PCP car finance - half way through contract, can I give car back early?

Db54321

With respect @macman you can’t know the conditions that I keep the car in, nor can you know what experience I have of car ownership or maintenance. Whilst I appreciate your comments, I am here for advice on PCP. If you have nothing positive to contribute in that regard, then I’d appreciate it if you didn’t waste both your time and mine.

Swoosh84

I had a similar issue years back, wanted to hand back, while I was 50% of the way through my agreement I was not even close to paying 50% of the overall PCP value owing to the final balloon payment.

I took it to several dealers to see if I could trade in, none offered what I would have considered reasonable value. I ended up using WeBuyAnyCar, they offered the most and although I did have to put money towards it to clear the finance in full, compared with just paying for it outright it was worth imo. My car was in excellent condition though so not sure this is a viable option for you.

As others have said, you can sell that car but its unlikely anyone can buy it. The finance company still own the car so any buyer handing you cash will do so on a gentleman’s agreement only. You could run away with that cash and the finance company can take the car off the new unofficial owner.

macman

The OP is perfectly able to sell the car. The dealer will pay them less the finance due, and remit that to the finance company. Since the OP is a year and possibly 18m away from the point at which they can VT, that's the only option unless they can wait until the VT point is reached.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

You can change your car. It will just cost you money

MrFrugalFever

The ‘rust’ you mention is most likely surface corrosion and is a natural thing to happen owing to the materials used in production, a brand new car exposed to the elements can begin exposing surface corrosion within 6 months, it’s not unusual. Rust that has physically eaten through the chassis and subframe (you can put a screwdriver through it for example) is a whole different story. Exhausts will rust quickly, again owing to the type of metal.

rust aside, as mentioned above by many you have every right to Voluntarily Terminate the agreement (without impact to your credit score) once 50% of the total amount payable has been reached.

i suggest getting a settlement figure from your finance company and using autotrader ‘value my car’ section to gain a good indication of how far negative (or positive) your equity is.

VT can be done early but requires payment to reach it. 

You can sell your car privately but you MUST settle the finance almost the same day before the DVLA change of ownership is picked up by the likes of Experian and fed through to HPI, alerting the finance company to a change of keeper....that will throw their toys out the pram for sure, especially as it is their car, although you’re most likely protected under the thirds rule by now.

best of luck, choose your next car wisely.

JAS2015

I had to VT my car when i split up with my husband. It was a fairly simple process. However, the car was inspected when they came to collect it and i ended up with a “wear and tear” bill. Something to factor in if your car is as bad as you say it is