Car Finance, car surrendered, no holiday offered

richbaxter

Hi, this is my first post but I'm tearing my hair out (whats left of it) due to an issue with Blue Motor Car Finance.  I am self employed and lost all of my work in March.  I called Blue Motor and asked fore a holiday.  he told me they don't offer holidays and said the best they can do is offer a 50% discount for 3 months.  That was still unnaffordable now being on Universal Credits.  I offered them £10 a month which i paid for 3 months.  They then called me asking how things were.  I'm a full time entertainer so my work hasn't returned so they then said mid June they can now offer a holiday.  I applied for it and was rejected as they said I had paid £10 for 3 months so they consider that the holiday.  During that time, I got £768 behind in payments.  There was nothing else I could do so I had to surrender the car under section 99 of the cusomer goods acts as I was well over half way through the payments.  They collected the car and then sent me a final payment demad of £768.  I called and desputed it as I surrendered the car.  They said when I called in March, they should have offered the holiday and then I wouldn't have had that £768 debt.  Then they came back to me and said they were not offering holidays in March and they said they offered me a holiday in June, failing to realise they rejected it.  I said it was wrong to demand that money from me if they should have offered me a holiday back in March when I asked.  Where do I stand on this as they are asking to fill out a income and expenditure form and pay the money back.  I believe this is their mistake and its completely unfair to ask me for this payment.  I maybe wrong though, that is why I am here!  

Thanks in advance for any advice

jonesMUFCforever

Even with the holiday you WOULD have had the £768 debt - a holiday just means you don't have to pay for x months but the interest would still be charged.
Without clear figures it is impossible for us to comment about surrendering the car.

richbaxter

But she said on the phone and I quote 'If you would have had the holiday in March, you wouldn't have had anything to pay'.  Then went onto say the rest I posted above.  Sorry, its not right.  

JamoLew

A holiday is just that - the amount plus interest just gets added onto the end or the monthly payments raise to keep the end date the same - you still owe the money.
You paid £10 a month for 3 months - was that with their agreement or just what you wanted to/ could pay ?
They may have suspected that you would be looking to VT and have "stacked the deck" to prevent you doing this.
At the end of the day - payment holidays are requests that can be either accepted or denied - no reason or justification need to be given. A "sorry, we changed our mind" would be acceptable
You still had the use of the vehicle for 3 months - they want paying for that - otherwise you may find you aren't actually half-way through the payments

richbaxter

I was well over half way through the payment in March.  Its ok, if I owe the money, i owe it.  That is why I came here to find out because what they said made no sense.....(saying if they initially agreed the holiday, I wouldn't have owed it)

MinuteNoodles

richbaxter said:

I was well over half way through the payment in March.

Half the payments that need to be made for the loan or half the full value of the car including any balloon payment? Usually that point isn't reached until the last 12 months or less.

richbaxter

I was over halfway through the agreement.  12 months left from a 47 month agreement.  I guess I'll just have to pay that £768 and be done with it!  Not that I have it until my work returns.  

John_

richbaxter said:

I was over halfway through the agreement.  12 months left from a 47 month agreement.  I guess I'll just have to pay that £768 and be done with it!  Not that I have it until my work returns.  

Halfway means half of the total payments made, not half of the period.
Have you repaid more than half, including any balloon payment?

richbaxter

John_ said:

richbaxter said:

I was over halfway through the agreement.  12 months left from a 47 month agreement.  I guess I'll just have to pay that £768 and be done with it!  Not that I have it until my work returns.  

Halfway means half of the total payments made, not half of the period.
Have you repaid more than half, including any balloon payment?

Yes