Car sold without my permission

hulltigers1978

I was remanded in custody for 12 months for a non motoring offence.

My sister-in-law emptied my flat on my behalf & stored the property at her house, this included moving my car to her private drive. 

I recently found out she had sold the car for scrap (along with my keys, log book, and tons of history), she lied to me about it being clamped by the council. 

I have been advised by a police officer out from front desk it is possible theft but difficult to prove. I'm waiting for a traffic officer to call me back regarding this.

I sorned the car in July 23, I was on the log book. I'm waiting for proof from dvla.

I checked dvla, it's still sorn, but has a new mot from end July 24. 

I assume the garage didn't scrap it  and rubbed their hands in glee at a £1500 car. I'm going to see them tomorrow to see their side, see what my sister in law told them. I have the receipt from them officially stating sold for scrap.

Question 1 is are they not legally bound to scrap it? Not sell it with a new Mot?

2: Is it a civil matter to get it back? 

My understanding is this. I understand that my sister-in-law has committed theft but it will be hard for me to prove she didn't have my permission and if my only redress to get the vehicle back is though the civil courts, I'm reluctant to jeapordise the family relationship. Because I don't have the funding as I am on universal credit and I will not get any kind of legal aid. So therefore rather than get my sister arrested I'll probably just drop it unless I can agree to repurchase the vehicle if it hasn't already been sold. 

Am I correct? This is my lifeline for work. I can't afford to lose it. Thanks in advance 

Brie

I'd be tempted to tell SiL that she needs to buy the car back for you.  

Exodi

Sorry I don't really understand some of the logic - e.g. you'd be happy to pursue criminal action against her, but not civil action because you're "reluctant to jeapordise the family relationship"?

You either decide to take action against her or you don't. If the real reason is purely financial, then that's different and people can recommend things like MCOL if civil is the route you need to go down.

I disagree that it "it will be hard for me to prove she didn't have my permission" as the most obvious question that springs to mind would be whether you received the money from her for it.

If it's still SORN, could be that they still have, I'd defintely call the garage and ask.

DullGreyGuy

Waynesmithhull said:

I was remanded in custody for 12 months for a non motoring offence.

My sister-in-law emptied my flat on my behalf & stored the property at her house, this included moving my car to her private drive. 

I recently found out she had sold the car for scrap (along with my keys, log book, and tons of history), she lied to me about it being clamped by the council. 

I have been advised by a police officer out from front desk it is possible theft but difficult to prove. I'm waiting for a traffic officer to call me back regarding this.

I sorned the car in July 23, I was on the log book. I'm waiting for proof from dvla.

I checked dvla, it's still sorn, but has a new mot from end July 24. 

I assume the garage didn't scrap it  and rubbed their hands in glee at a £1500 car. I'm going to see them tomorrow to see their side, see what my sister in law told them. I have the receipt from them officially stating sold for scrap.

Question 1 is are they not legally bound to scrap it? Not sell it with a new Mot?

2: Is it a civil matter to get it back? 

My understanding is this. I understand that my sister-in-law has committed theft but it will be hard for me to prove she didn't have my permission and if my only redress to get the vehicle back is though the civil courts, I'm reluctant to jeapordise the family relationship. Because I don't have the funding as I am on universal credit and I will not get any kind of legal aid. So therefore rather than get my sister arrested I'll probably just drop it unless I can agree to repurchase the vehicle if it hasn't already been sold. 

Am I correct? This is my lifeline for work. I can't afford to lose it. Thanks in advance 

1) No, selling it for scrap value doesn't require them to scrap it

2) The civil matter would be claiming against your SiL for the value of the vehicle, it is debatable on if you can claim more from her than she received from the sale... in principle you can but evidencing that it was worth more will be difficult 


In the first instance speak to the garage and see what the current status of the vehicle is, have they sold it on or kept it themselves? Depending on the nature of the garage they may buy cars in need of TLC, do them up themselves and sell them on to customers or they may just put such cars straight into auction or off to a company like CoPart who buy up a large proportion of the cars that insurers write off each year. 

Clearly if they have done work on the vehicle they are likely to want some compensation for it, it'd be a discussion between you and your SiL who should fund that rather than have them sue your SiL

Grumpy_chap

Waynesmithhull said:

My sister-in-law emptied my flat on my behalf & stored the property at her house, this included moving my car to her private drive. 

