as a know was a standard letter,so when me mate wrote to them explaining that the car was bought in good faith etc etc they never heard anything back. dont know why but maybe they just thought **** it??

I have just spoken to the AA legal department and have been told that it is not possible to give a 100% accurate answer without knowing more details however the following is the general rule of thumb:

 

In the event that you can prove you bought the can legitimately and in good faith then any outstanding finance due is still the responsibility of the seller. If however the car is subject to a lease agreement then the lease company owns the car and can re-posses if they see fit.

 

I explained that the car had since been written off and was told that in that event, and being able to prove I purchased the car legitimately he was 99% certain that I would hear no more.

 

In the unlikely event that the finance company still insist on me paying their losses then I can sue the seller of the car to recover any losses I have incurred.