brought a car with outstanding finance (innocent purchaser)

[kell124]

i brought a damaged car which was a cat d from a private seller and i did a hpi check afews dayz b4 buying the car and it was clear of finance having brought the car with a receipt for a cheap price because it was cat d and damaged i now started getting the car fixed from prof body shop i spent alot of hard earn money and now after 4 months i have had a finance company telling me they have an interest in the vehicle and it has outstanding finance cud sumbody plzz tell me where i stand and wat r my rights plzz im realy stressed out dont no wat to do they have sent me a innocent purchaser questionaire to fill out

[ilikestellaartoi]

I fixed it for you

kell124 said:

I purchased a vehicle recently that had been declared a cat d by the private owner. A couple of days before collecting the vehicle I conducted a HPI check which indicated the car was clear of outstanding finance.
The seller provided me with a receipt for the car which had a lower price than a non damaged vehicle because, well, it was damaged.
I then sent the car to a local body shop and spent a substantial amount repairing the vehicle (this makes the car more valuable to me than buying a non broken one for cheaper).
Four months after purchase I was contacted by a finance company stating they still had an interest in the vehicle due to outstanding finance.
Please could you kind PH'ers advise on where I stand from a legal viewpoint? They have sent me a innocent purchasers questionnaire, do I really need to fill this in as I have already conducted a HPI check or can I just send them the results of the HPI check?

Many thanks for your time and comments, Kell

Editid fur spalling

Edited by ilikestellaartoi on Thursday 12th September 07:21

[marshalla]

https://www.hpicheck.com/furniture/guarantee.html

[Snowboy]

U shud fillz in teh queztinre nd snd it back to teh inzurance peples.
Word! Innit.

[Terminator X]

Interesting *goes to find popcorn*

TX.

[herewego]

I'm not sure there would be outstanding finance on a written-off vehicle since the insurance company would pay the finance company, however the guy may have taken a logbook loan which won't appear on an HPI check. If this is the case I'm afraid you've been scammed.

[EW109]

The OP is potentially protected by Part III of the Hire Purchase Act 1964:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1964/53/part/I...

The effect of that is, broadly, that where there is existing finance (but NOT by way of a "log book loan") against a car and a non-trade buyer then buys it in good faith from a hirer under a hire purchase agreement, he becomes the owner and the HP firm's interest is defeated.

[Happy82]

WeirdNeville said:

kell124 said:

I recently bought a Cat D damaged car from a private seller. I did an HPI check a few days before buying the car and it was clear of finance. Having bought the car and got a receipt for a cheap price because it was cat D and had damage, I paid a lot of money to get the car fixed at a professional body shop.

Four months later a finance company informed me that they have an interest in the vehicle and it has outstanding finance. They sent me an innocent purchaser questionnaire to fill out.

Could somebody please tell me where I stand and what are my rights? I'm really stressed out and don't know what to do.

I paid for that education.

Also, motoring news??

Edited by WeirdNeville on Thursday 12th September 04:18

Evolution of the Englsh language innit

[mrmr96]

kell124 said:

i brought a damaged car which was a cat d from a private seller and i did a hpi check afews dayz b4 buying the car and it was clear of finance having brought the car with a receipt for a cheap price because it was cat d and damaged i now started getting the car fixed from prof body shop i spent alot of hard earn money and now after 4 months i have had a finance company telling me they have an interest in the vehicle and it has outstanding finance cud sumbody plzz tell me where i stand and wat r my rights plzz im realy stressed out dont no wat to do they have sent me a innocent purchaser questionaire to fill out

It's pretty obvious that you should
i) Fill in and return the questionarie to the finance company, and
ii) Contact the company through whom you purchased the HPI check and explain the situation.

These two companies are best placed to assist you here. Good luck.

[kell124]

having spoken to the hpi company they have told me that the finance was taken off the register and put back 4 dayz after i purchased the car my argument with them was i did a hpi check the day b4 i brought the car and it clearly states that the car has no trace of finance and now a few month later it showin as outstandin finance they told me to ring the finance company and ask them why it got taken off the register (sounds like a inside job) i have filled the questionaire with the hpi report and further evidence that i brought this car in good faith i did all my checkups b4 and at time of purchase i have too much money tooo lose

[R1gtr]

You should be ok, you BOUGHT it in good faith, and had a HPI check done.

