Car Finance

Chemite12

Hi All, not sure if this is the right place to post this. I am just after advice while the investigation is ongoing.

So I took out a car finance from a dealer 2021 for Mercedes Benz (paid deposit and been paying monthly to Motonovo). I then paid the final balance for the car this year June 2022.

On Sunday I went to Land River to enquire about part exchange for my car. And I was stunned when the sales guy told me there is outstanding balance on the car. I said that can’t be right. So I went straight to the dealer where I bought the car from. They were shocked too and when they checked on their system, they noticed there is finance on the car with Autobank (known as PSA) from 2020. 

They gave me a number to call Autobank and the agreement number. So yesterday I called Autobank (PSA) and they said there is active agreement on the car with my plate reg on. But what seems to baffle them is the name and address on the agreement is not my name and address.

Which means the agreement is in someone else’s name with their address on which is totally strange. I gave them the car Chasis number just to be sure it’s my car they are seeing. And rhey confirmed it is. I asked the lender that what I don’t understand is how can someone be on the agreement and the car is in my possession? So they lady said they will need to investigate.

I rang the dealer back and they said they are also making enquiries from the company they initially got the car from last year and will let me know if they hear back from them. 

So right now I am unsettled as I have cleared my outstanding debt on the car which cost me roughly £20k and for me to find out the car has outstanding finance with another lender 😩😩😩😭😭😭. Any one know what could happen or has this ever happen to anyone before?

martinbainbridge1975

seen this happen before, somebody has possibly sold a car and not paid off their finance.

should have flagged up when you got the car - dealers usually do HPI checks when taking a car in part exchange

I would be asking the garage who sold you the car for a refund if not sorted 

Chemite12

martinbainbridge1975 said:

seen this happen before, somebody has possibly sold a car and not paid off their finance.

should have flagged up when you got the car - dealers usually do HPI checks when taking a car in part exchange

I would be asking the garage who sold you the car for a refund if not sorted 

Thanks @mar@martinbainbridge1975. The dealer told me the did HPI check last year and all was clear. I want to give them till wnd of today and I will be asking for HPI clearance proof and if they can’t provide that, I will be requesting a refund. It’s just shocking as they said the got the car as part exchange from another dealer 🥴🥴🥴

martinbainbridge1975

I would also suggest talking to your previous finance company as well, as technically they didn't own the car when they financed it for you 

Chemite12

martinbainbridge1975 said:

I would also suggest talking to your previous finance company as well, as technically they didn't own the car when they financed it for you 

That’s a good point. I didn’t think of that. I will phone them shortly. Thanks

Chemite12

I just called my previous finance and I was told there is no record of finance on my carZ the lady even sent me an email with screenshot of the result. I am well confused 

Dave_5150

Chemite12 said:

I just called my previous finance and I was told there is no record of finance on my carZ the lady even sent me an email with screenshot of the result. I am well confused 

Is that simply a report from their system that correctly shows they have no interest in the vehicle as the balance has been paid, or is it a different report to that?

Chemite12

Dave_5150 said:

Chemite12 said:

I just called my previous finance and I was told there is no record of finance on my carZ the lady even sent me an email with screenshot of the result. I am well confused 

Is that simply a report from their system that correctly shows they have no interest in the vehicle as the balance has been paid, or is it a different report to that?

Thanks for your response Dave. I just did HPI check for myself and I noticed there is finance against my licence plate. I am not sure if there is error on the finance side. I remember I was with this particular finance company (PSA) in 2020 with another vehicle using the same licence plate and the account was paid off and closed off in Aug 2020. Based on the report on HPI from today, the outstanding finance registered against my licence plate which is a different vehicle to the one I had in 2020 is from 12/08/2020 also. 

Grumpy_chap

Let the supplying Dealer complete their checks, but it does now look like this is an error from your previous finance on the previous vehicle having not removed the marker even though the loan was cleared.  You will need to go back to PSA with the details of your cleared finance to get the marker removed.  All very annoying but it does look like an admin error and nothing more.

Chemite12

Grumpy_chap said:

Let the supplying Dealer complete their checks, but it does now look like this is an error from your previous finance on the previous vehicle having not removed the marker even though the loan was cleared.  You will need to go back to PSA with the details of your cleared finance to get the marker removed.  All very annoying but it does look like an admin error and nothing more.

Thanks for this. Everytime I call PSA, they keep saying they are looking into it. What I am going to do now is write an email to them explaining all the situation from 2020 with details of cleared finance and hopefully this will help them to know where exactly to look into. Thank you

Chemite12

Just a question though. So I had a chat with PSA and asked the lady to confirm if the outstanding fianance is registered to my licence plate which is a private plate or the chassis number. I gave her the chassis number and she confirmed the finance is registered against the licence plate ane not the chassis number which means my current car is free of debt. 

So while waiting for PSA to investigate which I don’t know how long I am looking at, am I okay to retain the private plate and put back the manufactured reg back on my car? 

The reason why I am asking is that I wanted to buy evoque and sell my current car to Land Rover dealer so I can use the money for deposit for the new evoque. But then I found out that a finance is on the licence plate that is on the car, therefore, this plate being on the car will keep preventing me from selling this car to go for another car. So can I retain this private plate so my current car can be free of outstanding finance?