selling on hpi? help!!!

Keith

I'm shocked but it is true. It appears that if you HPI it or suspect the car has finance on it then you are screwed, if you don't you gain title. This quote comes from the warwickshire government website.

Hire Purchase: Last week I bought a car from a friend and l have just found out that it’s still the subject of a hire purchase agreement – I didn’t know at the time of ‘purchase.’ The finance company is chasing me as they say that it still belongs to them – does the car belong to the finance company or me?
Answer symbol The Hire Purchase Act (now incorporated into the Consumer Credit Act) states that the first ‘innocent purchaser’ of the vehicle gets ‘goods title’ or ownership. By innocent purchaser, the law means someone who did not know, and who could not reasonably have been expected to know, about the outstanding HP agreement. The HP company would not be able to repossess the car from you, therefore, and should pursue your friend for breach of the Hire Purchase agreement. This applies even if you had bought the car from a trader, as you would still have been an ‘innocent purchaser.

Of course, it follows that if you had known about he HP agreement, or if you had suspicions and didn’t ask any questions, you would not be considered to be an innocent purchaser – ownership would not pass to you and the car could then be repossessed.

You should always consider carrying out checks before you buy a car. There are agencies, such as HPI, who will search their databases and let you know whether the car has an HP agreement registered against it, or whether it has been declared an insurance write-off, and also whether it has been reported stolen. Incidentally, stolen cars (in common with other stolen goods) will always remain the property of the person from whom they were stolen. If you are unfortunate enough to buy a stolen car, then the original owner will be entitled to have it back.

andy_hardaker

thanks keith.
a note to anyone else in this position- keep pushing because the finance company will not just roll over and give in. he has phoned them dozens of times, provided all the documentation they required and it is still ongoing. unfortunately for them he now knows the legal side of it and the greedy ( we want the car back AND are going to get the outstanding amount off the person who signed the agreement) finance company are on a loser!!!!!

Hermione54

Well, you learn something new every day. Still worth doing HPI though to check if the vehicle was stolen.