Car finance issue following family death

Karenhoward23

Hello
Can anyone please advise / help.
My step-father died unexpectedly on 10/12/19. He had taken out finance a few weeks previously and actually died on the last day of the “cooling off” period for the finance. We let the dealership / finance company know the very next day (as obviously was not the first thing on our mind the day he died) and have been given very little compassion / help.
They have given 4 options - 1. I take over the agreement, 2. give it to someone else to take over the agreement, 3. Hand the car back and they sell it at auction and I pay the difference between what they get and the finance 4. Pay 50% of the agreement £7700
I’m upset because surely the fact he died within the cooling off period should be taken into account?
Please can any advise as I don’t drive and don’t have anyone who wants to take over the agreement into do I have the money needed to hand the car back / pay for it.
Would be grateful for any advice..

BoGoF

The cooling off period relates only to the finance, not to the actual purchase of the car. So even if the finance was cancelled in the cooling off period then you would still have to pay the garage for the car.

Also you say the finance was taken out 'a few weeks' before his passing? The cooling off period is 14 days.

BoGoF

Sorry, never got a chance to finish that post there......any debt will be a debt of the estate and if there are no assets then they will get nothing. Under no circumstances make any payments from your own money, it is not, and never will be, your debt.

xylophone

It is a debt of your stepfather's estate not your debt.

Is the estate solvent?

Did he leave a will?

Karenhoward23

Thank you both for replying - when I say it was taken out a few weeks earlier .. he died on day 14 after taking out the finance on the car ..
the estate was not solvent
he did leave a will - I am the Executor (which I wasn’t aware of until this happened) and everything has been left to my Mum who doesn’t drive and had no control / knowledge of money / bills as my Step-Father always handled it. They have no savings and a very small house with no mortgage. To pay the finance off would mean my Mul losing her home

McKneff

She would still have a car she could sell.

No reason for her to lose her home.

Karenhoward23

I’ve already looked at selling the car and we would get around £8995.. the finance including interest is close to £16k. If paid now they would settle at £12k.. My Mum is in her late 70’s with absolutely no savings at all.
Thank you for replying anyway, I appreciate it

Keep_pedalling

Karenhoward23 wrote: »

I’ve already looked at selling the car and we would get around £8995.. the finance including interest is close to £16k. If paid now they would settle at £12k.. My Mum is in her late 70’s with absolutely no savings at all.
Thank you for replying anyway, I appreciate it

If the house was owned jointly as joint tenants, it passes to her automatically and the estate is effectively insolvent. The first call on his sole assets would be funeral costs, and what is left will go towards his unsecured car loan.

It is very unwise to attempt to administer such an estate as getting it wrong can leave the executor liable for estate debts.

If that is the case then write to the finance company explaining that the estate is insolvent and no one is administering the estate.

If on the other hand he owned the house outright, then his estate is solvent and somehow the cash needs to be raised to pay his dept.

Keep_pedalling

It sounds like the settlement figures they are quoting are very dodgy, the sound like penalty charges foe settle a dept early they should not be applied in the of the death of the person who took out the loan.

74jax

Was the house owned jointly as joint tenants?
Did he have a bank account with money in it or was it a joint account ?
Have you had the funeral and was there money for that? Is that paid now?

I would step away. No funds in the estate to pay any debts. Its the estate that pays, not you. If there are no funds then you can not pay.

We need the answers to the above though before we can really advise any more.

Karenhoward23

I’ve never used this forum before so sorry I’m not directly replying to everyone under your message (if you can that is)
The house and bank accounts were in their joint names but he has now been taken off when we called to inform everyone of his death. Bank accounts / the house etc are now only in Mums name..
The funeral was last Monday and it hasn’t been paid for yet. As there was no savings or funeral plan in place, we as a family are trying to pay it and the funeral directors have been very supportive in not chasing immediate payment and are allowing us to pay in instalments.
As for the settlement figure I don’t know what he was thinking when he agreed to buy the car as the APR is 16.9%. He only put a £1k deposit down and also agreed GAP insurance. I can’t see an early settlement penalty, sadly it’s more the ridiculous APR etc. The dealer have wiped their hands of it (I hoped because we rang the day after they would be sympathetic and help) and the finance also weren’t helpful and just sent me a letter with the 4 options.
Thank you all again - I’m massively grateful