Notice of return of goods , help

aevans692

hi all ..

Looking for a little advice ..

I bought a motorcycle about a year ago , the cost was around 11000 , of which I payed £5500 deposit , the rest was on finance ...

I then continued to pay the monthly payments which totalled 1200

As a family we had a few upsets and some of the payments were missed , I contacted the finance company (advantage finance ) and asked for a settlement figure , and that I would address this matter when returned from being away ... our trip away was longer than we expected and was out of contact again longer than expected , I did ask for everything to be sent via my email as we were away on our boat, but this wasn't done , they are also very difficult to deal with ...

long story short , the settlement figure seemed to be stupidly high , I have been trying to talk with them but they are very difficult to deal with ... since then I have had a notice for return of goods which goes to court at the end of the month ..

The bike was damaged on the track and currently not available , and to be honest id rather not return it ..

The settlement figure they have given seems a bit high and the 6700 is somewhat hard to swallow at current ..

I have never been to court , but I do feel that it was unfair of them to terminate the account as quick as they did , I had explained that we had a bereavement and a funeral which took president and was happy to clear things and return to making payments, just needed a few months to sort things ..

anyway , it looks like I won't be able to attend court , I don't really know what happens from hear on ...

any thoughts or advice would be welcomed .

sourcrates

Hi,


What is it you are going to court for, would it be for a repossession order for the bike ?
If you have been asked to attend, then you should, otherwise i can almost guarantee the verdict will go against you.


Settlement figures are normally worked out using industry standard criteria, if you had any questions, you should of asked for a breakdown of how they worked out the settlement figure, it would be a perfectly reasonable request.


It depends on the type of finance, but normally if you have paid over a certain amount, the client needs a court order to repossess the bike, it appears to be what they are chasing now.


If you don`t attend, the court will rule in their favor, they will repossess the bike, sell it, and you will then be liable for any shortfall, if its damaged as you say, it won`t fetch much, which will just increase your debt to them i`m afraid.

aevans692

Yes it’s for the Bike , I own more of the bike than they do ..

I’m not sure if I’m going to be in the country at the time of the court hearing , I’m more than happy to pay a sensible settlement, or continue to make monthly payments , would the court rule in favour of this ..

At current the Bike is kept off the road and locked away , I have spent a lot of money on the bike , and because of this would be removing these parts ..

The chap at the finance company was very rude , and after everything what’s happened over the last several months , I’d rather scrap the bike than give it bk ..

Helvetica_Van_Buren

Respectfully, you need to get over these hang ups you have about how you feel you've been spoken to. You had an agreement with a company, you didn't stick to.

Whilst civility is always preferred, you need to get away from this idea that you shouldn't have to pay if you don't like how somebody's spoken to you - it doesn't wash and makes you sound like a child.

If you'd stuck to the repayment agreement instead of going on a holiday, and then extending that holiday, you wouldn't be in a position where you'd have to have these difficult conversations with the company. You are at fault, not them.

Regardless of how much you've paid off, you won't own the item until the whole amount is paid - you would have signed paperwork stating this. But you don't need me to tell you this because I'm sure you won't have signed anything without reading it.

You should go to court and state your case.

If you have to return the bike, make sure you take the items off that you added after you took delivery of it; likewise, make sure you put back the items that came with it.

Next time, save for something before buying it. And don't enter into a financial agreement if you have no intention of making the repayments.

National_Debtline

Hi aevans692 and welcome to MSE,


It would appear that this bike is either subject to a hire purchase or personal contract purchase agreement, which means you don't own the item until the final payment is made. If you have paid more than 1/3 of the total amount payable the finance company will need to obtain a return of goods order before they can collect the item (as it is protected) but I am afraid it is still something they can repossess. Please be careful about doing anything rash like scrapping the bike or making big alternations, as it wouldn't be yours to do this with if it is subject to one of these types of agreements.

To try and prevent the repossession you have a couple of choices. Firstly, reply to the paperwork about the return of goods order, complete a SOA and make an offer to clear the finance (be it monthly or in full - you can try a settlement, but that would be the most risky at this stage). You should attend the hearing, and if the court accepts the offer, they can suspend the repossession as long as you make the payments, but I am afraid the offer is at the courts discretion and they can equally reject it and allow the lender to repossess the bike. You will be liable for 100% of the agreement, minus what you have paid to date, and minus the resell of the bike if applicable.

Alternatively, if you cannot go to the hearing, you could try and apply for a Time Order before the hearing date. This can cost £308 to apply but if you are on certain benefits or a low income you may be able to get that waivered with an EX160.

You would need to do a SOA and again, make an offer to repay and the court would consider the offer that you are making. They will look if this is ‘reasonable’ and ‘just’ to all parties. It would be advisable to make the offer as close to the original agreement as possible.

Laura
@natdebtline

System

For clarity.



The bike was 11k
You put down 5.5k deposit

You paid off 1.2k and then missed some payments and then moved away and could not be contacted in the regular ways
= 4.3k


Your settlement is 6.7k


For the mess around, missed payments and interest on the loan it's not too far off.