Money owed to us for car loan

SueDerbyshire

Hi, when my daughter was in a long  relationship we offered to lend her and her partner the money for a car, there car had packed up and her partner said he would be unable to get to work without one.

Not long after that they split up but he made an arrangement with us to pay the loan back to us because he needed the car. He asked for us to give him a couple of months break from paying it because he needed to sort his finances out and needed to buy stuff for his flat, we agreed and a couple of months later he made a payment. 

When the next payment didn't turn up I chased him up, he said he had been left alot of debt to pay off from when he was with my daughter and would need at least 18 months before he could pay us. Under duress I agreed. The payments should have started last January but because of Covid I decided not to chase him up for money because I knew he didn't have it but instead waited until yesterday to contact him and ask for the payments to start again, he has already had over 3 years. He replied telling me he has decided he will not pay us another penny because of all the debt my daughter left him with and said we needed her to pay it. 

Obviously I'm not leaving it there, he still owes us over £4000 and although I've tried to explain that what happened between him and my daughter whilst they lived together is irrelevant and that he had a choice to leave the car or pay us back if he needed it.

The car is in his name, which was stupid of us but I have it in writing from him that he would pay us back and all the text messages he has sent me. 

Do you think if I take him to court I will have a good chance of winning? 

Thank you for any help. 

AskAsk

yes, if you have written confirmation from him about the loan and that he would pay it back then you will be able to claim against him through the small claims court.  write to him to give him notice that you will take this to the small claims court if he doesn't pay you by a certain date, or fail to adhere to an agreed payment plan.

SueDerbyshire

Thank you for your reply. I don't have his address but will try to find it. I have told him I will take him to court after he refused a suggestion that he paid £10 a month for now but he just said "got for it, you are not receiving another penny from me". He also sent my daughter a message on Instagram saying she needs to tell me to back off!

I can't see any other option but to take hike to court.

Thanks for your help. 

Retireby40

Why are you not chasing your daughter for at least some of it? It was "her" partner. The car was "their" car at the beginning of the whole situation.

Seems to be he has the car he has to pay which I understand but seems the daughter has gotten off scott free and has no responsibility put on her.

sheramber

  If he has debts  then your chances of getting any money are slim.

I also feel the daughter has some responsibility for the loan as presumably the car was for both of them , not just for him to travel to work.

74jax

What sent did your daughter leave him with? Were these things in his name, both names etc?
Did your daughter take debt for him too which maybe equals this debt out? 

SueDerbyshire

I know what you are saying and don't worry my daughter has paid her share of the car, she also paid rent arrears of £3500 that they were both responsible for so please don't feel sorry for him. If he couldn't afford the car he should have left it with my daughter or soldi t and gave us the money back for a big part of it at least. We agreed he could keep it and pay us off, so that's what he should have done. My daughter had use of the car for 3 months, that's all, then he decided he wanted someone new.

I think my daughter has been punished enough and is already having to pay us back for debts that they both accrued during their relationship, they split them in half.

I am worried about him not having much money though, although he is happy buying the latest phones, televisions etc. I think he will say he has no spare money to pay me and it looks like nothing can really be done about that.

Thank you for your feedback. 

AskAsk

SueDerbyshire said:

I know what you are saying and don't worry my daughter has paid her share of the car, she also paid rent arrears of £3500 that they were both responsible for so please don't feel sorry for him. If he couldn't afford the car he should have left it with my daughter or soldi t and gave us the money back for a big part of it at least. We agreed he could keep it and pay us off, so that's what he should have done. My daughter had use of the car for 3 months, that's all, then he decided he wanted someone new.

I think my daughter has been punished enough and is already having to pay us back for debts that they both accrued during their relationship, they split them in half.

I am worried about him not having much money though, although he is happy buying the latest phones, televisions etc. I think he will say he has no spare money to pay me and it looks like nothing can really be done about that.

Thank you for your feedback. 

it is a matter of principle.  even if he can't pay you when the court gives the judgement in your favour, he will have a CCJ in his name and that will make life very difficult for him going forward.  the court can also allow payment to be taken directly from his future salary.

it costs very little to take out a small claims case and a lot of people cough up even before it goes to court when they receive the formal court notice.

only reservation is that i don't know what is going on with small claims cases in the pandemic, when most places are closed or working with reduced capacity.

SueDerbyshire

AskAsk that's great help, thank you for not pre judging the situation, it's easy to blame the partner and I get that but he had a choice, he could have left it with my daughter for us to sell and that would have been the end of it but he said he needed it for work and therefore would pay us the balance that was left, I have it in writing (text) what we agreed. If it was an old car or my daughter had had alot of use from it, bare in mind she can't drive and was hardly in it, I would have dropped it

We are nice people and loved him, we wanted to help him after the split despite what he did, my daughter is not easy to live with, so supported him as much as we could.

We paid for 2 holidays a year abroad for him, our choice I know, even paid for him to come to Florida with us, including tickets, all the time he knew he was going to leave our daughter for someone else so not be able to come to Florida with us and yet we still supported him and gave him over 3 years break to get himself sorted, I think that's more than fair, the courts will say the same I'm sure. Now my patience has run out with him and I need him to pay us what he agreed.

Thank you for your help Ask Ask. 

DCFC79

Let us know how you get on.

SueDerbyshire

Will do, thank you.