Help splitting assets, separation

[Calipso32]

I've made the decision to leave my partner of 10 years, for a long list of reasons I won't get into. We haven't had the talk yet and won't until November I'm planning as I'm still on maternity leave. Even then I am expecting to need to share the same house until May 2024 when our mortgage fixed rate ends and early repayment fees won't be due.

We are unmarried and own our house jointly 50/50, the equity of this will be split equally so that's straightforward but I'm stumped about the best way forward with our car.

We bought a Skoda Karoq new in 2020 on a HP agreement, we paid £4250 deposit from shared funds, and pay £279 monthly from shared account. Agreement is in his name only and ends in Sep 2024. I know, I was stupid! Didn't think anything of it at the time. So although we both pay for it legally he owns it.

Even so I don't think he would try to mess me about with the car. I guess it depends on how angry and petty he'll feel about the split.

Anyway, to own the car we need to pay a final payment of £10,500 to the dealer. We would get approx £22,000 for it 2nd hand on autotrader etc. I'm pretty sure I want a different car and would later get one myself on HP. My gut feeling is he would want the Karoq.

So ... What are a few fair ways to split the money if he keeps it or we pay it off and then sell it? Which one would make more financial sence? If he keeps the car he should pay me more than if we were to split the profit between us right? Never really had a maths brain 🥴

It’s sounds like he bought the car in his name and the credit agreement is in his name. The onus will be on you to prove differently in a court.

Is he expecting this split? A mutual parting is generally a lot easier to navigate amicably. If this is a complete surprise to him I would recommend being prepared to walk away from the car as legally it's his

how would the final 10k be financed

currently the only real out lay was the deposit monthly payments are literally deprecation and interest
the finance outstanding is massive

id just hand it back it’s a lot of grief arguing over 1/2 the deposit on a 2nd hand car

Well if we agreed to pay it off in order to sell it on Autotrader we would both stump up £5250, then split the £22k sale and get £11k each, walking away with £5750 each, right? Assuming he agrees to that.. Otherwise if he wants it he should pay the £10,500 himself and give me probably the same figure of £5750 (is that right)?

Interesting that you think the final payment is so high. I don't know much about car finance so he took the lead on this.. I want to get my own car later, should I be expecting to pay much higher than this monthly to avoid a huge final payment at the end of my agreement?

He would never expect me to be the one to end it, but we are both unhappy and that's been obvious for a while. He's normally very reasonable so I'm hoping to appeal to this side of him and he'll do the fair thing with the car. I do wonder what his motivations were 3 years ago to put it in his name though...

It’s sounds like he bought the car in his name and the credit agreement is in his name.
Agree. It's not your car legally, you are just renting it off him if you are helping to pay monthly. It's the same as if it was his house and you pay into a joint bill account. The house wouldn't be considered half yours since you aren't married.

I want to get my own car later
Start saving up so you can buy a cheap second hand car to tide you over in case he gets awkward and takes the car off you. He legally can.

I wouldn't finance the balloon payment for the car as there is no guarantee he would share the funds on the sale of the car.

Are you sure he has the V5 for the car? Sometimes the finance company retains it as you aren't the legal owner of the car. They are. The credit agreement has to go in someones name and there may be no nefarious reasons on why the car was put in 'his' name three years. If he is the main driver on insurance, it makes sense.

If he wants to keep the car, the fair way to do it is for him to buy you out. You would need to get a settlement figure from the finance company but I will assume that it is just the cost of the outstanding payments plus the final payment eg

Deposit = £4250
Payments (£279 x 48 months) = £13392
Payments so far (£279 x 34 months) = £9486
Outstanding payments = (£279 x 14 months) = £3906
Final balloon payment = £10500

Total cost of car = £28142
Value of car = £22000

If he is going to pay the monthly payments from now on and the final ballon payment (because he has sole use of the car from now on):

Amount paid by you = (£4250 + £9486)/2 = £6968
Amount paid by him = £6968 + £3906 + £10500 = £21374

So he will have paid 75% of the costs, you will have paid 25% of the costs (approx). If he wants to keep the asset, he should give you 25% of the value of the car (£5500).

Although, to be entirely fair, the car may not be worth that much in 12 months...

Well yes, sometimes people are deceitful about their true intentions, for selfish reasons. Something to think about whilst you don’t tell him about your plans.

Re. The car, if he wants to keep it I'd suggest he gives you half of the initial deposit. I'd be inclined to write off the monthly payments and consider it the cost of using the car for that period.

You can only register a car in one person's name I believe. (That doesn't mean I agree that it should be in the male partner's name as a default!)

Ahh, well I didn't know that.. Now I feel guilty for assuming the worst of him 🙁

readin your update this has got potential to get very complicated
it all hinges on the final payment to realise the car to sell
but if you start asking for large amounts of money ( like the cost of payments and all your deposit) you have had use of the car for a few years
it would be cheaper for him just to hand it back without making the balloon payment

the easiest way would be to get settlement figure for finance take that figure from value of car and your left with how much cash you have in car then divide that by 2
roughly
22k value
13x£279= £3600
settlement/final payment fee £150
balloon payment £10,500

You owe roughly £14,250

value 22,000
debit 14,250

cash in car = 7750

£3875 each

that’s assuming value of car correct cars only worth what someone will pay
they go up and down also 22k car might be slow to move as people nervous about spending so much on a private sale they prefer to go to a dealer

Leave him to it with the car. Then he has to decide whether to stump up the cash and sell it or hand it back. If he hands it back you get nothing. If he sells you might be able to persuade him to give you half the deposit back. Either way, devote your energy and focus to getting the cash for your next car. I'm not sure how well off you are or what other assets are involved but you might be better buying a used car than having monthly payments?