Startline HPI car agreement

Junsele

Our daughter recently died with cancer. A week or so before passing, she transferred her car/V5 to her mother (who'd paid many instalments for her over the years). The car, it transpired is subject to an HP agreement with Startline who have now demanded a payment of £4K. The car itself is now in France with my wife/her mother. My thinking is maybe try negotiate a sttlement around the £2K mark - my wife paid £700 for needed repairs when obtaining the vehicle, so £2K seems reasonable. Any thoughts on best way forward would be welcome.

dunstonh

my wife paid £700 for needed repairs when obtaining the vehicle, so £2K seems reasonable. 

Sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, this appears to be a bit of a mess.

On HP, legal ownership of the car stays with the finance company until the agreement is settled, so from what you’ve said the vehicle hasn’t actually been ‘obtained’ – it still belongs to Startline, which is why they are asking for payment. Signing the V5C doesn't pass ownership to the mother. It just records the mother as the keeper of the car.

The only way you (or the estate) can obtain legal title is by settling the HP with Startline on terms they agree. If they are not willing to sell it to you or accept a reduced settlement, they are entitled to recover the car.

The HP agreement is a contract between your late daughter and Startline, so now it is a liability of her estate. The executor should notify Startline of the death and either (a) settle the agreement from estate funds if there are sufficient assets, or (b) agree to hand the car back so they can sell it and offset the sale proceeds. If any estate funds have already been distributed before all debts are paid, the executor can be personally pursued to the extent they have wrongly paid out the estate ahead of creditors. If the estate has no assets, Startline would usually recover and sell the car and then decide what to do about any remaining shortfall.
Moving the vehicle abroad does not change Startline’s ownership. If they are not repaid or given the opportunity to recover their car, they could take legal action, so it’s important that the executor engages with them promptly and works towards either returning the vehicle or agreeing a formal settlement. The potential debt to Startline is likely to be the difference between the HP balance and the sale proceeds of the vehicle, plus any reasonable costs they incur in recovering it – which could be significant if it has to be collected from France.

Junsele

Thanks for the response, fully understood. It is an intestacy, so no executor and no Letter of Admin either. Estate likely to be zero. (We've already paid for the funeral etc.) I am the father but have no special legal standing. She was unmarried but has an adult son whose whereabouts is unknown and with whom no contact for many years. Given the likely value of the vehicle, I would expect some flexibility with the finance company - hence my thoughts on a negotiated settlement figure. I'm inclined to enagae and then possibly suggest this on a Without Prejudice offer.