Varooma took my recently purchased vehicle

mrlex

Hi all,
I recently purchased a vehicle from a private seller.. (2000 reg). To my horror it wasn't at home when I returned from work. I had a 'vehicle seized' letter in the letterbox!

I've contacted Greenlight Ltd/Varooma, and they say there is debt still owed on the car. However due to data protection act, cannot give me a name or amount owed.

Varooma have asked me for £1,000 for the vehicle to be released and the finance removed immediately, or the car will go to auction.

The car was purchased in good faith, I had no knowledge of the outstanding finance.
My question is.. Who do I pursue? The previous owner denies all knowledge of a log book loan being taken out.

Thanks in advance

Gaz83

You should chase it with the previous owner. If there was outstanding finance on it then the owner shouldn't have been selling it. Did you pay cash, do you have any kind of receipt? Did you do any kind of check on it before you bought it?

boo_star

https://www.whatcar.com/advice/buying/what-happens-if-i-buy-a-car-with-outstanding-finance/n18536

mrlex

Thanks both. I have been chasing the previous owner, and they are contactable. However are adamant they did not take out any loans against the car. I paid via bank transfer and have proof of this along with a sales receipt.

Unfortunately I only done a small check which I have realised now did not show an outstanding finance check.

I'll have a read through the link boo-star, many thanks

foxy-stoat

Do a full HPI check to see if there is finance owing, just incase they made a mistake. If there is you can take that as prove that there was finance and start a claim with the previous owner.

~Brock~

That link is potentially misleading in this case because it talks about being an innocent private purchaser of a vehicle with 'normal' finance outstanding (HP, PCP etc).

I think that Varooma is a logbook loan company which means that their money is potentially secured by a bill of sale, which is a much different proposition and one which means that they do retain title to the car according to the law.

Caz3121

did the seller have the V5 document?
Varooma site says "During the period that a V5 loan is taken out for, the loan company will keep hold of your V5 document. When the agreement comes to an end the V5 is then sent back to you."

DCFC79

Caz3121 wrote: »

did the seller have the V5 document?
Varooma site says "During the period that a V5 loan is taken out for, the loan company will keep hold of your V5 document. When the agreement comes to an end the V5 is then sent back to you."

OP this is a good question.

If you didn't have the V5 how did you inform dvla of change of ownership ?

mrlex

Yes the seller had the green new keeper slip which I filled out..

I also have the current log book in my name too.

mrlex

Having dug deeper, the finance was taken out against the car during the ownership of the previous owner. So I'm not sure how he would've managed to provide me with the new keeper slip?

foxy-stoat

They probably paid £25 and got a new V5 from DVLA.