taking legal steps to reposses my car

[jackboy12]

Hi I have missed two payments on my car finance and the have told me they have started legal proceedings to recover the car I have had the car two years and have twelve months to pay, I have had settlement figures in past but they were always asking for all the outstanding money owing and not knocking any interest off for early settlement, I asked them for my credit agreement which they have sent me , but ive never seen a cca like this before, there are no t&c or how interest was calculated I have added cca for any opinions on it

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Hi Jackboy12, do you still need some assistance with this?

[jackboy12]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Hi rob yes I wondered if the cca was ok it doesnt seem to be legit to me, I would appreciate your views on this if possible

thanks for your reply

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Morning,

I'm reading through your agreement and it appears that it is some sort of bill of sale / logbook loan type agreement. Bills of sale are a type of agreement where the you borrow money which is secured against goods that you own and if you default then they can repossess your goods. Logbook loans are just loans which are secured against a car you own and again where in default then they can repossess it. Now, there seems to be quite a few anomalies in this document:

- It says Conditional Bill of Sale regulated by the CCA 1974, however Bills of Sale are made in accordance with the Bill of Sale Act 1882 and I believe is very strict in its compliance which requires certain prescribed information to be given or complied with. I'd need to double check that they now fall under the CCA but I have a feeling they do not. Another strict requirement is that all Bills of Sale must be registered with the High Court within 7 days (I think) of execution and if not then the agreement is not valid. For a small fee, you can write to the Courts in London to confirm whether this has been registered and if so, the date it was registered.

- If Fowlers paid the dealer direct for the car in return for you signing this agreement and making the payments, then I do not think this is a bill of sale. Just because it says conditional bill of sale doesn't mean to say it is a bill of sale. The courts need to look at the substance of the agreement and not the form e.g. the contents of the document need to be reviewed and not just what the title of the document says in order to determine the type of agreement. I would be of the opinion that the agreement looks more akin to a conditional sale agreement regulated by the CCA, that is to say that ownership of the car remains with Fowlers until you have made all of the payments under the agreement.

- If we are to go by the fact that it's a conditional sale, then Fowlers have not complied with the required information set out under the CCA. Things such as termination rights, interest rate, total amount payable, pre-contract information etc. all seems to be missing. If they wanted to terminate then they would need to issue a default notice first prior to giving notice of terminating the agreement.

- As for settlement figures, any early settlements must be given to you in writing and there is usually a rebate whereby the interest remaining on the agreement is deducted so only to leave the remaining balance of the car. Again, if they do not do this, then it is a breach of the CCA.

Overall, I can't see how they can enforce this in a court. It is misleading, non-compliant, and overall unenforceable.

What would you like to do?

[jackboy12]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Hi rob thanks for reply and information, at the moment heard nothing else from them but I am now prepared if and when they do, would it be ok to get back intouch with you if they persist with their threats
thanks once again

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Have you actually anything in writing from them that they are going to commence legal proceedings? Are you wanting to keep the car or get rid of it?

It looks like they are based in Stoke and I would perhaps contact Stoke Trading Standard and send them a copy of the contract, see if they have had any other complaints about Fowlers and these types of agreements.

[jackboy12]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

yes I want to keep the car its just the two payments I have missed but at £51 pound a week I cant seem to catch up I have paid since and will carry on paying but they say the car is fitted with a tracker so if they want it they will just collect it

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Well in your documents there doesn't seem to be any terms on missing payments, so now you have caught up they can't just come and collect it because if they do it will be considered as them in a fundamental breach of contract which you can claim damages for, perhaps the cost of the vehicle at the time or getting a replacement one.

You should aim to keep all correspondence in writing where possible or if need to talk over the phone, you could record the call.

[jackboy12]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Hi have now had contact from fowlers, this is their response it looks like they will fetch the car back but as you can see it is nearly paid for, it grieves me to think they have had all that money and they will resell the car and make more money off some other unsuspecting person, does anyone know were the tracker mite be fitted, I would like to hide the car and give them a run for their money

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

Have you paid the outstanding arrears now? I would double check and make sure that you have because the effect of that notice will mean that they can come and collect the car and terminate the agreement. How far they will get in court due to the non-compliance of the Consumer Credit Act I do not know.

Have you contacted Stoke Trading Standards too about this?

[jackboy12]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

I didnt pay the two missed payments sorry if ive mislead you

[R0b]

Re: taking legal steps to reposses my car

So you have one of two choices then. Either pay the outstanding balance before 26 December and carry on with your payments, or if you can't afford it then the more sensible decision would be to voluntarily terminate the agreement, and make arrangements to repay the £145 back to them.

If you don't do either of the above before 26 December then it is most likely that they will terminate your agreement and try to recover the remaining balance from you, which subject to any defence, you could end up owing and also have a CCJ recorded against your name for the next 6 years making it even more difficult to obtain credit, unless you are willing to pay ridiculous interest rates.

You will also need to take into account whether you need the car for work or other purposes and if so, then you are in a bit of a catch 22 because when they terminate, they will probably repossess the car at the same time so you will lose out overall. Unless you can pay up or someone help you pay off the outstanding balance, then the next best thing would be to terminate the agreement yourself.