Buying and then selling a car without knowledge of outstanding finance

InsideInsurance

donmaico wrote: »

I am in a bit of a quandary here because if I sold it and the finance company gets wind of what happened and demand the car back, the buyer could presumably sue me .I could sue my vendor but I would be very reluctant to do that as she is quite elderly and somewhat infirm, in fact I dont even know if she is still alive

So this is the risk you take.

Do you know how much the outstanding finance is?

pulliptears

It could be a clerical error?

DS bought a car a few years ago, albeit from a main dealer. It had been returned to dealer as the woman who'd bought it originally didn't keep up the finance.
Earlier this year the car was written off. The insurance company called and told him there was outstanding finance on the car. We called the dealer (fortunately we had all the purchase paperwork and could prove we'd paid in full) and they admitted the finance should have been cleared with the balance we'd paid, but it wasn't.

How many owners does the car have? In theory the woman could have bought it from Kia who didn't clear the finance and she was as much in the dark as you?

donmaico

InsideInsurance wrote: »

So this is the risk you take.

Do you know how much the outstanding finance is?

well no not really. Short of contacting the finance company or the original car owner .All i can say is that according to Parkers the original valuation for such a car would be between £6k- 9.8k and she sold me the car in 2012 so presumably she had been paying for about 9 years or so

donmaico

pulliptears wrote: »

It could be a clerical error?

DS bought a car a few years ago, albeit from a main dealer. It had been returned to dealer as the woman who'd bought it originally didn't keep up the finance.
Earlier this year the car was written off. The insurance company called and told him there was outstanding finance on the car. We called the dealer (fortunately we had all the purchase paperwork and could prove we'd paid in full) and they admitted the finance should have been cleared with the balance we'd paid, but it wasn't.

How many owners does the car have? In theory the woman could have bought it from Kia who didn't clear the finance and she was as much in the dark as you?

just checked the service history and there would appear to be 3 (including myself) and not two as i originally thought

donmaico

I just phoned AG Finance and was told any interest in the vehicle has been removed .PHEW! Thank you all for your help:)

forgotmyname

Elderly and frail means nothing. There was a scam where mobility cars were sold and then later reported stolen.

That was a pensioner. Supplementing their state pension.

donmaico

forgotmyname wrote: »

Elderly and frail means nothing. There was a scam where mobility cars were sold and then later reported stolen.

That was a pensioner. Supplementing their state pension.

I'd known her for some time and she never struck me as a deliberate scammer.In anycase the car has now been sold

pulliptears

donmaico wrote: »

just checked the service history and there would appear to be 3 (including myself) and not two as i originally thought

donmaico wrote: »

I just phoned AG Finance and was told any interest in the vehicle has been removed .PHEW! Thank you all for your help:)

Sounds like what happened to my son then. Original owner has returned it to Kia and they haven't cleared the finance when the woman you bought it from purchased it.
Glad it worked out for you. I know how you feel, we had a moment of horror that the insurance might not pay out ourselves

forgotmyname

I looked at a car the other day. Their advert states they only stock main dealer part exchanges. They dont buy from auction and only take your car as part ex at scrap value.
All fair enough.

So i take a trip up there and have a nosey around the car, They start it up and it sounds sweet.
Asking about the paperwork and he points to a guy having a nose around also. He said he was the last owner.

Imediately i thought he is probably your day or related. If you dont take part exchanges why would the previous be browsing your car for cheap part ex vehicles?

Put me off right away.