Car finance final settlement - After death

PatersG1

My dad unexpectedly passed away in September 2024 and left a car on finance (he only took the finance deal out 7 months prior to death). 

I have expectantly been chased since by the finance company, who provided a final settlement figure of £20,500 initially. We were waiting on money from the estate etc and the lawyers advice was to sit on it for a couple of months as nothing would change.
i contacted them last week to advise I was ready to pay the settlement, to which they generated a new settlement figure of £26,500. I queries this and was told it was an error and to pay the original. I did this immediately.
I have now received further correspondence stating that they made another error and the final amount is actually £25,500. 

I can’t get my head around how a finance company can get things so wrong, and to me it feels like they are trying to fleece us out of more money, as it has taken them nearly 4 months to notice this ‘mistake’ but then quoting me 2 totally different figures days apart.

i have sent a complaint to the company, so the Financial Ombudsman won’t touch it until after 8/9 weeks, or resolution of the complaint, but is there anything else I can do about this?!

At the moment they are sitting with my £20,500 in the bank as well…

Nobbie1967

Did the settlement figure include returning the vehicle or do you still have the car. Was it an EV? Residuals have been quite volatile recently, so changes in settlement figure could be a result of this.

Mildly_Miffed

PatersG1 said:

My dad unexpectedly passed away in September 2024 and left a car on finance (he only took the finance deal out 7 months prior to death). 

I have expectantly been chased since by the finance company, who provided a final settlement figure of £20,500 initially. We were waiting on money from the estate etc and the lawyers advice was to sit on it for a couple of months as nothing would change.
i contacted them last week to advise I was ready to pay the settlement, to which they generated a new settlement figure of £26,500. I queries this and was told it was an error and to pay the original. I did this immediately.
I have now received further correspondence stating that they made another error and the final amount is actually £25,500. 

I can’t get my head around how a finance company can get things so wrong, and to me it feels like they are trying to fleece us out of more money, as it has taken them nearly 4 months to notice this ‘mistake’ but then quoting me 2 totally different figures days apart.

i have sent a complaint to the company, so the Financial Ombudsman won’t touch it until after 8/9 weeks, or resolution of the complaint, but is there anything else I can do about this?!

At the moment they are sitting with my £20,500 in the bank as well…

No, they're sitting on your father's £20,500. ALL of this is between his estate and the financier, not you.

You get not one penny of your father's money until the estate is closed.

I presume the car was returned immediately, and it's purely a numbers question thereafter?

So, as executor, you've paid £20,500 - but four months after it was due. The question now is whether there's an additional £5k or £6k due from the estate. Have they shown their working? Is there an element of interest or fees arising from the delay?

PatersG1

They gave us the option to settle the car outwith the estate so we own it, and then we will look to sell privately or keep it. 

From the contact I have had with them, they are disputing that the settlement figure of £20,500 was always incorrect. 

The money we have paid out is from life insurance that was paid outwith the estate finances so it hasn’t filtered through the official estate (which is still ongoing).
The car is currently sitting in my driveway, however I was advised initially that the figure would remain the same and just to ignore any chasing emails/letters from them - this was advice directly from the finance company.

Car_54

PatersG1 said:

They gave us the option to settle the car outwith the estate so we own it, and then we will look to sell privately or keep it. 

That sounds very much like stealing from the estate.

Mildly_Miffed

PatersG1 said:

They gave us the option to settle the car outwith the estate so we own it, and then we will look to sell privately or keep it. 

From the contact I have had with them, they are disputing that the settlement figure of £20,500 was always incorrect. 

The money we have paid out is from life insurance that was paid outwith the estate finances so it hasn’t filtered through the official estate (which is still ongoing).
The car is currently sitting in my driveway, however I was advised initially that the figure would remain the same and just to ignore any chasing emails/letters from them - this was advice directly from the finance company.

So the car transferred from the financier's ownership to yours, in return for you paying the settlement figure.

Basically, they sold it to you for the outstanding finance.

OK, so you've paid £20.5k so far (albeit four months late), and are now arguing over whether the balance is £0, £5k, or £6k.

Nobbie1967

As you’ve got the car, it should be straightforward to work out the outstanding balance as you’re just looking at early repayment of the loan. Do you have the original finance agreement? If they gave a settlement figure in September it will clearly be out of date four months later as you’ll owe another 3rd of a years interest. Have you still been paying the monthly repayments?

born_again

 the lawyers advice was to sit on it for a couple of months as nothing would change.

Great advice, not...

Of course it would change as you had agreed to buy the car & now the settlement is out of date.

Maybe had the car been returned & they were advised the balance would be paid from the estate, it would have worked. 

LightFlare

PatersG1 said:

They gave us the option to settle the car outwith the estate so we own it, and then we will look to sell privately or keep it. 

From the contact I have had with them, they are disputing that the settlement figure of £20,500 was always incorrect. 

The money we have paid out is from life insurance that was paid outwith the estate finances so it hasn’t filtered through the official estate (which is still ongoing).
The car is currently sitting in my driveway, however I was advised initially that the figure would remain the same and just to ignore any chasing emails/letters from them - this was advice directly from the finance company.

I'm pretty certain that you (or the executor) can't/shouldn't have done that. Life insurance forms part of the estate.

I would post on: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/deaths-funerals-probate

and check you (or the executor)  aren't making any mistakes