In need of financial help, at wits end!

mehtaman

Hi all

I really need advice on what to do in the following situation:

On Sunday 27th March I purchased a used car, thinking all was well in life.

on Friday 1st April, less than a week later, I lost my job and cannot afford to pay back the car repayments.

I took out my own personal loan for the car as the interest rates are lower and effectively paid for the car as a ‘cash buyer’.

Does anyone know if it is possible to return a car if there is no fault with it?
The car was purchased from an independent dealer.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

Alderbank

mehtaman said:

Hi all

I really need advice on what to do in the following situation:

On Sunday 27th March I purchased a used car, thinking all was well in life.

on Friday 1st April, less than a week later, I lost my job and cannot afford to pay back the car repayments.

I took out my own personal loan for the car as the interest rates are lower and effectively paid for the car as a ‘cash buyer’.

Does anyone know if it is possible to return a car if there is no fault with it?
The car was purchased from an independent dealer.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

How did you buy the car?
Did you visit the dealership or was the transaction entirely online (e.g. Cazoo)?

mehtaman

Alderbank said:

mehtaman said:

Hi all

I really need advice on what to do in the following situation:

On Sunday 27th March I purchased a used car, thinking all was well in life.

on Friday 1st April, less than a week later, I lost my job and cannot afford to pay back the car repayments.

I took out my own personal loan for the car as the interest rates are lower and effectively paid for the car as a ‘cash buyer’.

Does anyone know if it is possible to return a car if there is no fault with it?
The car was purchased from an independent dealer.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

How did you buy the car?
Did you visit the dealership or was the transaction entirely online (e.g. Cazoo)?

It was a collect in person purchase, rather than any form of distant seller/buyer purchase.

Just the paperwork and transfer of funds was done electronically. 

Aylesbury_Duck

You have no right to return it, but you might as well ask nicely and see what they say.  With used car prices holding up they may consider it re-sellable fairly quickly and perhaps deduct a sum from the refund to cover the hassle.

Unlikely, but you have nothing to lose.  The other option is to sell it and get what you can.

Keep_pedalling

The alternative is to see what we buy any car and motorway would offer for it.

Ath_Wat

Keep_pedalling said:

The alternative is to see what we buy any car and motorway would offer for it.

I wouldn't recommend that; they don't need the money tomorrow.  They have plenty of time to sell it in a way that would get them far more than a quick sale service.

mehtaman

The quick sale sites mean I would loose around £6,000 based on their valuations and that’s before someone goes round and picks out ways to decrease the value further. 

shiraz99

mehtaman said:

Alderbank said:

mehtaman said:

Hi all

I really need advice on what to do in the following situation:

On Sunday 27th March I purchased a used car, thinking all was well in life.

on Friday 1st April, less than a week later, I lost my job and cannot afford to pay back the car repayments.

I took out my own personal loan for the car as the interest rates are lower and effectively paid for the car as a ‘cash buyer’.

Does anyone know if it is possible to return a car if there is no fault with it?
The car was purchased from an independent dealer.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

How did you buy the car?
Did you visit the dealership or was the transaction entirely online (e.g. Cazoo)?

It was a collect in person purchase, rather than any form of distant seller/buyer purchase.

Just the paperwork and transfer of funds was done electronically. 

Then you have no rights to return it. The car is yours, so best look around for a a buyer for it if you can no longer afford the loan repayments. The good news is that used car prices and demand is high at the moment so if it's half decent then it should sell no bother.

pinkshoes

You have no right to return the car.

You only lost your job 3 days ago so it's a bit early to start panicking as there are LOADS of jobs out there, and I assume you might night a car to get to interviews and a new job?

Won't work be paying you still for a bit? 

And if you only bought the car on the 27th, then you have a while until the next payment surely, so can get job hunting.

Grumpy_chap

mehtaman said:

Hi all

I really need advice on what to do in the following situation:

On Sunday 27th March I purchased a used car, thinking all was well in life.

on Friday 1st April, less than a week later, I lost my job and cannot afford to pay back the car repayments.

I took out my own personal loan for the car as the interest rates are lower and effectively paid for the car as a ‘cash buyer’.

Does anyone know if it is possible to return a car if there is no fault with it?
The car was purchased from an independent dealer.

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

The timing is bad, but there is also never a good time to be made redundant.  Your initial response is entirely understandable and likely one I would jump to in a panic.  However, if you can re-set away from instant reaction, there are some other options:

As others said, you have no consumer rights to return the car - the Dealer may be willing to take it back if you ask.  They can only say "no" or apply too large a loss that it is unacceptable to you.  By asking you will at least know whether that is an option for you.  I suspect it won't be.

Should you still wish to sell the car, that can be done via the likes of Motorway / WBAC etc, though you say the loss in doing that would be £6k so not an attractive option.  That must mean the car is of some fairly high value overall, to have a £6k drop.  Selling the car is also not an urgent thing to do in so far as the car will still be a loss in value of £6k in another month.

Assume for now (this month at least) that you will keep the car.

What further income do you have from the job?  Notice pay, redundancy pay.  How long as equivalent salary are those payments?
Did you just get paid for the end of March, so you have your normal funds for April?

Have you registered to the Job Centre?  If not, do so today.  If your NI contributions are up to date and go back for long enough, you will be eligible for nJSA.

Depending on your savings, you may be eligible for other benefits in addition.  I assume from the OP that you do not have massive savings and that then gives a reason not to sell the car as if you sell the car but put whatever the deposit was back into the bank it becomes capital and may reduce any benefits.

If money is really tight, or even just as a good preparatory step, you could prepare a SoA (statement of affairs) and share in the DfW (debt free wannabee) board.  That can be a good tool and process to use, you don't need to be in debt crisis to review things.

Then, what type of job do you do?  The job market seems very buoyant at the moment so, once the shock is passed, the prospects of securing new employment, possibly better than the old job, could be high.  Retaining the car will make it easier to go to job interviews etc.

This is a hard time for you, but I hope you can escape from the shock & panic stations to reflect and find a positive way forwards.
Good luck.

mattyprice4004

All you can do is ask, but the dealer has no obligation to help. 

You can sell privately or back to the dealer, but either route would likely see a loss. 

Unfortunately it’s just a day to day risk in general life - personally I’d use any savings to cover the repayments while bashing out my CV to as many companies as possible, then the new car is there for when the new job starts.