non regulated hp agreement - can I terminate?

selsden

Hi Everyone

I have read some of the other threads re: this type of agreement, but would very much appreciate any kind of advice regarding my specific case please?

Feb 2008, I 'swapped a car for another' with a registered dealer and signed a 38 month hire purchase agreement: non regulated (as the amount of credit was over £25k).

I have 6 months to go before I can hand the car back, but we re-located soon into the agreement and this has meant we have exceeded the allowed mileage - by the end of the term we are looking at around £4-£5k in penalties.

The car is in negative equity (we have had it valued by the delaer and another dealer and we are short (and this is now, not in 6 months time) of around £5k if we try and sell privately or go for another agreement with a spearate dealer - either way we are forking out a lot of money for a car which will no longer belong to us.

Appreciate 'our fault' for the mileage, but not the negative equity - I am concerned that if we do hand it back they will try and sting us for every single penny (wheels scuffed by a mm) etc to try and make up the shortfall.

So - just wondered if anyone knows if we have any powers to just walk away now? (Changes taking place in consumer law, and the various terminology as in thirds rule / rule 78 etc I do not think these apply)

Any ideas anyone??

Many Thanks

Lemonade_Pockets

I can't really remember as i didn't deal with many un-regulated agreements

In regulated agreements simplistically you can walk away when you have paid back half the total amount payable. This is usually called 'voluntary termination', or is sometime refered to as 'halves'. If this is feature of un-regulated agreements (hopefully someone can confirm) this should be listed explicitly in your terms and conditions on the credit agreement along with amount that needs to have been paid of for it to be applicable.

However because you are (presumably) on some sort of PCP you may not have reached the half the total amount payable despite only having 6months of the agreement to go, in which case your scuppered either way.

P.s. It's not designed as a get out of jail free card, its meant to be a provision for people having financial difficulty.

Scuttsy

Sorry because it is unregulated 1/2's and thirds does not apply:(

motorguy

selsden wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I have read some of the other threads re: this type of agreement, but would very much appreciate any kind of advice regarding my specific case please?

Feb 2008, I 'swapped a car for another' with a registered dealer and signed a 38 month hire purchase agreement: non regulated (as the amount of credit was over £25k).

I have 6 months to go before I can hand the car back, but we re-located soon into the agreement and this has meant we have exceeded the allowed mileage - by the end of the term we are looking at around £4-£5k in penalties.

The car is in negative equity (we have had it valued by the delaer and another dealer and we are short (and this is now, not in 6 months time) of around £5k if we try and sell privately or go for another agreement with a spearate dealer - either way we are forking out a lot of money for a car which will no longer belong to us.

Appreciate 'our fault' for the mileage, but not the negative equity - I am concerned that if we do hand it back they will try and sting us for every single penny (wheels scuffed by a mm) etc to try and make up the shortfall.

So - just wondered if anyone knows if we have any powers to just walk away now? (Changes taking place in consumer law, and the various terminology as in thirds rule / rule 78 etc I do not think these apply)

Any ideas anyone??

Many Thanks

whats the per mile penalty? On my BMW 535d it was 12p per mile and thats the worst i've seen - does that mean you're 40,000 miles over your limit?

selsden

Hi

Many Thanks for getting back to me - I have since contacted a couple of solicitors, they have advised that it's not worth pursuiing legally as their costs would outweigh any win, and no guarantee of a win.

I re-read the mileage figure after I typed and forgot to inclkude existing mileage when we purchased it! Idiot I know... (moving house right now so hectic).

The actual excess mileage is 8p + vat per mile, we will have exceeded by around 25,000 - 30,000 by the time we hand back. Still a lot of money for a car that will not be ours. But we signed up for that, so through gritted teeth we accept that. What I am nervous about is handing it back and the company trying it on with every bit of wear and tear re-classified as faulty and as such, we are liable.

I intend to take to a local garage and get them to spriuce up the alloys etc, so will be spick n span. Also, will take photos with that days newspaper the day we hand back - just do not trust them an inch.

Just to moan, the service level we have received from this lot (I'll give you a clue, they are german, starting with an M) has been shocking. No customer service, perks or anything for any of the three cars we have had - when I asked if we give this car back if there was any incentive to stay with them for a new car - I was told no!

I just wanted to see if there was any possible way we can just walk now, but there isn't it seems (?)

Lemonade_Pockets

The finance company will have a fair wear and tear policy, which will be fairly prescriptive. How easy it is to get is another quesiton, but if you can find it, it will prevent you wasting money on tarting your car up if it isn't required.

This is Lombards one as an idea: http://www.lombard.co.uk/pdf/Brief_Fair_WearTear_Guide.pdf

selsden

Brilliant - I will try and get hold of their policy; thanks ever so much!

selsden

Hi

One thing - we had an accident in the car, insured via another company but we opted to have it fixed via Merc ins. Just looking through then finance agreement, it states we have to make the inf comp aware of any damage during the term - we didn';t make them aware as it was fixed by Merc. Do you think this is a caveat to try and get some more cash out of us? Doubtful, but not sure...

If anyone has any advice about what we need to do before and during handing the car back, that would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.