Help....strange issue with car finance on HPI

marcusjames

I'm hoping someone can advise. They say every day's a school day....I was certainly schooled today.


I am selling my Renault car on Autotrader. After numerous traders calling, a private buyer contacted me and asked all the right questions. We agreed a price in principle and he was coming this week to test drive etc.


The car has developed a serious issue and the supplying garage have offered to take it in an investigate and repair under warranty. I called the perspective buyer to explain, but he was unhappy. He then said he was in the trade and can repair it (clearly he lied about being a private buyer but that's another story). I apologised etc but he became angry. It ended with him saying that he'd arranged finance on the car and so I couldn't sell it to anyone but him. I assume he was just throwing threats. Tonight I spoke to a friend in the trade and they advised I do an HPI. Sure enough, the car now has outstanding finance listed. How on earth can this happen? I now can't sell it to anyone but him. He is now asking for money off.


Any advice appreciated.

DoaM

Contact the finance company and tell them they've accepted to finance a vehicle that their customer does not own?

marcusjames

Thanks for the reply.


I tried to call them but was told they can only speak to their client due to data protection. They claim that I can write to them to explain the issue but it will take three weeks to process.

Merlin139

I would go back to the trader and tell him to do one. Its his problem that he jumped the gun. You will not be selling the car to him and that is that!
Let him sort out his own mess!

marcusjames

Tried to kindly ask him to remove the finance flag but he is refusing. I now can't sell the car to anyone else until it's cleared.

family4tunes

If you only agreed in principle over the phone and without meeting the potential buyer or receiving a deposit, then the person has no legal entitlement to your car. If they took up a HP agreement in advance of your chats that's their problem and not an enforced reason to sell to them.

If you don't want to proceed with the sale then you must send the HP company a letter (recorded & signed for) explaining the dilemma in detail to them. They will be quick to act once they have the info to hand as I'm very sure their client would appear to them as having been deceptive when making their application. (breach of contract). They wont want to risk their money if they feel there has been some misdoings on their clients behalf.

It will take time to process which is unfortunate because they will have to respond to their client and you whilst completing the amendments, but it will mean the HPI check will go through and you can sale the car again without worries.

You do not have to give a discount or entertain one just because they demand one for the hassle that has been either created by their own carelessness or that you have had to have unexpected repairs done on the vehicle.

To simplify things you can still sell the car to the potential buyer (without discount) which will resolve things both ways, but this is up to you and the way you feel. Again, you can take this onboard and not sell to them and await the clearance from the HP company which will come, but might delay the selling of your car for a few weeks.

If you are really peeved off with this person then ignore their pleads as they were deceptive to you from the start, write the letter to the HP company, get the resolve and put the issue down as a bad experience.

marcusjames

I've had a busy morning trying to resolve the issue.


I tried to reason with the "buyer" again but he refuses to remove the flag.


I then tried the finance company but they won't speak to me due to data protection and said they have a "sales invoice" and so do not consider anything underhand has happened. I tried to escalate to their fraud department but they claim it is up to me to resolve. I asked them what will happen if he pays the repayments over multiple years and uses the money for something else. They confirmed that he can do that and my car will have finance outstanding for this period e.g. potentially four years.


Spoke to FCA. They won't advise as I am not a direct customer of the finance company.


Words fail me.

foxy-stoat

Just get it repaired under warranty and sell it to the buyer - he wanted to buy the car anyway and I assume he would of offered you less money if it had a major fault.

AdrianC

marcusjames wrote: »

I then tried the finance company but they won't speak to me due to data protection and said they have a "sales invoice"

And do they?

Did you give him some kind of invoice?

If so, then there is a potential argument that it has been sold, and he simply hasn't paid yet.

If not, then you may wish to point out to the finance company that it's clearly a forgery.

MEM62

marcusjames wrote: »

I tried to reason with the "buyer" again but he refuses to remove the flag.

I cannot believe that he will want to have outstanding finance on a car that is not in his possession. You have the upper hand here - call his bluff.

In the meantime put in a formal, written request to the finance company to have the marker removed. If they refuse then you are going to need legal advice but I am sure that the trader will resolve the situation before it goes that far.

DUTR

marcusjames wrote: »

I've had a busy morning trying to resolve the issue.


I tried to reason with the "buyer" again but he refuses to remove the flag.


I then tried the finance company but they won't speak to me due to data protection and said they have a "sales invoice" and so do not consider anything underhand has happened. I tried to escalate to their fraud department but they claim it is up to me to resolve. I asked them what will happen if he pays the repayments over multiple years and uses the money for something else. They confirmed that he can do that and my car will have finance outstanding for this period e.g. potentially four years.


Spoke to FCA. They won't advise as I am not a direct customer of the finance company.


Words fail me.

Well it all seems odd, I guess because of my attitude when selling a car, I couldn't see me getting in that situation, as all the timewaster questions get shot down...eg what's the minimum or will you accept this..., the come and look at the car then they can talk rubbish, after all there are lots of sellers selling a similar car, so they can call that seller instead.
Secondly the finance thing seems very odd, it seems then anyone can go and put a finance marker on any car at any time.?

Had the buyer even left a deposit?