Car, please advise

MissWinter

Hi all, I am seriously thinking about going bankrupt as I just cannot cope anymore. My concern is that I have a car registered to me which my mother pays for. She took the car finance out 2 years ago and has another 2-3 years left on it.

Can they take this car even though I don't own it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

alltaken

Have you been making payments for the car?
Do you currently pay for the car?
Do you pay for maintenance of the car, insurance, tax?

london1973

i am in a similar boat, have use of a car leased to and paid for by my brother, although I pay the insurance-the OR had no issue with it-

NotEvanAPot

Registered keeper does not imply ownership of a vehicle. If a finance agreement exists in another individuals name for the vehicle, move on to the next issue.

alltaken

NotEvanAPot wrote: »

Registered keeper does not imply ownership of a vehicle. If a finance agreement exists in another individuals name for the vehicle, move on to the next issue.

I agree about the registered keeper part, it certainly doesn't mean legal owner.
What if the payments for the finance are being made by the poster by way of the mother? A preference? Perhaps worded as a 'use of vehicle' charge to avoid preference?

I asked because I fear it could be an issue. Happy to be completely wrong!

NotEvanAPot

You can't gain any quantifiable beneficial interest in a financed asset the way car finance is staged (often with a balloon payment) and for the numbers involved - unless some exotic hypercar, but don't see many of those on HP.

Any contribution would be for reasonable use thereof.

National_Debtline

Car finance is a general term of finance, it could be one of several things, such as hire purchase, personal contract purchase or a fixed sum loan agreement (bank loan). The advice could vary depending on the type of finance so it may be worth checking the agreement and confirming that for future posters.


If it is hire purchase or personal contract purchase these are both conditional sale agreements which means that your mother would be responsible to continue payments of the finance. The payments must be maintained to keep the car. It is very unlikely you would be able to send her money towards this. And whether or not you have beneficial interest in this car would be very grey area and at the discretion of your OR.


If this is a fixed sum loan agreement then the vehicle is owned outright and even if the payments cannot be maintained the car cannot be repossessed. Again, it would be very unlikely you would be able to send any money to your mother for the payments being made, but she could sell the car if she was struggling and use the proceeds towards the loan/ buy another car.


Laura
@natdebtline

aurelieweill

MissWinter wrote: »

Hi all, I am seriously thinking about going bankrupt ... I have a car registered to me ...
Can they take this car even though I don't own it?

My understanding is, as the car is registered to you, it can be taken from you to recover debt. You might want to check if the car is co-lateral to the loan your mother took, in which case you may have a way to avoid the car being taken.

NotEvanAPot

aurelieweill wrote: »

My understanding is, as the car is registered to you, it can be taken from you to recover debt. You might want to check if the car is co-lateral to the loan your mother took, in which case you may have a way to avoid the car being taken.

See above. Registered keeper does not equal owner. The owner is the person who pays for the vehicle (money changing hands from individual to creditor to clarify).