Car finance issues

Vincentvango

Hi guys,

Posting on behalf of someone I know.

Basically he got a hire purchase on a car totaling around 8k. A couple of months ago he drove to work after a night out, hit a kerb and got breathalysed at 0.44mg, slightly over the limit. All legal criminal stuff has been dealt with, however;

The car took quite a lot of damage, insurers quoted 6k, private quoted at least 3.5k, obviously due to being over the limit he can't claim on insurance.

Now the main concern, if he tells the car finance lenders the cars written off, will they want all the money repaid instantly? Ideally he just wants to keep paying back the monthly repayments till the end and get rid of the car, as it's too costly to repair.

There is also a guarantor named on his finance agreement, should that make difference.

Any advice would be great
Cheers

ratrace

A hard lessson to learn here, DON'T drink and drive
This situation just goes to show that he was not in full control of the car hence hitting the kerb and causing 3.5k woth of damage, this is not like kerbing yor wheels like we all do from time to time there is some serious damage here
He should be greatfull he didnt hit a person, as far as finance company goes why not just call them and ask you dont have to give the his details just act like a new customer

molerat

The finance co may do regular HPIs on the vehicles they have agreements on. They may regularly check the tax and insured status of those vehicles. If he disposes of the wreck then he will have sold something not belonging to him. Any of the above may be breaches of the agreement. He needs to come clean and speak to the finance company. A possible CIFAS or other black mark will just add to his woes.

£3.5K hitting a kerb ? Last time I hit a kerb it cost about £150 to sort out the suspension arm so he obviously did not just "hit a kerb".

Vincentvango

Yeah the massive lesson has hopefully been learnt.

It's weird the car actually looks OK, except one of the wheels looks sort of bent. It's quoted as needing a new drive shaft, suspensions not sure what else but it's a long list. It genuinely was from hitting a kerb (don't know how high it was) and was done the day after a night out, although it doesn't really matter.

The cars off road and sorn etc if they do HPI it's all done properly anyway.

Yeah I did think about phoning them as a new customer, maybe I'll go ahead with that. Cheers for replies any further experience/info would still be appreciated thougn

MallyGirl

I did once slide very slowly into a kerb on ice and the car required a whole new subframe - luckily it was a company car. I could not have been doing more than 10 mph but it was something to do with the angle of the wheel at point of impact. It can happen

foxy-stoat

Vincentvango wrote: »

Hi guys,

Posting on behalf of someone I know.

Basically he got a hire purchase on a car totaling around 8k. A couple of months ago he drove to work after a night out, hit a kerb and got breathalysed at 0.44mg, slightly over the limit. All legal criminal stuff has been dealt with, however;

The car took quite a lot of damage, insurers quoted 6k, private quoted at least 3.5k, obviously due to being over the limit he can't claim on insurance.

Now the main concern, if he tells the car finance lenders the cars written off, will they want all the money repaid instantly? Ideally he just wants to keep paying back the monthly repayments till the end and get rid of the car, as it's too costly to repair.

There is also a guarantor named on his finance agreement, should that make difference.

Any advice would be great
Cheers

Your mate has options, reading his insurance policy to see if there is a drink/drive clause that states that own damage is not covered.

Get it repaired with secondhand parts and sell it, if its worth enough.

The guarantor will be chased down for any missed payments - thats the only difference.

bris

Change all the suspension parts, lower control arm, track rod end, strut etc and drive shaft. This shouldn't cost much, dirt cheap if you can do it yourself, which you can if you are even slight competent at DIY.




The hub should be ok as they are pretty much bullet proof but I can bet it's on the list and is very expensive from a dealer but buttons on ebay. Again easy to change if you see any damage to it.


See how it looks after that, changing these parts will bring it back into line, hopefully that's it.


If it looks ok get a 4 way wheel alignment (about £25) if its all good then job done.


If not then you may be looking at frame damage, this will most likely require a new subframe and time on a jig.


I paid £40 per hour for a garage to change the subframe (I supplied it, £80 from Ebay, make sure it comes from a car with rear end damage and an intact front end) and 6 hours on a jig so 10 hours total.


The garage was an insurance approved garage and the lad told me they charge the insurance double what they charge the man on the street for jig work because it's a bit specialist.


Bottom line, even your lower 3.5k is very, very expensive. I had my sons Yaris back on the road for less that £700 but I didn't need the drive shaft and did everthing but the sub frame and jig work.


P.s, reason I didn't go through the insurance was because of the huge voluntary excess he has and the fact a claim would have crippled his payments for the next year.

molerat

The fact that there is a guarantor means this is probably not mainstream finance. These companies are often hotter on clauses re taxing and insuring etc. I suggest he reads his contract carefully and keeps the guarantor updated.