Company car repossession imminent?

[OwenC]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 19 January 2011 at 11:06

[Zod]

Car goes back. You use your credit to get a new car.

[grgrgray]

This, don't get married to the car.

[andy-xr]

Been there. The company I was leasing from werent paying the bank, and one Sunday morning a meathead and his wife turned up and clamped the car with the intention of low loading it away. They werent aware what the actual problem was, as in, I was making my payments, but they were just doing what they'd been told to do.

They gave me enough time to take my stuff out of it then off it went. Got the lease company on the phone the next morning to find out WTF was going on, they said there'd been a mixup with payments when they changed banks and offered me a replacement.

Soon as I had the replacement I called up the finance company to find out if they were looking for it, turns out they were. Same thing really, they needed the car back physically and said if I wanted another to give the new biz team a shout, but that car was coming back regardless

[paoloh]

If his only creditor is HMRC, why did he fold the company?

There must have been a better way out!!!!????

[oldcynic]

Go and buy yourself a modest, smart-looking, reliable car to drive whilst you get your company off the ground. If you still feel the need to lease something new in a couple of years then you'll have the credit history to do so.

The leasing company probably just want to cut their losses - moving the contract from a company going into liquidation to a start-up essentially run by the same people doesn't sound like good business to them.

[Compo_Simmonite]

Give the car back before they take it that way no black spot.

Paul H

[davethebunny]

Lex can do this.

Previous co i worked for went bust.

about 6 cars and 70 vans, all with Lex.

All the cars had to go back, but the new company managed to keep the vans.

They might not be so keen on doing it for one car though, but no reason why not, if you yourself went bust in a years time, they'll just be in the situation they're in now

[cheadle hulme]

Sounds like it would have been arranged via a broker as its a "two man band" ie small business. Get the broker to contact the account manager at LA. If you paid rentals upfront though (spread rentals in industry jargon), they may wish to take it back anyway, as the losses will be minimal.

[Engineer1]

OwenC said:

davethebunny said:

They might not be so keen on doing it for one car though, but no reason why not, if you yourself went bust in a years time, they'll just be in the situation they're in now

My Point exactly Dave

And thanks, this is the first post that has given me a bit of hope, fingers crossed now.

Edited by OwenC on Thursday 23 December 10:48

No dependant on the repayment and the depreciation and the market etc. they could be in a worse position. So understandably they want to cut the losses now.

[einstein75]

One of the reasons they don't like underwriting companies that have been trading less than 2 years is the increased perception of risk that they will never see the vehicle again, e.g. vehicle exported abroad - other reason are that they are effectively lending out Lloyds Banking Group's money which has a number of lending criteria attached to it that they have no control over.

Whose name is the agreement in, your brothers company or yours?

[5lab]

why not hand the car back to lex, get a loan, then buy the car at auction when lex punt it on. Probably end up at a smaller overall cost (as you'll be paying for a 4 month old car - therefore it'll have lost the 'new' premium), and you get to keep the car at the end of the day..

[Starfighter]

Lex offer the named driver on lease policies a "buy out" option - worth a punt?

[CraigyMc]

OwenC said:

it would obviously be hard finding another vehicle (especially of this calibre)as a new company

You've said it yourself. There are reasons why it would be hard to do this as a new company, and yet that's what you want the existing lender to sign up to.

LBG very likely want to divest most of their loans at the moment.

Give the car back and sort something else out.

C

[Jobbo]

Why does this car mean so much to you? Can you not enter into a new contract for a similar car yourself for the same sort of price?

[SteveS Cup]

What car is it!?

Does it hold any sentimental value to you!?

I can't see the issue to be honest... give it back, go to the garage, get one on a personal lease in your name.

[nyxster]

"The car, at this moment is in my brothers companies name, with him acting as guarantor"

Your brother is royally stuffed then.

I was in a similar position last year, company director of 10 years and we lost our 3 biggest contracts in the same year, my company RS4 was taken back by the lease company despite having 4 people wanting to buy it at full value to settle it they wouldn't let us sell it, they sold it at auction at 10K below book and handed me a bill as guarantor for 18K. got a solicitor onto it and managed to settle at 10K after arguing they hadn't realised the full value to minimise the loss.

They are unlikely to want to transfer it into your personal name/company name since as far as they are concerned the contract was with the company, they will terminate it, sell the car and pursue your brother for the loss, if he has a property and doesn't have the funds to repay it there is a strong chance they will want to put a charge on the property until the debt is discharged.

[Jobbo]

OwenC said:

As mentioned Jobbo, I waited 5 weeks for my last car (that was from stock), It was a complete nightmare filling in all the forms back and forth etc, I also cant be without a car and a begrudge paying hundreds of pounds a week to hire short term.

Getting a similar deal is obviously an option, which I am looking in to at the moment, I just think its a shame that a money lending organisation gets so terrified of lending money to new companies its willing to lose such large amounts of money in such short periods of time (25% of the asset value).

I thought I was being sensible, flexible and offering the finance people a good option. Obviously not.

Edited by OwenC on Thursday 23 December 12:13

There will be something in stock for immediate delivery; I'd walk away from the issue and sort out your own, better, deal. It's the end of 2010 shortly; there are bound to be plenty of special offers.

[einstein75]

Starfighter said:

Lex offer the named driver on lease policies a "buy out" option - worth a punt?

Yes, but only after settling the early termination charge - best bet would be a figure based on how much it will cost them in real terms (called True Loss on Disposal) but it certainly wouldn't be cheap.

[Vee]

OwenC said:

I also cant be without a car and a begrudge paying hundreds of pounds a week to hire short term.

It's one of the consequences of your brothers actions to screw the taxman.
My BIL did similar recently, one of the poor girls who worked for the company almost had to leave the country despite being 3 years into the process for getting a right to stay. My wife managed to get it sorted in the end but weas a nightmare for the girl.

If your brother has provided a personal guarantee and the Ltd company has gone bankrupt then the lease company will be looking to him personally to take over the lease. If this is the case then surely he can continue paying and he/you keep the car ?