I recently found out she had sold the car for scrap (along with my keys, log book, and tons of history), she lied to me about it being clamped by the council. 

I assume the garage didn't scrap it  and rubbed their hands in glee at a £1500 car. 

What loss have you suffered?

This won't have been convenient for your SiL to have to store your car on her drive for an extended period of time?

What value did she get for the car from the scrap trader?
What value would she have got from other purchasers?
If this would be a £1,500 forecourt car, then it's £500 trade.
My Nephew recently had to get rid of his old car and the scrap value was higher than the sell value.
Once the "scrap dealer" has the car, they are not obliged to scrap the car and can sell back into service if appropriate (assuming there was no Government incentive linked to the situation).

What would it have cost you to store the car in a paid for storage unit compared to the free storage for however long on your SiL's drive?

born_again

Easy to check status of car, if they have sold it on.

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

Arunmor

How much did you give your sister in law for clearing your flat and storing your belongings?  Sounds like you have irritated her at some point and she has just said sod it.

Mildly_Miffed

Waynesmithhull said:

I was remanded in custody for 12 months for a non motoring offence.

My sister-in-law emptied my flat on my behalf & stored the property at her house, this included moving my car to her private drive. 

I recently found out she had sold the car for scrap (along with my keys, log book, and tons of history), she lied to me about it being clamped by the council. 

I have been advised by a police officer out from front desk it is possible theft but difficult to prove. I'm waiting for a traffic officer to call me back regarding this.

I sorned the car in July 23, I was on the log book. I'm waiting for proof from dvla.

I checked dvla, it's still sorn, but has a new mot from end July 24. 

I assume the garage didn't scrap it  and rubbed their hands in glee at a £1500 car. I'm going to see them tomorrow to see their side, see what my sister in law told them. I have the receipt from them officially stating sold for scrap.

Question 1 is are they not legally bound to scrap it? Not sell it with a new Mot?

2: Is it a civil matter to get it back? 

My understanding is this. I understand that my sister-in-law has committed theft but it will be hard for me to prove she didn't have my permission and if my only redress to get the vehicle back is though the civil courts, I'm reluctant to jeapordise the family relationship. Because I don't have the funding as I am on universal credit and I will not get any kind of legal aid. So therefore rather than get my sister arrested I'll probably just drop it unless I can agree to repurchase the vehicle if it hasn't already been sold. 

Am I correct? This is my lifeline for work. I can't afford to lose it. Thanks in advance 

1. She sold the car. After that, it's their car, and their choice as to what to do with it.

2. Yes. It's simply a civil disagreement between you and your sister.

You say you're reluctant to jeopardise the family relationship?
Well, this is ONLY about the family relationship.
Balance the value of a car with no MOT, no tax, no insurance against the cost and hassle of moving and storing the car, clearing the flat, and moving and storing your other stuff while you were in prison.

Herzlos

A reputable trader/scrap yard wouldn't buy a car from the wrong name at the wrong address, so did he get a new V5 sent to her address transferring ownership to herself or did she falsify something for them?

Getting a new V5 would have been trivial - she'd apply online, the DVLA would write to your old address giving you 2 weeks to object, you wouldn't see it, then she'd become the registered keeper. Not the owner, unless she can prove you'd assigned ownership to her.

You can always ask whoever bought it and come to some arrangement to buy it back or at least find out how they managed to make the transaction.

But if the car was pretty low value and spent a year not moving, it may not be worth much money or stress, sadly.

Car_54

Herzlos said:

A reputable trader/scrap yard wouldn't buy a car from the wrong name at the wrong address, so did he get a new V5 sent to her address transferring ownership to herself or did she falsify something for them?

Getting a new V5 would have been trivial - she'd apply online, the DVLA would write to your old address giving you 2 weeks to object, you wouldn't see it, then she'd become the registered keeper. Not the owner, unless she can prove you'd assigned ownership to her.

And can the OP prove that he was the owner?

paul_c123

The car is still legally owned by you. The garage don't have ownership of it, so you could legitimately walk up to the dealership, get in the car and take it.

The fact that they gave £xxx to your sister-in-law for a car which wasn't hers, is the garage's problem.