Bought a car in January with no knowledge of outstanding finance, Please advise

[stelo]

Hi, I bought a car in January in a private sale. I found it advertised on Gumtree, went to meet the seller with 2 relatives, checked the car, paid a fair market price. The seller looked and sounded genuine, he told us he is selling the car because he needs a 7 seater now, he did have couple of baby seats at the back, so it looked like a genuine reason. This was a completely honest sale, on my part at least.
Yesterday I got a letter from the finance company saying it was their car since it has outstanding finance etc and asking me to provide them details if I own the car, otherwise they will repossess the car.
Yes it was really stupid of us not getting the HPI report for the vehicle. To be honest it was my first purchase of a car so didn't have much knowledge about it either. Please advise. Thanks in advance

[des8]

Section 27 of the Hire Purchase Act (1964) states that if you buy a car in good faith and the vendor doesn't tell you of any outstanding finance agreements, you still have good title to the car.

So write to the finance company explaining you bought the car in good faith without knowledge of the outstanding finance.
You need to tell them the name and address of the person you bought it from, how much you paid for it and the date that it changed hands. Also include a copy of the receipt you were given.
They will most likely still want "their" car back, but the onus is on them to prove you do not have good title.

Tagging R0b

[R0b]

Yep agree with Des.

There is no legal requirement to carry out a HPI check and your story sounds plausible but you can't be penalised for not doing a HPI check.

In addition to referring to Section 27 of the HP Act you might want to put the HP co. on notice that you have obtained good title and any attempt to repossess the vehicle will be met with the issuing of legal proceedings.

Who is the finance company writing to you? There's one thread on here that was the same position as you, they repossessed the vehicle and then with the threat of legal action offered to settle on the proviso that the person collect the car from their compound. Can't remember in the end if they delivered it back at their own cost but if you end up in the same situation, you shouldn't hesitate to commence legal action as once it is in their possession, writing to them won't make any difference at all.

[stelo]

Thanks for your kind reply des8 and rob
The finance company name is Moneybarn. I have emailed them today the whole thing stating the name of the seller, date , evidence I have etc. Awaiting their reply. Yes I have read that thread, similar kind of situation as mine and same company as well.