Urgent advice: My car:Hell with buyer of my car - Please can someone advise me?

cambslass

Dear all,

I will try to post this as briefly as I can.

Firstly, I still have the log book for my car

1) The person that agreed to to buy my car from me on May 11th has NOT kept his word. by the way he is a distant relative.

2) He arrranged to pay me £1599 for the car, which was a brilliant buy, (car is worth £2,300)

3) We both agreed on an amount to be paid to me per month for the car.

4) Once he had taken possession of my car, it was though he had ceased all contact with me. In fact he had.

It has been hell from then on to try and get him to pay me and to be honest, I know now that I was a fool to trust him.
I have even said that I am coming to collect my car, and then he did offer me some of the money, although nothing like we had arranged Since then he has been pestering me for the log book! And the texts are very short and abrupt. .

A couple of weeks after he took my car, I received the first of two fines he had on the car. He had paid one, eventually, but the second one that he said that he paid (on more than one occasion) he had not,and I have had to pay the higher costs to stop the bailiffs coming to seize goods from my home, this coming Monday.( I had to pay the fine, as I am the owner)

I am the still the owner of this car, and I have the log book, but he has insured himself to drive the car ( or perhaps he has put that he is the owner, I dont' know)

I am also still insured to drive the car, so I am assuming that it is possible for him to insure himself as the driver? I am sure that this is OK, but I am checking here for confirnation.

Can this horrid person, state that he is the owner of the car, on the insurance policy (even if he is not) that he took out? If so, surely this means that there are two policies running on this car, and if so, who would get insurance if there was a claim on his behalf?

You are probably wondering why I have not claimed my car back after so much awful hassle, but unfortunately, I am a disabled lady, living alone and I don't know how to proceed with this problem. I feel that he is intimidating me now, and I wonder where I stand legally with regards to all of the above.

Please dont' call me a mug, as I already know this, but any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks all. :-) :-) :-)

MarkyMarkD

For starters, you are breaking the law because you have not notified DVLA that you are no longer the registered keeper of this vehicle.

It is NOT acceptable to keep the car registered in your name just because your relative hasn't paid you the money.

The problems with fines etc. are caused precisely by your failure to register the vehicle in his name.

As you say, he has almost definitely lied to his insurer that he is the registered keeper.

I can't understand why you still have the car insured when it isn't yours any more.

Anyway, you aren't going to claim the car back. He doesn't owe you the car - he owes you the money.

You need to write to him telling you that, if he fails to pay up within 21 days (say) you will take him to court to recover the amount owed. And then take him to small claims court - easy to do online - and follow through.

MrsTinks

As you are still the owner of the car you could I think go and collect it - or bearing in mind that this might be a problem, is there a male friend you could get to take with you (or 3!) - Failing this then either you write off the car (and the money) or you start legal procedings. Was there ever a written agreement about payment? Any reciepts for any money you recieved?
As for the insurance then there is nothing stopping him insuring the car and claiming to be the owner. If you are insured too and you are infact the owner then SHOULD he have an accident and wish to make a claim then he may find the insurance policy voided by the insurance company (they love to find excuses for getting out of paying up!).
You might also wish to contact a solicitor (I believe you can do this with the help of CAB) and see if you can plain and simple declare the car "stolen" as he has failed to pay you or return the vehicle.

harveybobbles

Report it as stolen.
Or the next time any fines come thru the post, send them back in with his name and address on, so he ends up with them.

Do not give him the log book, as you will deffo not be getting any money from him as he will transfer it to his name and legally he owns the car.

Just report it as stolen!!

MarkyMarkD

It's not theft and it's not fraud.

If you go to the police, they'll just be unhappy that you've failed to notify the change of registered keeper.

The registered keeper is not necessarily the legal owner. Legal ownership transferred when the sale was agreed. Not paying is a civil debt not a criminal matter.

I'm being as friendly and supportive as I can be by pointing out the facts correctly, not by making suggestions which are factually incorrect and which won't get the OP anywhere at all.

I didn't say anything about the legality of other people driving and insuring the vehicle - ts-aly just made that bit up so she could call me an ignoramous. D'oh! But insuring a vehicle which is NOT registered in your name is very difficult, and I doubt very much that this individual has done so - hence they've almost definitely lied to their insurer which constitutes insurance fraud, and their "insurance" of the vehicle is consequently invalid.

MarkyMarkD

harveybobbles wrote: »

Report it as stolen.
Or the next time any fines come thru the post, send them back in with his name and address on, so he ends up with them.

Do not give him the log book, as you will deffo not be getting any money from him as he will transfer it to his name and legally he owns the car.

Just report it as stolen!!

If you follow this advice, just one thing will happen:

You'll explain the situation to the police and they'll say "that's not theft, go away and stop wasting our time".

The individual did not obtain the car by deception. They bought the car on a credit sale basis and then failed to keep up the payments.

knowledgeman

Your not going to be able to report the car as stolen

You sold the car

You need to as the other poster said start legal proceedings and notify the DVLA you no longer own this vehicle

If you did "reposess it" you could end up being charged for theft yourself I'd imagine

MarkyMarkD

Absolutely. Unless you've entered into a proper Hire Purchase agreement which gives you the right to repossess the vehicle if payments are made, the debt and the car are not directly legally linked and you have no right to repossess it.

p1an0player

I can't see why his insurance is important? if there is an accident and he's driving without valid insurance, it's not your problem. For what it's worth I think it is possible to insure a car owned by someone else. If there was a claim I don't think you'd get any money from it.

I don't see why the police would have a "field day", I don't think they'd be interested in this.

Good luck with sorting it out. Is there a relative who knows you both who will help you get the money from him? Is it that he won't pay or that he doesn't have the means to pay?

I hope that you can sort things out without having to take legal action, especially if he doesn't have the means to pay.

knowledgeman

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

They're the registered keeper and the legal owner of the car. If I lend you my XBOX 360 with a view to you buying it, and you run off with it, it's theft.

The new driver is likely running around uninsured as they're told the insurance company that they own it and are the keeper. The Police LOVE easy box ticking cases.

Normal people pay for cars, and arrange insurance without lying to their insurance companies.

She still owns the car if he hasn't paid for it. Anyway, she's the keeper, and that's not illegal in any way shape or form. If you think it is, then I'm driving around uninsured in my company car and you better phone 999 straight away. It's your moral duty.

No she doesnt

She sold the car , just because it hasnt been paid for doesnt mean a thing unless she agreed that the car remains hers until the final payment and theres nothing of the sort there

She sold the car and the fact she didnt give him the paperwork is irrelevent

Hes probably just going to claim that he isnt paying as she refuses to give him the vital logbook for the car he owns, in fact hes probably even able to get a replacement one

As for the insurance issue he will be insured and he would have the defence that he does own the car as legally he does ( and I doubt the police would charge him because the previous owner is not signing it over due to a civil issue)

p1an0player

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

The new driver is likely running around uninsured as they're told the insurance company that they own it and are the keeper. The Police LOVE easy box ticking cases.

As far as the police are concerned, the car is insured, so it's not a problem for them. It's a matter for the insurance company if he lied on the application. Besides which if the police did deem the car as uninsured, one of the things they could do is crush the car! which doesn't help the OP!