Outstanding finance on vehicle

[Wannabestepfordwife]

Apologies if this is rather long.

DP bought a motorbike from an ex colleague. The motorbike had been in an accident and as the owner had TPO insurance he decides to write off his losses and sell the bike to DP at a discounted rate.

The colleague has outstanding finance on the vehicle which he has assured dp he is going to pay. Part of this finance agreement was that the vehicle had to have comprehensive insurance cover- so he is in breach of his agreement.

Dp has spent time and money fixing the bike with a view to selling it on and it is now worth considerably more than he payed for it.

Dp suffers from severe anxiety problems and is getting very panicked that the finance company may cease the vehicle and he will lose the money he paid for the bike and doing up which is around £3000 or he won't be able to sell it on.

Does anybody where we stand on this?

Legally, if it was a straight HP agreement, whereby the colleague who had the finance would own the vehicle at some point (ie not a lease where the colleague would never own the vehicle), then if your DP didn't know the vehicle was subject to a finance agreement, then he would be in the clear.

However, if the colleague stopped paying, and could prove that your DP knew the vehicle was on finance, and therefore, not the colleague's vehicle to sell, then the finance company would have a case for repossessing.

But your DP definitely can't sell the vehicle on, and he has free title to it (ie, it actually belongs to him)

*unless he has free title

Thank you that's a great help!