HELP - sold a car and it was repossessed from the buyer

[CAPP0]

TooMany2cvs said:

Ah, the drip-drip of pertinent information

Twas ever thus…

OP, have we really got the whole (as in all, total, complete, everything) story here yet?

[MDMA .]

2 questions. did you know it had finance on it when you bought it? did you later find out there was finance outstanding on it whilst in your ownership?

[anonymous-user]

MDMA . said:

2 questions. did you know it had finance on it when you bought it? did you later find out there was finance outstanding on it whilst in your ownership?

the thing is it would make no sense. Whatever the deal was the responsibility of paying off the finance is the sellers alone, not the op, not the op's buyer.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 15th November 12:38

[surveyor]

The Spruce goose said:

MDMA . said:

2 questions. did you know it had finance on it when you bought it? did you later find out there was finance outstanding on it whilst in your ownership?

the thing is it would make no sense. Whatever the deal was the responsibility of paying off the finance is the sellers alone, not the op, not the op's buyer.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 15th November 12:38

mmm. If the OP knew that there was finance on it, and potentially had a bad title, I do wonder whether he could pass good title on to the next owner.

That call from the finance provider stood out to me.

I'd echo the suggestion that he needs proper legal advice if this continues for any length of time.

[funkyrobot]

surveyor said:

mmm. If the OP knew that there was finance on it, and potentially had a bad title, I do wonder whether he could pass good title on to the next owner.

That call from the finance provider stood out to me.

I'd echo the suggestion that he needs proper legal advice if this continues for any length of time.

Indeed.

I wonder why the OP didn't chase this up before selling it on? If I had bought a car and didn't know it had finance on, and had then received a call, I would be chasing this up and getting it sorted with the seller asap. I wouldn't dream of selling the vehicle on unless things were sorted, or unless I genuinely knew nothing about the finance issue.

[anonymous-user]

it would be stupid to find out and not sort it out with the seller, selling it on may back fire. Basically the op seller may sue him.

[Sheepshanks]

surveyor said:

swisstoni said:

Grunt Futtock said:

swisstoni said:

Very disturbing turn for the OP.

I don't suppose this is the first time its ever happened and there is a procedure. But that procedure is likely between the new keeper and the finance company (and of course the original scrote).
Very dull but a full HPI check only costs about £30. Why people skip this bit of security on something costing thousands beats me.

I think people are basically just tight, they might look at a dozen cars and be interested in 3 of them, they aren't going to shell out £30 per car. What they should do of course is get it down to just one car and do the full HPI check as the last step. I did a full HPI on my current car which showed outstanding finance from Land Rover, a quick call later and Land Rover Finance basically admitted they had just never removed the 'flag' from the car and it had been settled a long time ago, still, could have been a different story!

I did a check on a car I had my eye on at a dealer a couple of years ago. It showed it had outstanding finance. I spoke to the dealer and they said all their stock was like that. When I buy the car, they settle the loan there and then and Bob's your uncle.
I bid him good-day.

That can be true. Dealer funded by car finance firm. Car Finance Firm don't trust dealer as far as they can throw them and want security.... Not unusual for them to have other security on top...

Previous finance doesn't matter if you buy from a dealer anyway.

[CaptainSlow]

The Spruce goose said:

MDMA . said:

2 questions. did you know it had finance on it when you bought it? did you later find out there was finance outstanding on it whilst in your ownership?

the thing is it would make no sense. Whatever the deal was the responsibility of paying off the finance is the sellers alone, not the op, not the op's buyer.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 15th November 12:38

It's illegal to knowingly sell a car with outstanding finance on.

[MDMA .]

CaptainSlow said:

The Spruce goose said:

MDMA . said:

2 questions. did you know it had finance on it when you bought it? did you later find out there was finance outstanding on it whilst in your ownership?

the thing is it would make no sense. Whatever the deal was the responsibility of paying off the finance is the sellers alone, not the op, not the op's buyer.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 15th November 12:38

It's illegal to knowingly sell a car with outstanding finance on.

yes. and this is the important bit. did the OP know when in his ownership ( finance company ringing him ) that there was outstanding money owed on the car. this might end up badly

[kowalski655]

Depends on the contents of the call:
1)Hi,we are calling to discuss car finance.....phone slammed down

2) Hi, we are calling about car XXX XXXX, as you are the R/K & we have outstanding finance on it....listen

[TonyRPH]

OP, you state that the value of the car was "around 12k" - so what was the value of the car that you swapped for it?

I'm assuming your car was also worth around 12k?

[CAPP0]

TonyRPH said:

OP, you state that the value of the car was "around 12k" - so what was the value of the car that you swapped for it?

I'm assuming your car was also worth around 12k?

This is very valid. Was your car worth, say, £12k and you swapped for something worth £15k as he wanted a "quick sale"?

Also, if you didn't answer the phone to the finance company, how did you know who it was (OK, you can google that) and what they were calling about?

[Red Devil]

motoroller said:

REALIST123 said:

You don't have to prove anything. How can you prove you didn't know something?

I received a call from the finance people a while back, and I dismissed it as being some kind of cold call scam. Does that count as me knowing before selling?

That was a big mistake. You should have told them you bought it in good faith and thus had good title per Section 27(2) of the Hire Purchase Act 1964.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1964/53/sectio...

As far as selling it on is concerned, once you were aware that there was an issue you ought to have taken legal advice before doing so.

motoroller said:

Is it worth me finding out how much outstanding finance is on the car? How can I do this - I tried calling Barclays and they won't tell me as I'm not the account holder.

No. Leave it be. The lender won't talk to you as it's none of your business.

charltjr said:

I'd suggest legal advice time, do you have any legal cover under home or car insurance?

^^This^^

Get professional assistance now and stop stressing. Provide them with ALL the facts.

motoroller said:

I'm keeping communication with the buyer for now. But they are testing my limits with threats to call the police, giving me this idea of the need for a "chain" of police cases from them to me then from me to the original seller.

See above. In the face of threats I would respond by avoiding any further communication until I had done so. I reckon the buyer should do likewise rather than taking theirs from the police.

[motoroller]

Where can I go to get legal advice?

[ModernAndy]

How long did this call from the finance company last?

[TonyRPH]

CAPP0 said:

TonyRPH said:

OP, you state that the value of the car was "around 12k" - so what was the value of the car that you swapped for it?

I'm assuming your car was also worth around 12k?

This is very valid. Was your car worth, say, £12k and you swapped for something worth £15k as he wanted a "quick sale"?

Also, if you didn't answer the phone to the finance company, how did you know who it was (OK, you can google that) and what they were calling about?

This is why I asked the question, as I wondered if the OP had perhaps "done a straight swap" on his 8k car for a 12k car, and somehow missed the fact that he was to assume responsibility for the finance (or the seller failed to communicate that fact).

It's also odd that the finance company called the OP (I assume that either the "seller" passed on his details or the bank got his name & address from the DVLA) but if it was a phone call...

Either way, without more facts, something doesn't quite stack up here.

[Red Devil]

motoroller said:

Where can I go to get legal advice?

What is the answer to the question charltjr asked you?
Failing that - http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/gettin...

[Dan_M5]

How did the finance company get your details?

[paintman]

motoroller said:

Where can I go to get legal advice?

You need proper legal advice from a qualified professional.

For a start:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-rights/l...
http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/

[CAPP0]

ModernAndy said:

How long did this call from the finance company last?

I kinda read it that he didn't answer the call, but if he did then it does seem to put a rather different slant on things.

Edited by CAPP0 on Tuesday 15th November 15:19