They sold my car without my knowledge

[mfarduk]

I try to keep it simple. I had non-fault accident in December14.
called accident management company.
they arranged recovery of vehicle to their storage
they arranged hire car, solicitor for personal inj, engineer report,
they asked me for certificate of insurance and V5 (i naively given them)
Engineer report says TOTAL LOSS. report forwarded to third party insurance they think it is repairable.
in mean time I received letter from DVLA saying we are no longer registered keeper.
so they claim management company sold the car before waiting for me to get paid.
I called police, they went to that company and informed me this is a civil matter not car theft because in one of the papers I signed it says:
I Mr .... confirm I have read the engineer report relating to this accident and I am happy with its content and I undrestand that I will not retain the salvage.
Police thinks this is enough for them to sell the salvage.

1- car is salvage when third party insurance agree and pay for that
2- before that, it should be kept in storage and treated as repairable car
3- car was in my wife's name ,they knew that (in V5) I can not give them authority to sell it
4- car has 40K outstanding finance, they were aware of this, but still sold that
5- Although I signed the paper, it was different from what he explained to me, I have the telephone conversation recorded and they confirmed we agreed that we can keep the salvage (after I signed the papers )

I informed finance company, and they want me to pay the settlement figure (not very helpful) they are not willing to get involve in recovering the car which is now repaired and is on the street.

the third party insurance is not willing to pay as they think car is repairable and not total loss
solicitor says lets take the third party insurance to court

Confused, Desperate, Deceived, Hopeless, begging for honest advice specially if had similar experience
thanks

[Amethyst]

Re: They sold my car without my knowledge

Hi, It isn't my area but these couple bits jumped out at me.....

Is the solicitor

solicitor says lets take the third party insurance to court

the one from the accident management company ?

the third party insurance is not willing to pay as they think car is repairable and not total loss

.... they are right ...

the car which is now repaired and is on the street.

Who is the accident management company?

Did your insurance pay out?

[Tools]

Re: They sold my car without my knowledge

Firstly, do not return the V5 confirming change of keeper, make sure you contact the DVLA and make them aware that the vehicle is subject to disputed ownership and NOT to issue a new V5 to the person who applied.

Secondly, as it was a no-fault accident, who's insurance are you claiming from, were you covered to drive your wifes vehicle fully comprehensive or as third party only?

Your own insurance company should be pursuing this for you, as should the finance company, as technically the vehicle belongs to them and is not yours to sell until finance is cleared.

Do you have a copy of the finance agreement to post up (remove personal details first)