Car still on finance, now not my car!

kinc

Can anyone help me I paid a very good friend of mine cash + p/ex car for his car, now he promised me that he'd pay off finance. He hasn't done this, although he assures me the loan is now £274 away from being cleared.
I've informed finance agents that I thought loan had been paid. They are suggesting I knew about finance therefore I could/will have car taken and sold at auction to clear debt. In order to find out how much is owed I asked how much is outstanding (data protection act comes in at this point) now cs girl said car is worth £3600 and would just cover balance so I'm assuming it is about £4000.
My friend assured me they have made a mistake, so what can I do? If I hadn't known anything about finance I don't think I can be held liable and I'm honest enough to tell them the circumstances. Have I shot myself in the foot? :-(

vansboy

You're in a bit of a hole here.

To prevent the vehicle being taken back by the finance house, you need to make an offer to them ,to buy it.

This may sound drastic, but they will only want to cover their outstanding debt, owed. They will give a genuine indication of the amount, if you do this, in writing. You DO need to fully explain what has gone on, in the letter.

Once the car gets picked up & taken to auction, they will start incurring added costs.If the car sells for less than the outstanding balance, they MAY chase your friend for the deabt + these costs.

If you've still any relationship with your 'friend', you need to sort out a scheme of payments, to reimburse you. I doubt if he's in a position to get another loan to pay you in one go - but worth trying, first.

If he's being 'funny', act quickly & get down to the mall Claims Court & issue him with a summonse. You might get lucky, in the long term, this way. Even if he offers £10/week!!


VB

kinc

Cheers Vansboy for your reply. My friend maintains he's paid!

sunflower_2

why doesnt your friend give written authorisation for you to deal with the finance company on his behalf?

just tell your friend that you want to sort it all out to save him the hassle

if he has nothing to hide and has paid then there shouldnt be a problem and he will do this straight away

if he doesnt seem keen... then u have your answer?!?

kinc

@sunflower I'm praying that finance company will look at this case as new buyer was not at fault ie I acted on good faith!
At the moment I am liable for someones debt and if they auction car it will not cover costs of outstanding debt, so after giving him £3500+car I will end up with no car and £1000 loan that is not mine. Total cost £10,000 because i'd have to borrow more money to get another car.
I believe the best way out of this is to buy a Jag on HP then sell it straight on to some idiot like me.
Cheats do prosper sometimes! BUYER BEWARE.

sunflower_2

sounds awful :mad:

this isnt your fault though - your "friend" is going to have to give you back the £3500 at least?

i didnt realise buying a car was so complicated

puts me off ever buying privately...

Encantador

ASAP

Would help to get a copy of friends finance agreement.

jockettuk

my friend bought a car cost around £8000 from someone who was emigrating .. found out it was still on finance seeked legal advice as he really wanted the car and was told best way to pay was to write out a cheque or whatever way of paying (not cash) to finance company that way the buyer can take the car knowing the seller wont run away from the debt. was told the debt was with the car so if its sold on and on and on etc then they can still come and take it if its still on finance thats why its best to get it checked out before you sign for anything

Debt_Free_Chick

kinc

At the moment I am liable for someones debt

Not quite. The debt is still his. However, you didn't buy your friend's car - the car is owned by the Finance Company and still is! So you have given your friend £3500.

There is no way you can sort this out without the full co-operation of your friend. If he doesn't sort this out, the Finance Company will come and take their car back.

You need to give him a swift kick ;-) I do hope he hasn't pulled a fast one on you ...

Milky_Mocha

I hope it works out for you. It is worth doing an HPI check in future as this would have let you know whether an amount was still outstanding on finance. HPI checks cost from about £25 and are worth doing.

I nearly bought a car recently and decided at the last minute to have an HPI check done. I then found out that the car is a Category C - was extensively damaged due to an accident and insurers decided not to repair. There was no way one could have determined this by looking at the car. It looked spick and span. The seller in my opinion was v dishonest by not revealing this all important fact even though we'd repeatedly previously asked him if there is anything about the car's history he would like to tell us. In fact had he revealed the fact to us beforehand we might have gone ahead to purchase anyway. Now we don't trust him as he could be hiding other skeleton's about the car's past.

Never trust a car seller, regardless of whether he is your friend, your brother, your son or a stranger. Always have it checked out first.

kinc

I think I am now going to have to take legal action against my fiend as he's giving conflicting evidence about his money situation!
One question though can finance company just send someone to take the car and what evidence and legal proof do they need to claim vehicle? At the moment they are trying to get me to pay them £3500 and have said they will not bother me again. I have read on another forum that they cannot take car if it deemed seller could not have known this was going to happen, I'm hoping a judge may have to decide this.