help needed for toyota finance !

sonee2405

sorry for the long rant!!please can somebody offer any kind of advice that may be useful. 3 years ago my dad purchased a car on finance from toyota he paid a deposit of around £3000 and from then on we piad 360.87 each month. halfway through the agreement my dad was the victim of identity fraud on his bank account -that is still being investigated by solicters , also his financial situation changed therefore we were not as "comfortable" as before but we somehow managed to pay the required amount for the car each month because thats all we had left and the car is our familys only luxery and pride&joy. the agreement is ending in january 2007 we had a letter to discuss options available- either return the car, refinace for another or pay £6447 to keep the car. we want to keep the car but we have been advised by toyota that it would incur another credit check.my dads credit rating has gone down at the moment, so that is no longer an option, we have no savings at all to pay it off. All we want to arrange is to pay the rest of each month like we were already and sometimes even pay a little extra. We are really scared of losing our car after paying so much we have struggled as a family to scrimp &save just to save face -if we lose the car we will ahve lost everything we ever had.I rang toyota but the lady wasn't very sympathetic at all and suggested we return the car.

Xbigman

OK so the situation is that your car finance is ending and you need another loan to cover the final payment, but you have bad credit.

In what way is the credit record bad. If you get your credit report you can check on just what the problem is. If its a CIFAS warning theoreticly it won't matter, Although you might get turned down by the computer and then appeal the decision. If its a default you might be able to get it removed, although it would probably get replaced by a CIFAS warning.

On the other hand, you have an expensive car that you are struggling to pay for. I would certainly advise ditching the car and getting something cheaper. Running a car you can't afford is just not a good idea, financially or otherwise.

If you decide to ditch it, as opposed to being forced to ditch it, then check the second hand value against the final payment sum. It might make sense to buy it outright and then sell it on.
Regards



X

sonee2405

if the finance company just allowed us about 8 to 10 months to pay of the remainder we wouldnt be in this pickle but the lady i spoke to said they always do a credit check to extend the payment time.we as a family were thinking of all contributing a little bit extra and then paying it off the problem is we havent got a large amount right now.i know it is an expensive car but it works out cheap for us theres 4 people sharing it-but its a difficult situation we have managed for the past 18months and it would be so terrible to lose the car now. im sure i read somewhere once that if you pay off more than half the car finance they cant really take it away s along as you carry on paying-any1 able to confirm?

Phoenix79_2

If you have paid over half then you can return the car without any other futher payments. Remember that the car belongs to the finance company until every last penny has been paid. They can repo even if you have paid 59 out of 60 payments (but its very unlikely that they would - reputational risk etc...) Also if you have paid over half and they wanted to repo then they would require a court order but they are pretty easy to arrange

The worst you can do is ask. The fact that you have made all the payments on time will stand you in good stead. They can either refinance the balloon paymemt or simply reschedule the deal so you pay the regular instalments for another 12 months etc before paying a smaller balloon payment.

Ask...its the only way you will know for sure.