Sale or return - beware

[gazm]

Hi Everyone
Thought I'd post this in the general section and am mindfull of naming and shaming rules.

A few months ago (6) I decided to sell my cerb due to an impending bankruptcy case with Barclays. Anyway I decided to give it back to the garage that I purchased it from in the hope that they could sell it. we agreed a price and I waiting for months for somthing to happen. I know there has been a credit crunch etc.. so not much was happening. Anyway in jan i received a conjestion charge fine for the car. I called the garage and they said they were taking up to a prostective buyer. I must admit the alarm bells started to ring but was assured all was OK. 2 weeks later I received a letter from an administrator saying they were acting on the companies behalf and were trying to do a CVA. I called the garage and passed on my best wishes (I've been there myself) and said in light of everything I would come down and collect the car. I was then told that the car was sold the previous week!!! the money was paid and they could not pay me, I am now a creditor and will have to get in line.

The lesson here is be very careful about what you sign up for when doing a SOR as what they have done is legal (ie sold the car, pocketed the money and now not able to pay me)

As you can imagine i needed this like a hole in the head

[touching cloth]

Christ on a bike, that's stty news chap - sorry to hear it.

[amazon]

What a nightmare for you. So sorry to hear. Hope your luck changes very soon!

[T66ORA]

Get what ever paperwork you signed to a solicitor fast, they might find a loop hole, if you havn`t signed any thing, talk to them. Was the car on Finance?If so they are still the legal owners of the car until it is payed off, inform them and they will take it back from its current keeper.
I`m an ex Car sales manager of over 10 years, if i can be of any help, mail me
Good luck Tony

[gazm]

T66ORA said:

Get what ever paperwork you signed to a solicitor fast, they might find a loop hole, if you havn`t signed any thing, talk to them. Was the car on Finance?If so they are still the legal owners of the car until it is payed off, inform them and they will take it back from its current keeper.
I`m an ex Car sales manager of over 10 years, if i can be of any help, mail me
Good luck Tony

there was finance but was a loan and not against the car which is a shame. spoke to a solicitor who said there wasn't much I could do!

thanks for the offer Tony

[markh1]

That must be absolutely gutting, first having to sell your car then not getting the money for it

I am so sorry for you dude.

[touching cloth]

Strikes me as very strange that companies are not somehow obliged by law, or at least morally encouraged to use some sort of untouchable client account for situations like this. Money gets paid into this and is not on the balance sheets of the dealer, dealer then takes their agreed cut from this and remainder gets transferred to the seller.

[markh1]

touching cloth said:

Strikes me as very strange that companies are not somehow obliged by law, or at least morally encouraged to use some sort of untouchable client account for situations like this. Money gets paid into this and is not on the balance sheets of the dealer, dealer then takes their agreed cut from this and remainder gets transferred to the seller.

It is strange. Any firm governed by the FSA has to hold client money seperately from company money so that if they go pop the client money is recoverable.

[T66ORA]

What i have done in the past, was to have the funds i.e bankers draft, made payable to the current keeper, for the agreed amount and another payable to us, all nice and transparent, and all parties are happy. Not all car dealers are dodgy, just some. I would still get a second opinion on the matter from another solicitor?
Then again i sent my brief a Christmas card and he charged me £25 to read it

[St George]

Did they already have your V5? I did not think they could sell it without one. I am interested as mine is in a SOR, but I have kept the origional V5 until I get the money?

[Tamster.]

gazm said:

T66ORA said:

Get what ever paperwork you signed to a solicitor fast, they might find a loop hole, if you havn`t signed any thing, talk to them. Was the car on Finance?If so they are still the legal owners of the car until it is payed off, inform them and they will take it back from its current keeper.
I`m an ex Car sales manager of over 10 years, if i can be of any help, mail me
Good luck Tony

there was finance but was a loan and not against the car which is a shame. spoke to a solicitor who said there wasn't much I could do!

thanks for the offer Tony

Gazm, was caught up in this type of scam a few years ago, if you have lost money from the dealer/garage that sold your car you can pursue it through your local County Court, a simple procedure and inexpensive, it is surprising what assets become available when push comes to shove,if they are genuinely in financial difficulties it will cost you approx 1k to bankrupt them, in my case the dealer paid up in full as it did'nt suit him to go bankrupt at that time, he then went on to scam over another 20 unsuspecting SOR customers, by the time this whole sorry saga reached the Crown Court he was slapped on the wrist with a 40 hour community service penalty, no assets were visible, both business and residential properties were mortgaged way beyond their market value in excess of 1.5M

Moral of this story is to sell the car yourself unless it is financed up to the hilt then it becomes the lenders problem, good luck to you Gaz.

[GreenV8S]

St George said:

Did they already have your V5? I did not think they could sell it without one. I am interested as mine is in a SOR, but I have kept the origional V5 until I get the money?

The V5 doesn't infer any rights and you can sell the car without one. The V5 only says who is responsible for it, not who owns it.

[GV]

2 things....I hope you get the money you're owed. And secondly I say name the bds....

[touching cloth]

Gazm may not want to answer that himself, but I believe it to be the case based on an earlier thread

[Lensey]

What a terrible story, this is where the naming and shaming rules breakdown, at least people will be aware this can happen now, sorry to hear this and hope you can get something sorted?

[Spoonman]

It's not strictly what the company deals with, but it might be worth speaking to Philip at www.cma.uk.com He's a really useful bloke and I'd be very surprised if he couldn't offer some info.

[Zippee]

Gaz - I'm really sorry to hear this! I hope you manage to get it all sorted - odd how after months of trying they finally managed to sell your car the week they went under??

[DonnyMac]

Sorry to hear it. There's a debt recovery guy over on the business forum - Jamesuk28 - he's very helpful to fellow PHers -

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/profile.asp?h...

Definitely get in touch with him, he'll advise you on law, real world experience and may just get it sorted.

[Steve_T]

That's really stty. I'm gutted for you gazm.

[lee02]

Firstly i would like to say i am really sorry about your financial loss i hope you get something back.

I cannot say i am suprised i had a similiar experience and know of at least one other person has who has had the same experience with this dealer selling PX/SOR cars without consulting the owner prior to taking a deposit.

The dealer was either really miss managed the sale of your car or is dishonest, he should have kept your funds out of the company HE IF NO ONE ELSE! KNEW HE WAS GOING TO SET UP A CVA. He should have known the administrator would take your cash.
Or secondly he was aware of what was going to happen and was trying to limit his liability.

Knowing this dealer probably the second.

Did he have legal title of the vehicle? I would of though having your permision to sell and legal title are two different things. I would have though a good solicitor would find a way of claiming your money back before it gets spent.

Good luck Lee