STRESSING OUT! FINANCE PROBLEM HELP

[hafizur95]

Hey people im a newbie here with a BIG problem.
Bought a corsa recently, with it being the second car i own. Bought the car off my uncle as he no longer wanted it and he was selling it for a good price.
Couple months later both my cars (corsa and vectra) were involved in an accident whilst they was parked a few weeks back. Both on the same insurance. Claim was done against the ladys insurance (the lady that hit both my cars). Both my cars are written off also.
So, i was told how much i would get for my vectra and how much i would get for the corsa. Was happy with that because i got good prices for both cars... BUT i was told my 52 plate corsa has outstanding finance. 4k was outstanding however, obviously, i would not be paying 4k instead i would lose the money for my corsa for no reason as i am 100% innocent.
So i thought the previous owner must have something to do with it, but not my uncle as he said he had no idea and he is certain that the owner before him might have something to do with it.
We know exactly where the suspected person that sold the car to my uncle lives.

Is there anything at all i can do from losing money? could i do anything legally against that suspected person for selling a car whilst its on finance?
Also would this finance problem affect my insurance premium next year?

Any help would be so helpful! Thanks

[andy-xr]

Is it on a private plate? I know you said 52 plate, but it might be worth HPI'ing it yourself now. I had a trade in declined once because the private reg that was on it belonged to a previously written off car

[Nickyboy]

Unfortunately its your responsibility to check if the car had finance, i'd be shocked to find a 11 year old car has finance on it

[hafizur95]

i havent HPI'd it yet. Will give it a shot though.
But would insurance not have found that out? as they HPI check the car before processing any claim, thats how they found out that it had outstanding finance? Unless im wrong please do explain.

[darreni]

hafizur95 said:

i havent HPI'd it yet. Will give it a shot though.
But would insurance not have found that out? as they HPI check the car before processing any claim, thats how they found out that it had outstanding finance? Unless im wrong please do explain.

As Nickyboy has already said, it's your responsibility to HPI & check for O/S finance when you buy it.

You need to have a word with your Uncle, as its him you bought it from.

[mybrainhurts]

Who told you there's finance outstanding?

[hafizur95]

Well theres not much he can do because he is as innocent as i am.
Im just so confused that this 11 year old car still has finance on it.
Wouldve thought the finance company would have tracked down the person that owed 4K!

Forgot to mention insurance has also said that the soliciters will try and negotiate with the finance company proving that im innocent and they might just let it go? what are the chances of this? if anyone has experienced this lol

It is actually quite a scene lol

[hafizur95]

mybrainhurts said:

Who told you there's finance outstanding?

My insurance company told me its still on finance and has outstanding finance of 4K left on it

[mybrainhurts]

hafizur95 said:

Forgot to mention insurance has also said that the soliciters will try and negotiate with the finance company proving that im innocent and they might just let it go? what are the chances of this?

Wrong end of nil. Hope they don't expect you to pay the solicitor for something that's doomed to fail.

This all smells like a smelly thing....

[C8LNJ]

Im confused, obviously in the eyes of the law the finance company own the car. However surely the insurance is a contract between you and them, where does the finance co get a look in? I'd have thought they would have to pay you and not the previous owners finance company for your losses.

Edited by C8LNJ on Monday 25th March 21:11

[ryanjohnstott]

Do a HPI check straight away. If the car does have outstanding finance then your only option to recover the money will be to make a claim in the civil court. As its less than 5k it will be a small claims matter which helps.

But - your claim is really against your uncle as he sold the car to you. Having said that, if you did issue a claim against him he could easily bring the other person into the claim as a 2nd defendant.

Basically all very messy and probably not worth it. The person who took out the finance presumably couldn't afford the repayments therefore they are unlikely to be able to pay any county court judgement you obtain against them.

Lesson is - always HPI a used car no matter where you buy from. If buying from a garage then make sure they give you the HPI

Edited by ryanjohnstott on Monday 25th March 21:05

[Dixy]

Nickyboy said:

Unfortunately its your responsibility to check if the car had finance, i'd be shocked to find a 11 year old car has finance on it

100% wrong
OP if you genuinely baught the car privately with no knoledge that the car had outstanding finance, then it is 100% yours the consumer credit act gives you clean title and the finance co must persue their client unsecured.

[Little Lofty]

Trading standards say:
The Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives 'good title' to the innocent private purchaser of a vehicle that later turns out to be subject to a claim by a finance provider. This means that if the previous owner sold the vehicle to you when there was finance outstanding and you were unaware of this, the finance provider cannot repossess the vehicle from you. Remember, this does not apply to vehicles that have been stolen, or vehicles that were subject to a lease or hire agreement.

[ryanjohnstott]

If the finance company don't believe that you are an innocent purchaser then you would have to take them to court and hope that the court does find that you were indeed an innocent purchaser.

[hafizur95]

You have all been great trust me.
But like someone said its probably not worth the hassle, and i probably will just make a loss.
Will let you know on this thread what happens though.

[hafizur95]

ryanjohnstott said:

If the finance company don't believe that you are an innocent purchaser then you would have to take them to court and hope that the court does find that you were indeed an innocent purchaser.

Surely i am an innocent purchaser as they know im not the person that financed the car in the first place?

[hafizur95]

Little Lofty said:

Trading standards say:
The Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives 'good title' to the innocent private purchaser of a vehicle that later turns out to be subject to a claim by a finance provider. This means that if the previous owner sold the vehicle to you when there was finance outstanding and you were unaware of this, the finance provider cannot repossess the vehicle from you. Remember, this does not apply to vehicles that have been stolen, or vehicles that were subject to a lease or hire agreement.

thats some good stuff by the way ! might come in handy thanks

[CAPP0]

Dixy said:

Nickyboy said:

Unfortunately its your responsibility to check if the car had finance, i'd be shocked to find a 11 year old car has finance on it

100% wrong
OP if you genuinely baught the car privately with no knoledge that the car had outstanding finance, then it is 100% yours the consumer credit act gives you clean title and the finance co must persue their client unsecured.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but that's completely new on me.

[mybrainhurts]

CAPP0 said:

Dixy said:

Nickyboy said:

Unfortunately its your responsibility to check if the car had finance, i'd be shocked to find a 11 year old car has finance on it

100% wrong
OP if you genuinely baught the car privately with no knoledge that the car had outstanding finance, then it is 100% yours the consumer credit act gives you clean title and the finance co must persue their client unsecured.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but that's completely new on me.

And me...

[Blue Oval84]

4K on such an old car suggests to me possibly an error?

Possibly worth calling the finance company who claim to have an interest and asking them to confirm?