Unlawful repossession

[Pompeysimon]

Hi......

this I a letter I have sent to the FOS, ido t hold up hope as they appear to take ages then rule in favour of the business most times.

i think I have a valid point, any opinions? What recourse do you suggest?





“ I purchased a vehicle from the Xxxxxx in 2018 and made 20 payments of £343.53. In 2020 I fell into financial difficulties following the loss of my job. I contacted the Xxxxx asking for a payment break but they put too many hoops in the way despite government guidelines on payment breaks during the COVID situation.



By June I was three months in arrears, contact with xxxxx was slow and mostly replying on a Sunday evening. I tried to explain my situation and started to discuss the option of returning the vehicle, not finalised as I was aware.



I have had no explanation of the impact of returning the vehicle, no discussion of what I would owe apart from the arrears. I’ve never been told if I’ll be liable for a balance to voluntarily terminate, Impact on my credit score etc.



I had discussed, in principle, regarding the collection of the vehicle but there was NO confirmation that this was happening or when.



On or around the 3rd of July I realised the car was no longer in the secure parking area in a private property area. I looked on the website for the car loan centre to get a phone number and was horrified to see my car for sale on their website. I immediately contacted them asking for the car to be returned or the balanced as it was unlawfully taken.



As I’ve paid over one third, £6870.60, the vehicle was protected. I’ve not had the opportunity to make an informed decision or more importantly give my informed consent.



The Court of Appeal case of Chartered Trust v Pritcher makes it very clear that recovery of protected goods must be by informed consent





The vehicle was taken without my explicit consent from private property using a spare key they had. The boot was full of property that I’ve had to fight to get returned. They claim they are returning it at “their expense” this only was agreed after I was forced to return the log book and main key at my expense. If I’d consented the return of the vehicle I would have given them the key and logbook personally and my property would have been removed and car cleaned.



Xxxxx claim my communication has given them consent, I dispute this. I was hoping an arrangement would have been made to allow me to keep the vehicle, my partner is registered disabled and this is our only transport.

[R0b]

Not a clue about the prospects because this seems to rest on the conversations or correspondence you had with the lender. If you still have the keys in your possession and they simply took the car from private land, that might give an inference that there was no consent, because if there was consent, they would have knocked on your door and asked for the keys to drive it away.

You do realise that the FOS only look sat what is fair and reasonable and it may be the case that what they decide and offer is not something you want. On the other hand, if there has been an unlawful repossession then section 91 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 says that if they're retaken the goods unlawfully, you are entitled to the return of all payments made under the agreement. That to me would be your best bet but of course you need to go through the legal process.