Speak to the finance company, give them the name and address of the person you BOUGHT it from, let them chase him for any money due.

Edited by R1gtr on Thursday 12th September 13:22

[matchmaker]

PLEASE USE PUNCTUATION! Trying to read that has given me a headache.

[kell124]

i have been back to the address i brought the car from and the lad does not live there from what i have been told now i phoned the finance company up and they said the car has over 20k outstanding finance and i purchased the vehicle for 4500 cash damaged and cat d cars price at that time was 14k, my question is can they take the car off me

[MacW]

Here, I have some spares:

.........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,IIIIIII

Feel free to use them.

[BE57 TOY]

st blud dat iz well unfortunate I wud put a privat plate on it and hope dat dey cannot trace it bad man blaaaaazed what car waz it an ting?

[kiethton]

Worth £20k straight
Worth £14k on Vcar

You paid £4.5k....

Didn't some alarm bells ring?

Likely totally illegal and saying it out loud but I would half be inclined to break the car for spares before it got reposessed.

[AutoClouseau]

If you have a valid HPI document and it shows that the vehicle was clear of all finance, then you have a good case against the finance company, to keep the vehicle, however there are many tyres of finance agreements secured on assets and each one can be different, in the way the purchaser stands.
However, in order to gain clear title, the seller has to have clear title, which they wouldn't have had.

Obviously the fact you may have paid under market value doesn't help, but as long as you have an audit trail from how you found the vehicle available for sale, money transaction and where it came from, together with the all important HPI certificate, then keep in dialogue with the finance company stating your case, the fact it came off the register for a few days, is not your issue, it was clear when you checked.
If the finance company feel there is some doubt of the transaction being anything but 100 percent genuine, then expect the car to be looked for and repo'd. Unfortunately they still have an interest in the car and the only way anything can be legally sorted as to who is the rightful owner, is in court.

Edited by AutoClouseau on Thursday 12th September 13:53

[kell124]

the car is worth 14k stright and on a v car it wud be worth 10k and i have brought the car nearly 5k cheaper but bear in mind it had alot of damage. and having repaired the car iv got over 10k in the car so it sounds about rite but my argument is i have done all my checkups and everything was clear and now its showin with outstandin finance

[kell124]

this is the hpi report


I have interrogated the HPI Finance records for your vehicle. At the time you carried out your check with us there was no recorded finance on the vehicle.



This is the whole history:



24th May, 2011 – Finance was advised to HPI by Email

9th July, 2011 – Finance was confirmed to HPI by data transfer (this had no effect on the register)

29th July, 2011 – Finance record was deleted by email. This is the whole of the computer record:



Deletion E-MAIL

VOLKSWAGEN BANK GMBH UK B 432668 20:25 FINANCE REGN

29/07/11 Successful (Reg) Finance Non Keeper



This meant from this date onwards, there was no recorded finance on the vehicle.



It was reregistered again on 6th July, 2013 and this is also the whole of the computer record. This might take a day or so to filter onto system, but as you bought the car 3 days before this, it is not significant.


Insertion FLA Import from Expe

VOLKSWAGEN FINANCIAL SERV 497182 08:54 FINANCE REGN

06/07/13 Successful (Reg) Finance Non Keeper





You should therefore take this matter up with Volkswagen Financial Services and ask for an explanation. As you will appreciate all we can do is provide you the information the finance companies have recorded.



This is not a case where we can offer any form of compensation as what we stated was correct. However, should you need my assistance by way of a formal statement to your solicitor (if it comes to that) or even to give formal evidence to support you, I will be happy to do so.



I wish you well with your discussions with Volkswagen and I am happy for you to share this information with them.

[longblackcoat]

kell124 said:

the car is worth 14k stright and on a v car it wud be worth 10k and i have brought the car nearly 5k cheaper but bear in mind it had alot of damage. and having repaired the car iv got over 10k in the car so it sounds about rite but my argument is i have done all my checkups and everything was clear and now its showin with outstandin finance

The finance isn't yours. If, as you say, it was taken out after you purchased the car, then you should be fine; it's simple fraud on the previous owner's part.