We Buy Any Car Withdraw from sale but wont reply / return my car or pay?

gdjames

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Alderbank

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Welcome to the forum!
Firstly, my commiserations about your draconian employer. Who are they - Extinction Rebellion? 
I know several people with company cars who also own other vehicles, vintage sports, son's car, recreational vehicle, etc. Most employers don't care. In fact some limit private use of the company car.

What are the terms and conditions of your contract with WBAC? That will help us answer the question of whether you or they are in breach of it.
HPI will only pick up repairs carried out with insurer's knowledge. It does happen that a vehicle is damaged by an uninsured or banned driver and is then repaired privately or even DIY by the owner. This will only be picked up by physical inspection.
Paid-for HPI checks do come with insurance (I think) for cases such as yours where an issue later comes to light. Check your paperwork.
Don't confuse changing the vehicle's registration with changing ownership. They are separate.

If you are no longer the registered owner then you don't need to worry about tax or insurance.

If they valued the car at £11,500 and you want to know where it is now, keep an eye on the Cinch website. You might be surprised how much they are asking for it.

Grumpy_chap

Was the original HPI check paid for by the OP?  Sometimes they include cover for the event of incorrect data.  That may be worth investigating.

Do WBAC say the salvage event was before or after the OP acquired the car?

k3lvc

Plenty of situations out there where a vehicle bought 'clean' develops a category status post-purchase - particularly during Covid times. 

Assuming AA check carried out on purchase then OP should look at terms/contract for this and see if any comeback

For the more immediate issue then have you checked whether the car is still at the site where you dropped it off ? If not then you contact WBAC and give them a deadline to release your vehicle to you - chances are you might have to collect it from somewhere as I can't imagine they'll bring it back to you. In their defence they've been misled (whether intentionally or otherwise) and aren't likely to be doing you any favours 

DullGreyGuy

Alderbank said:

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Firstly, my commiserations about your draconian employer. Who are they - Extinction Rebellion? 
I know several people with company cars who also own other vehicles, vintage sports, son's car, recreational vehicle, etc. Most employers don't care. In fact some limit private use of the company car.

Presumably the employer is limiting the use of the private vehicle for business use... they dont want their representative turning up to a client in an unsuitable vehicle (however they decide to define that) rather than what they use in their personal time. You'd guess the OP cannot or doesnt want to afford having both a work car and a personal car hence selling their personal car.

When was your original HPI check done? Has WBAC indicated the date the total loss marker was applied?

Personally I would be:

1) doing another check on the car to validate the claim from WBAC

2) read the contract you signed to confirm under what circumstances the price can be varied/contract cancelled.

Undervalued

Alderbank said:

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Welcome to the forum!
Firstly, my commiserations about your draconian employer. Who are they - Extinction Rebellion? 
I know several people with company cars who also own other vehicles, vintage sports, son's car, recreational vehicle, etc. Most employers don't care. In fact some limit private use of the company car.

I think you have misread that part of the OP?

I would assume that the firm are unhappy with the OP representing the firm and turning up to see clients etc in that type of vehicle (for whatever reason). Not really any different from having a company dress code.

visidigi

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Do another HPI check and see what they are finding out.

Ath_Wat

Alderbank said:

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Firstly, my commiserations about your draconian employer. Who are they - Extinction Rebellion? 
I know several people with company cars who also own other vehicles, vintage sports, son's car, recreational vehicle, etc. Most employers don't care. In fact some limit private use of the company car.

They said :

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use AS my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

You seem to have skipped the "as".

Jumblebumble

Alderbank said:

gdjames said:

I took my vehicle to we buy any car (WBAC) on the 11th of October to sell as my new employer wouldn’t allow me to keep this vehicle and use as my company car as it didn’t meet their criteria (emissions etc.) so needed a quick sale so that I could order a company car.

I reluctantly agreed on a final figure (after they had deducted questionable amounts from the initial figure for little to no marks despite me initially stating it had marks which had already reduced the quote… heads up for anybody thinking of selling with them!.... )

Anyway, signed the contract after they had done all their checks, left all documentation and keys with the guy in the kiosk and transferred ownership over to WBAC that evening along with cancelling the insurance on the vehicle.

I had paid extra to receive the payment next day as I thought £25 to get next day payment for circa £11500 didn’t seem too bad as I’m in the middle of doing my bathroom.  HOWEVER… what I received the following day was a phone call to say they had done ‘further checks’ that morning and had discovered the car was a salvage vehicle and that they were changing the offer to £4,000.  This was news to me as I had paid for a full HPI check  when I purchased the car privately with the AA which had come back clear, as well as WBAC doing their checks when I sold it to them which came back clear. I was informed when I questioned its 'salvaged nature' with WBAC that these checks aren’t always accurate and that sometimes they don’t pick this up?!?! 

Where do I stand???

I’ve raised my concerns that I am no longer the legal owner as I had transferred ownership post receival of the sales invoice. Nor is the car currently insured or taxed! I have no idea where the car is, when or IF I will have it returned or if they legally need to honour the initial invoice / sales contract?

 

Any help / advice would be much appreciated.

 

Note I’ve asked if and when the car would be returned on several occasions to which I’ve had no response???  They just claim that I am in breach of contract and they they will not honour the contract. 

Welcome to the forum!
Firstly, my commiserations about your draconian employer. Who are they - Extinction Rebellion? 
I know several people with company cars who also own other vehicles, vintage sports, son's car, recreational vehicle, etc. Most employers don't care. In fact some limit private use of the company car.

What are the terms and conditions of your contract with WBAC? That will help us answer the question of whether you or they are in breach of it.
HPI will only pick up repairs carried out with insurer's knowledge. It does happen that a vehicle is damaged by an uninsured or banned driver and is then repaired privately or even DIY by the owner. This will only be picked up by physical inspection.
Paid-for HPI checks do come with insurance (I think) for cases such as yours where an issue later comes to light. Check your paperwork.
Don't confuse changing the vehicle's registration with changing ownership. They are separate.

If you are no longer the registered owner then you don't need to worry about tax or insurance.

If they valued the car at £11,500 and you want to know where it is now, keep an eye on the Cinch website. You might be surprised how much they are asking for it.

There is no such thing as a registered owner for a car
Did you mean registered keeper ?
It is best not to give confusing incorrect answers

Alderbank

Yes I did mean registered keeper.

Thanks for the correction.