Can bailiffs seize your car?

[Jasmine1]

I was watching on TV a woman have her car seized by bailiffs because she didn't pay a bus lane fine, the total debt came to £400 including bailiffs fee.

Regardless of the right or wrongs of this, what struck me as odd was the debt was £400 but her car was worth £15,000, it was then sold at auction for £10,000.

I'm surprised they are allowed to seize such an expensive asset in order to pay by comparison a trivial debt. What do they do with the £9600 excess, do they give it back to her? And how can they sell a car at auction with no V5 and no car keys?

[Thankyou4calling]

Her car wasn’t worth £15,000 if it sold for £10,000 was it ?

[anonymous-user]

Jasmine1 said:

And how can they sell a car at auction with no V5 and no car keys?

easy they can take assets, that is the power of the bailiffs. You have a debt they get it back. Cars are sold all the time without v5 and keys, you can get a new v5 and then a new key from the vin.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Thankyou4calling said:

Her car wasn’t worth £15,000 if it sold for £10,000 was it ?

It might well have been worth closer to that in a retail sale with keys and v5, without the keys it must have been presented as a non runner.

[ambuletz]

this page from citizen's advice should cover everything on what baliffs can and can't take.

[Jasmine1]

ambuletz said:

this page from citizen's advice should cover everything on what baliffs can and can't take.

Appreciated, and while its obvious they can take your car, I'm just surprised they can take such an expensive asset to pay a nominal debt.

[CraigyMc]

Jasmine1 said:

ambuletz said:

this page from citizen's advice should cover everything on what baliffs can and can't take.

Appreciated, and while its obvious they can take your car, I'm just surprised they can take such an expensive asset to pay a nominal debt.

If she owed you £400, and then drove past you in a £15K car, would you want it sold so you could have your money back?

I would.

If she had a £15000 car, she had the ability to gather £400...

[Jasmine1]

CraigyMc said:

Jasmine1 said:

ambuletz said:

this page from citizen's advice should cover everything on what baliffs can and can't take.

Appreciated, and while its obvious they can take your car, I'm just surprised they can take such an expensive asset to pay a nominal debt.

If she owed you £400, and then drove past you in a £15K car, would you want it sold so you could have your money back?

I would.

If she had a £15000 car, she had the ability to gather £400...

Question remains though, what does the bailiff do with the surplus cash.

About getting another key made, is it as easy as knowing the VIN and asking a main dealer?

[CraigyMc]

Jasmine1 said:

Question remains though, what does the bailiff do with the surplus cash.

About getting another key made, is it as easy as knowing the VIN and asking a main dealer?

(A) They have to give the surplus back.
(B) Yes. Just as if you lost both sets of keys to your own car.

[Toaster Pilot]

Jasmine1 said:

About getting another key made, is it as easy as knowing the VIN and asking a main dealer?

No - you obtain a V5 first and then present that to said dealer, probably along with some kind of identification.

[The Mad Monk]

Jasmine1 said:

I was watching on TV a woman have her car seized by bailiffs because she didn't pay a bus lane fine, the total debt came to £400 including bailiffs fee.

Regardless of the right or wrongs of this, what struck me as odd was the debt was £400 but her car was worth £15,000, it was then sold at auction for £10,000.

I'm surprised they are allowed to seize such an expensive asset in order to pay by comparison a trivial debt. What do they do with the £9600 excess, do they give it back to her? And how can they sell a car at auction with no V5 and no car keys?

What is she doing with a £10,000/15,000 car, but she can't/won't pay a £400 debt?

How much was the debt before all the various fees were added on?

Sounds like a very silly woman.

[av185]

The Mad Monk said:

What is she doing with a £10,000/15,000 car, but she can't/won't pay a £400 debt?

Typical chav narcissistic attitude to self entitlement.

Welcome to the debt ridden world economy precariously propped up by generation rent.

What could possibly go wrong.....

[DoubleD]

Original debt was probably only £100

[AdamIndy]

DoubleD said:

Original debt was probably only £100

I had a bus lane fine last year in Cardiff, the fine was £35 if I paid before a certain time which of course I did.(I didn't even realise it was a bus lane. The joys of living in the country! )

I have no idea if all the fines are the same though.

[Buzz84]

Well she would have been repeatedly contacted to try and get her to pay long before the bailiffs turned up.

presumably it would also be the case that they have tried to gain access to her house several times to be able to seize something of a more suitable value and been unable too.
So the car was the only option left.

[Durzel]

I think people like to imagine that bailiffs just turn up the day after you fail to pay a fine. In reality they are likely to have only been involved after pretty much every other avenue has been exhausted.

Someone driving around in a £15k car who is ignoring all offers of debt repayment gets zero sympathy from me.

[anonymous-user]

I recently got access to UK tv after20 years, and with time difference wind up watching day time TV, so watched some of these bailiff programs, they explain the bailiff seizes assets to cover the debt plus there cost, which typically are thousands, they tend to use a std auction houses and all surplus funds are returned. There was one were the entered a high end dress shop, police called, they took almost entire stock, sold at an auction house that would never handle that merchandise for pennies on the pound, had a very small surplus after fees which went back to the debtor

[The Mad Monk]

Berw said:

I recently got access to UK tv after20 years, and with time difference wind up watching day time TV, so watched some of these bailiff programs, they explain the bailiff seizes assets to cover the debt plus there cost, which typically are thousands, they tend to use a std auction houses and all surplus funds are returned. There was one were the entered a high end dress shop, police called, they took almost entire stock, sold at an auction house that would never handle that merchandise for pennies on the pound, had a very small surplus after fees which went back to the debtor

Not sure that I understand all that.

However.

Not a good idea to let things get so far that the bailiffs are knocking on the door.

Makes a lot more sense - and it's a lot cheaper - to pay your debts long before it gets to that point.

[55palfers]

Maybe the lady felt the same way about the bus lane fine as the person in this article....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-5252983/H...

[anonymous-user]

Sorry if not clear, confused it by making excuses for watching day time TV. My point was that in the postscript after the show they state that the bailiff seizes to cover both debt and fees, does not have to maximize return, but does return any excess cash generated at sale.