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Hello,
I’m looking for some advice on behalf of my partner.
He took out what he thought to be a credit agreement with fowlersfinance.com LTD of Stoke-on-Trent earlier this year. He no longer needs the car, due to his employer now providing him with a van. We have become suspicious since he asked for a settlement figure, which they state is approx 1.5 times the ticket price of the car at point of sale and has clearly not been calculated in accordance with the standard early settlement equation, as outlined by the Early Settlement Regulations of 2004 - which in fact gives a figure less than the ticket price of the car as one might expect 20%of the way through the agreement. The ticket price of the car was £3500 but this is not stated anywhere in any of the paperwork he has been given.
I had not looked at the ‘Credit Agreement’, until last night and to be honest I am absolutely appalled at the operations of this company - he does not have a credit agreement but rather a ‘Conditional Bill of Sale’. At the time my partner really needed a car and so didn’t look at the contract in as much detail as he should of done - which I am not defending and I really wish I had made him let me go over it at the time. Quite simply the car is not needed so we want it to go back without us having to pay out the £1.5k isn + depreciation they claim we will still owe if we were to sell the car and pay the settlement figure they gave. I can scan the docs later but they are exactly the same as these (other than personal and car details):
Main 2 pages:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=33wl...8#.VAeRSVZshg0
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=azbdi9&s=8#.VAeRS1Zshg0
T&C's:
http://tinypic.com/r/24nlcg9/8
http://tinypic.com/r/okmwqu/8
http://tinypic.com/r/mmaaf4/8
http://tinypic.com/r/1zl9253/8
http://tinypic.com/r/5v9zp/8
Instead of a credit agreement he has been issued with a ‘Conditional Bill of Sale’. Line 2 states it is regulated by the ‘Credit Consumer Act 1974’ which does not exist - either it’s a typo or a means of misleading people. My understanding is that this agreement basically means that fowlersfinance.com LTD will buy the car and then rent it to my partner for 130 weeks. The ticket price of the car is not stated anywhere and some of the paragraphs completely contradict each other. They also list my partner as a business (he’s not), it is my understanding that these agreements are for the purposes of a business renting a car either - particularly as there is no VAT.
The main bit which outlines all this is:
‘By signing this agreement you, the conditional purchaser, request us, the conditional seller, to purchase the goods described on this page and you offer to take the goods on hire for the use and purpose of your business on the terms set out on this page’.
To me that says that my partner is simply renting the car for the given period, there is no statement that he will ever own the car. He does not have a business, never has and never said to Fowlers that he did. Near the very end of the terms and conditions it states that the car must be returned at the end of the agreement. My partner was explicitly told when discussing the purchase and also when getting the settlement figure that the car would be his at the end of the agreement. So in summary, my partner went in to purchase a car for personal use on finance and it seems he has unwittingly been given a rental car that will never be his under a business agreement!
My questions are, is this agreement legal? If it is not, as I suspect, we will simply cancel the standing order and dump the car back with them. If it is legal though, what can we do? A secondary concern is regarding insurance, most car insurance companies work on the basis that the policyholder owns the car - my partner thought he did but clearly does not so we are concerned insurance is not valid!
Thank you very much for your time!
I’m looking for some advice on behalf of my partner.
He took out what he thought to be a credit agreement with fowlersfinance.com LTD of Stoke-on-Trent earlier this year. He no longer needs the car, due to his employer now providing him with a van. We have become suspicious since he asked for a settlement figure, which they state is approx 1.5 times the ticket price of the car at point of sale and has clearly not been calculated in accordance with the standard early settlement equation, as outlined by the Early Settlement Regulations of 2004 - which in fact gives a figure less than the ticket price of the car as one might expect 20%of the way through the agreement. The ticket price of the car was £3500 but this is not stated anywhere in any of the paperwork he has been given.
I had not looked at the ‘Credit Agreement’, until last night and to be honest I am absolutely appalled at the operations of this company - he does not have a credit agreement but rather a ‘Conditional Bill of Sale’. At the time my partner really needed a car and so didn’t look at the contract in as much detail as he should of done - which I am not defending and I really wish I had made him let me go over it at the time. Quite simply the car is not needed so we want it to go back without us having to pay out the £1.5k isn + depreciation they claim we will still owe if we were to sell the car and pay the settlement figure they gave. I can scan the docs later but they are exactly the same as these (other than personal and car details):
Main 2 pages:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=33wl...8#.VAeRSVZshg0
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=azbdi9&s=8#.VAeRS1Zshg0
T&C's:
http://tinypic.com/r/24nlcg9/8
http://tinypic.com/r/okmwqu/8
http://tinypic.com/r/mmaaf4/8
http://tinypic.com/r/1zl9253/8
http://tinypic.com/r/5v9zp/8
Instead of a credit agreement he has been issued with a ‘Conditional Bill of Sale’. Line 2 states it is regulated by the ‘Credit Consumer Act 1974’ which does not exist - either it’s a typo or a means of misleading people. My understanding is that this agreement basically means that fowlersfinance.com LTD will buy the car and then rent it to my partner for 130 weeks. The ticket price of the car is not stated anywhere and some of the paragraphs completely contradict each other. They also list my partner as a business (he’s not), it is my understanding that these agreements are for the purposes of a business renting a car either - particularly as there is no VAT.
The main bit which outlines all this is:
‘By signing this agreement you, the conditional purchaser, request us, the conditional seller, to purchase the goods described on this page and you offer to take the goods on hire for the use and purpose of your business on the terms set out on this page’.
To me that says that my partner is simply renting the car for the given period, there is no statement that he will ever own the car. He does not have a business, never has and never said to Fowlers that he did. Near the very end of the terms and conditions it states that the car must be returned at the end of the agreement. My partner was explicitly told when discussing the purchase and also when getting the settlement figure that the car would be his at the end of the agreement. So in summary, my partner went in to purchase a car for personal use on finance and it seems he has unwittingly been given a rental car that will never be his under a business agreement!
My questions are, is this agreement legal? If it is not, as I suspect, we will simply cancel the standing order and dump the car back with them. If it is legal though, what can we do? A secondary concern is regarding insurance, most car insurance companies work on the basis that the policyholder owns the car - my partner thought he did but clearly does not so we are concerned insurance is not valid!
Thank you very much for your time!
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