Undiscovered Hpi

[Jon Green]

Hi Guy's

 

Im after any ideas, legal stuff or anything to help a friend.

 

The story goes;

 

My pal bought a car from a reputable car sales firm locally in 2004. He traded in his old car, paid £2k cash and took £2k finance from Haydock finace. All was good. He paid back his finance agreement within a couple of months and happly owned the car till last week.

 

He's just gone on his own in business and chose to trade in the car for a van last week. A straight swop for a tranny van from another reputable local van dealer.

 

Yesterday he recieved a phone call from the van dealer saying that:

 

1. his traded in car has outstanding finance on it of £7k from two years before he bought it, (discivered when the van dealer sold the vehicle on to another company who then tried to sell the car to a customer)

2. he has to return his van as the deal is void

3. the finance company are reposessing his car to cover the outstanding unpaid finance agreement.

 

All his leaves him with no wheels, no income. costing him £7k!

 

He assumes that every dealer has done an HPI check on the vehicle and that the old finance has only just shown up for some reason........ the car has had 28 checks in 7 years!

 

 

Any ideas....thoughts!

[Longboarder]

He needs to see and check the HPI to confirm there is no mistake here. If needed do his own HPI check. Sounds a bit suss to me.

If this finance is genuinely still outstanding then the £7000 debt is not his. It is for the finance company to chase the original borrower for that particular pot. He has had use of the car for nearly two years for his original purchase price but has lost the residual value due to an error made in good faith (presumably) by the dealer who sold it to him. He could try to sue that dealer for the residual if they are still in business. He needs proper legal advice to give some chance of recovery of his loss and to avoid any damage to his financial reputation.

 

Nigel

[Guest Drewsus]

I would say first point of call would be dealer he bought it from! They have a responsability to check the car was legal to be sold.

If they are still about go to them with a copy of the HPi and threaten them with court etc and they might just crumble and give him his money!

Also normally a finance company will ask for an Hpi on a car before approving a loan for it! Don't know where he stands legally with the Finance company but I would say that the deal with his van was done and dust and therefore I would not hand it back! They should of checked first, as far as he was aware it was clear.

 

Also I know it is a bit late now but never rely on an HPi someone else has done always do your own. There is no such thing as a reliable car sales! (I know I used to work in one! ).

I will ask my old boss see what he says.

 

Drew

[Guest elwe]

If he has no come back against the dealer he bought the car from then the dealer he traded it in with has no comeback against him. Simularly the company they sold it on to should have no comeback.

 

I believe that with HPI the debt is sold with the car and so is now owned by its current owner.

 

It does seem difficult to believe that nobody has spotted the oustanding finance before. I think it has to be a scam/mistake. Do an HPI check to find out. If it comes back showing the debt have a chat with the citizens advice bureau. Hopefully they would agree with my assesment that the dept is owed by the current owner of the car. If not it must be owed by the person who took out the finance.

 

Thinking a bit more how can the debt stop at an owner in the middle? I think the current owners know they owe the debt but are trying to find a fool to off load it on.

[Guest megablade]

I think Elwe is right. The debt is owed by the original owner, when he defaults the car is repossed. Whoever is in possesion at that time goes the loser, kind of like musical car seats!

 

The question has to be asked, why have the finance company not come after the car in the last 2 years? Is the original owner still making payments?

 

Whichever, I would seek legal advice and hang onto the van until then.

 

One more thought, if the debt has only just come to light don't HPI have some sort of insurance to cover that? Might be worth a punt.

[Guest ady]

I agree with Elwe to, as I understand it the debt always stayes with the car and should always be paid off when the car is sold. If the debt realy still exists it would have rested with your mate when he owned the car but as soom as the deal was signed with the Van dealer it moved to them. When they sold it on the debt went with it, so the buck stops with the current owner.

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

Dont part with the van the debt goes with the car and stays with it..same thing happend to my partener we did a job for a garage ..i had cash but it ended up all in irish notes my mate had a grand cheroke jeep ... i lost on the exchange but he had trouble with the jeep so he part chopped it for a merc they then found it had outstanding hp and tried to get the merc back ..but they failed the debt stayed with the jeep and he had no come back with the law

Mick

[Guest chris brown]

HPI also make mistakes a mate bought a minibus on EBay he then had a HPI check done and it came up as stolen. When it was all sorted out it turned it was supposed to have been stolen before it had been originally registered (it was actually in a coach builders at the time). So don’t believe HPI all the time but it is a good guide (a bit like a Haynes manual)

[Jon Green]

thanks guy's,

 

He's not taken the van back... hid it in a garage for a while in case they tried to find it!

 

He's spoken to trading standards who have been in contact with the car sales places concerned and they've assured him that he can keep the van and that the first garage who sold him the car are liable and will pay the outstanding HPI on the car.

 

Still no reason for the finance not showing up on all the previous HPI checks but at least he gets to keep the van and isn't left out of pocket.

 

Thanks again for the replies!

 

 

Merry Christmas,

 

Jon

[Guest megablade]

At least he is going to have a merry christmas now