PCP Deal but no monthly payments ever taken

Stormin07

Hi,

In January 2022 I purchased a small van for £17k, put down a £2k deposit and took out a 3 year PCP deal.

In June 2022 I received an email from the dealership where I bought the van stating that they had completed the finance forms incorrectly and would I mind printing the documents off, signing them and returning them. I did this the day the email came in and I got an email back thanking me for the prompt response.

Back in November 2022 I realised that no payments for this van had been taken out of my account so I emailed the dealership to ask why. They didn't reply so I sent a further two follow up emails (I like everything in writing) but I still got no reply. I then followed up with a phone call and was told not to worry about it and that everything was ok on their end which I found a bit strange.

Fast forward to today (April 2024) and just out of interest I got my bookkeeper (the van was used for business purposes) to check back through our main business account to see if any payments had been taken out for this van. We have quite a large business and have a fleet of 17 vans so keeping track of all the payments coming out is difficult as there is so many but there is none coming out at all to the finance company that was used for this vehicle.

I found this very strange so I did an HPI check and the vehicle has come back completely clean and clear of all finance and has no outstanding debts against it.

Following this, I called a friend who works for a large car dealership and he used their HPI service to double check as he said that their system gives much more detail than the HPI checks the general public can buy online. Again, this vehicle came back completely clear. My friend also told me that once I have signed the agreements they expire after 30 days so the dealership should not have been emailing me in June 2022 to resign the documents as the original documents would have expired and a credit check would need to have been carried out again.

I want to do the right thing. However, my friend has told me that if I take the van back to the original dealer they will apologise, give me my £2k deposit back and then just sell the vehicle again as they will already have been given the money from the finance company back in January 2022.

Legally where do I stand? I have a vehicle that I paid a £2k deposit on but have never paid a single monthly payment and the vehicle is showing as completely HPI clear. 

What do I do with this van? Do I return it to the dealer? Sell it? What is my legal stance on this as I have emailed the dealership three times and called once and I have had no response other than to be told not to worry about it from the dealer.

Any advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated.

Kind Regard's 

born_again

Legally you own the finance co they money. 
While it may show as clear on HPI, has garage messed up & linked it to another customer? Who knows.

Who was the finance co. While it may seem like prodding the bear, contacting them is the only way to find out. End of the day they have 6 years to chase for the debt.

So even after all this time if garage gave you the deposit back. Which would be highly unlikely after all this time. I would guess finance co would still have a right to claim their due funds.

Stormin07

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I actually phoned the finance company this afternoon. I gave them the reference from the finance documents and they said that the finance has been cleared on the agreement. They said it was cleared in June 2022 which was when the dealer emailed me and asked me to re-sign the documents.

I don't know what to do now.

Nasqueron

Put a letter in writing to the dealership, send it with (free) proof of posting explaining what has happened and that you need them to clarify what has gone on. At some point anywhere up to Jan 2028 they can come after you for the debt and mess up your credit file so you want to show you are doing what you can to resolve this. I assume you have put the funds in a safe account for this purpose ?

Deal in writing only now (emails also work) - do not do anything over the phone which you can't provide evidence for later