Help Urgently Needed - Car Write off

jeff270179

Hi All,
Im new to all this but need some urgent advise.

Bought a car which turned out to be a write off, the write off was applied some months after purchase, I have no re-call against the garage as the owner has disappeared after me taking them to court.

Anyway here is the problem the accident the car had before I purchased was a total loss and had £27,000 worth of finance outstanding. The car disappeared for a period of months and the car company that was owed the finance employed a trace co to find it. They found it abandonded at a garage and sold it for scrap/salvage to the garage where it was located - the car was 4 months old.

Now the problem with this is that the car at this point was the property of the insurance co as being a total loss, so they had no right to sell it. The car co also failed to place any warning on the vehicle to say it had outstanding finance. ( I am not being chased for the finance).

Now what should of happened if the car co had not got involved is that the garage where the car was located would of contacted the local authority to advise of an abandoned vehicle, whereby they would have try to make contact with the owner, if failure to contact the vehicle would have been destroyed.

Either way if the car co would have made efficient enquiries over the car with the police or placed the marker on the car then this car would have been destroyed.

Any ideas how I stand with the car co? if they had of investigated then I would never have bought this dangerous car as it would have been taken off the road permanently.

victor2

jeff270179 wrote: »

They found it abandonded at a garage and sold it for scrap/salvage to the garage where it was located...

Now the problem with this is that the car at this point was the property of the insurance co....

If the car was sold by the insurers to the garage, then the garage owned it. The garage buying it should have checked for outstanding finance, as should you. Sounds like somebody hid its past somewhere along the line. Unfortunately, if and when the finance company finds out where the car is, I would imagine they'll reclaim it.
If the garage is no longer in business, it's going to be difficult for you to get any sort of compensation.

forgotmyname

Car was a total loss? What condition did you buy it in, Was it really cheap?

Why did the insurance not pay the finance off? Maybe no GAP insurance cover so the insurance paid out but
left some balance owing?

Done a HPI on it recently? What is recorded and what are the dates?

Your not being chased for the finance? Well its not your debt they just want their car back.

scheming_gypsy

jeff270179 wrote: »

Either way if the car co would have made efficient enquiries over the car with the police or placed the marker on the car then this car would have been destroyed.

Any ideas how I stand with the car co? if they had of investigated then I would never have bought this dangerous car as it would have been taken off the road permanently.

destroyed? dangerous car? taken off the road? say what?

A 'write off' doesn't mean anything is dangerous unless it's a cat A or B. A car can be written off because it's got a cracked bumper and will cost too much to replace under the insurance.
If the car was 4 months old and found abandonned then it sounds more like it was stolen / recovered and legally put back on the road. So therefore it's no dangerous than any other car on the road, even if it was a total loss write off and repaired it still doesn't mean it's dangerous.

jeff270179

Car was in a bad way, managed to obtain photos which show the front of the car where the back door should be.
Insurance placed it as a cat D some 7 months after I purchased the car. The car when I bought it looked ok, HPI was clear, no sign of accident damage, however on independant inspection the chassis is twisted and completely uselss - was told that by manufacturer.
Dont know why is was a cat D was told should be Cat A or B. All this came to light after purchase.

The car was paid out and then ended up being dumped in a garage in Manchester.

The insurance company said it took so long to place the marker due to the time taken to pay out on the car, in total took 14 months after the accident to place the write off marker.

The insurance company did not pay off the outstanding finance as the car company did not place a marker on the car to advise of the finance. So they didnt know.

The garage I bought the car from is not the garage where the car was found so they didnt own it, they said it was taken there and left and no one returned. They where going to contact the local authority but then the car company found it and said they owned it.

victor2

jeff270179 wrote: »

The garage I bought the car from is not the garage where the car was found so they didnt own it, they said it was taken there and left and no one returned. They where going to contact the local authority but then the car company found it and said they owned it.

Doesn't sound right to me. What gave the garage you bought it from the right to sell it? If they were effectively selling stolen goods, then you cannot legally own it. Somebody must have done a lot of work to get it back on the road, even if doing so was dangerous. Is that the garage you took to court?

jeff270179

yes took the garage I bought it to court, then the guy disappeared.
Because the car company told the garage they owned the car the sold it to the other garage as scrap. Some how it ended up at the garage where I bought it. No one seems to know how it ended up at the garage where I bought it.
I dont believe the car company had the right to sell it as it would have been the property of the insurance co, the insurance co did not sell on the car it again disappeared and ended up at another garage

forgotmyname

Still not enough answers to previous questions.



Also have you tried contacting the previous owners?