Bought a car which had full finance outstanding

SailorSam

I bought the car about 20 odd yrs ago, can't remember what i paid but at the time it was only a couple of years old so pricewise although a long way short of £25k it must have a lot (at the time my house wasn't a lot more than £25k)
Never seen the guy since. You think when you work with people they'll not try to rip you off.

CashRequired

There is some good information in this thread.

Text checks do not check finance. In fact they are useless. I'd recommend HPICHECK.COM. £24.99, checks everything, and you get a certificate.

I had my car repossessed. The previous owner owed £7000 on a HP agreement, and basically it turned out the HP company could legally recover it from me. I lost around 2k on it.

Did you get the chap to write a receipt out for you? As it will help your case with the below

"However if it was a hp agreement AND you were unaware of the Finance outstanding at the time of sale then you will be classed as "an innocent purchaser" under the Consumer Credit Act and proper title will have passed to you and therefore now your property."

prowla

I thought HP was hire-purchase, meaning you have the car under hire until the purchase price is paid off, and until then you don't have title to it and it's not yours to sell.

I do hope that I'm wrong, though...

mrburns_2

Ask the repo guys which company they are acting on behalf of. Then call them to check the latest.

If the guy provided you with a full written receipt signed by him which the signature matches the finance docs then you have a case. If not then it has been a very expensive lesson.

With finance being "a month old" the car cant have just been purchased as it is at least 2 months before the car finance company gets edgy. I have a hunch its a log book loan car.

This is where you approach firms which lend money on the car on the condition you hand over the V5. However conmen will apply to the DVLA for a duplicate V5 saying that the original is lost before the deal takes place. So they have 2 copies - one gets given to the loan company and 1 to the buyer - nobody is none the wiser.

Check out consumeractiongroup.co.uk and go onto the forums and the section log book loans to read the horror stories.

Did you go the guy's address? Please don't say you met him at a mutual place.....

hamza_villa

it all sounds a bit 50/50, yes i have been to the guys address and he no longer liver there, there are new tennants. i do have a receipt although i doubt very much he has signed with the correct signature