Car Finance still ‘pending’

knopewecan

Apologies if there is a similar thread somewhere. This is a long one. I have gone through so many threads and I’m actually at the end of my tether here. I need help. 

About a month ago I picked up a brand new car I ordered back in March and put my old car down as a part exchange deal. The idea being the car dealership would pay off the remaining costs left on the finance deal (with Vauxhall finance) and I’d start another finance agreement with them. I do that all the time with cars. No trouble and no alarm bells ringing. 

I gave the garage the settlement figure, though at this point they said they needed paperwork with the sort code and account number. I sent an email to them back saying normally the settlement figure is good enough for the garage, they deal with the rest. But if they needed it to let me know and I can get that. 

I pick up my car on the 4th of June. I hadn’t heard any more about needing anything to do with the settlement figure so presumed they had fixed all that. Especially since I had then signed all the paperwork needed to then own my new vehicle. 

On the 11th of June the dealership got in touch saying they needed the account details to pay the settlement figure on my old cars finance agreement. So I managed to get that and sent it across that same day. 

Now, normally sometimes there are times I’ve changed cars and been charged twice in the first month. I normally have no trouble getting that back as paperwork will come through and say it’s been paid off. But when the two payments came off and with it being late that they asked for the settlement figure something was off. So I checked my old finance agreement. 

Vauxhall finance told me that nothing had been paid and to go back to the dealership. I assumed positive intent and asked the dealership when the finance agreement was paid off and they said it was the 11th June. The dealership also then sent me paperwork of the ‘payment detail report’ saying the money had gone into the correct account and quoting my finance agreement number. 

So I went back to Vauxhall finance and gave them this information. I have sent them the paperwork and I have written it out via email to say when the money was paid, how much and what the reference number was. 

They said that when funds are cleared it takes 7 days to close the account. As it was paid on the 11th June according to the dealership, giving it 7-10 working days to clear, then the account should be closed by now. It’s now the 7th July and they haven’t received any money from the dealership and have asked me to go back to the dealership. 

The dealership have said that there’s no more they can do other than give me that payment report. That they couldn’t contact the finance company directly as they wouldn’t be able to speak with someone about my account. 

I’m having to borrow money from family to keep me going as paying for both of these cars and not getting this resolved is taking out half of my wages. I really need this resolved by the time the next payment comes out at the end of the month but no one seems willing to help me. 

I don’t know where I stand with either the finance company or with the dealership. I’m just looking for some advice or anything I can do. 

DrEskimo

I'm not sure there is much advice you can get on here, or indeed many public forums. This is a very specific problem and you will just need to continue to escalate the issue with the dealership.

I would suggest asking to speak to more senior members of the dealership to try and get this resolved before the next payment. In person if you can.

knopewecan

That’s fair enough. Thanks for your comment though 

Aran76

You are right when you say that this process should be simple for car dealerships, they do it all the time and in my experience it has always been paid promptly and I've had all written confirmations fairly quickly.
       You say that you're going round in circles with lots of contact trying to get this sorted, but have you actually raised a complaint? If not then I would raise a written complaint with both Vauxhall Finance and your new car dealership and look to exhaust their complaints procedures, the next step would be the financial ombudsman.

Keep a diary of every call you are making and who you speak to (date time etc.), every email & letter and the effect and potential future effects this is having on you.

Also, what have the dealership done with your old car? They will not be able to sell it whilst there is still finance outstanding on it.

knopewecan

Aran76 said:

You are right when you say that this process should be simple for car dealerships, they do it all the time and in my experience it has always been paid promptly and I've had all written confirmations fairly quickly.
       You say that you're going round in circles with lots of contact trying to get this sorted, but have you actually raised a complaint? If not then I would raise a written complaint with both Vauxhall Finance and your new car dealership and look to exhaust their complaints procedures, the next step would be the financial ombudsman.

Keep a diary of every call you are making and who you speak to (date time etc.), every email & letter and the effect and potential future effects this is having on you.

Also, what have the dealership done with your old car? They will not be able to sell it whilst there is still finance outstanding on it.

Hi, thanks for this. I haven’t raised an official complaint with either the dealership or finance company yet. That sounds like it will be my next step. 

As for my old car, that’s a good point you make. I don’t know what they’ve done with it but I certainly don’t own it according to the DVLA anymore. 

Brie

Have you ever seen the movie Fargo??(not the TV series, not seen that so it might be very different)

The whole thing starts with the car dealership doing some fiddle on finance agreements meaning that cars that are showing on the books as unsold actually have been and the dealer is pocketing the money. 

I don't really think that this is happening here but it does sound a bit like it.  Maybe they've held on the money a bit too long to see them over the month end.