Car finance "civil matter" advice needed

[FromtheZoo]

Hi. This is probably going to be quite a long one but I am desperate for some advice on what next steps to take.

I very stupidly bought a very expensive car on finance, on behalf of my friend. He begged me to help him out as he had bad credit and said that he would pay me by bank transfer every month for the amount set on the loan agreement. I know that this is so stupid of me but I've known him my whole life, he's always helped me when I've needed it and he's never given me a reason to think he wouldn't stick to his word so I decided to go ahead and do it for him. Both the car and the finance agreement were taken out in my name.

At first and for quite some time, he made the payments on time and everything was fine. Then I started receiving quite a few parking tickets to my house and it was becoming very annoying to keep filling out the forms and giving his details so I decided to put the log book in his name so that he was the registered keeper. Again, this worked out fine and he continued to pay me on time for quite some time.

Then, he started to miss payments, would ignore my texts about the payments and would then make very late and delayed transfers to me. I started to feel uneasy about the fact that the car was registered to him and that he was becoming unreliable with transferring the payments to me. Eventually after some back and forth, he agreed to transfer the car back into my name.

Since then, he has continued to miss payments and make late transfers to me, he continues to ignore me most of the time and on top of that I have been receiving a lot of parking and traffic fines, I've appealed them all but some of them have come back and said I am liable to pay for them because I'm the registered keeper.

For the last few months, he hasn't paid me anything at all, he ignores all my calls and texts and I don't even think he is at his usual address as I've gone there and he hasn't been there and I have also received parking fines for somewhere quite far away in a different part of England. So I have no idea where he is.

I've contacted the police and told them everything, but they came back and said there is nothing they can do as it's a civil matter and as he has made some bank transfers to me, he could claim partial ownership of the car. Even though the car is registered to me, the finance agreement is in my name and the payments come out of my account. I also have all evidence of me trying to contact him to get the car back and him ignoring me. But apparently it makes no difference.

Ideally I would like him to give the car back to me so I can take it back to the dealership or sell it and end my finance agreement. I'm really struggling financially to pay for this car and also his fines on top of that. But I am at a loss as to what I can do about this now that the police won't get involved. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

What a terrible friend. Small claims court? Hopefully someone be along soon with better advice!

This was an exceptionally stupid thing to do.

Firstly, the logbook is not proof of ownership. The car is owned by the finance company until
It’s paid for. Your friend could potentially claim partial ownership due to the payments they have made. You don’t own it so you can’t repossess it.

It is civil court you need, but if you don’t know where he is where will you serve papers. It will cost you - I doubt it’s small claims as that only covers up to £5k.

The finance company can only come after you as well. That’ll be good when you can’t supply the car.

I genuinely cannot work out why you thought this was a good idea.

Thanks @Suzi888

@DicklessWonder I already said I know it was a stupid thing to do and obviously I now regret it. You didn't need to rub it in! I was just being a good friend to someone I thought I could trust. But thank you for your advice anyway. The police advice was to contact the finance company and let them know and see what they say but not sure what they will do about it, I'm guessing nothing!

Small claims is up to £10k. I'd try to see if you can get a free half hour with a solicitor, you'll need to trace the friend (there are companies that can do this for you) and take it from there.

@Africa2go thanks for your reply. I didn't know of any companies I can use to trace my friend. Is it like a private investigator or something? I will try to get an appointment with a solicitor, thank you

Google "Tracing Agents"

Do you know any of their family members? I'd go ballistic at him through them.

Ask the finance company to take the car back!

@Africa2go thanks so much I'm definitely going to look into this

@CheddarGorgeous I've seen his brother and sister around but they lie for him. They say they don't know where he is and they haven't heard from him but I know they're lying. I've been over to his mums house where he was living and she also says she doesn't know where he is. But I think he's told them to say that if they see me. Ive tried to get my brother to contact him as well as they're also friends and he is ignoring him as well and also one of our other mutual friends

@Eeve if I ask the finance company to take the car back will this affect my credit score?

If its a voluntary surrender then yes. It's a big negative mark on your credit history.
If you have paid off 50% of the total credit amount including interest and balloon payment you can hand it back under voluntary termination. This is recorded on your credit history but "shouldn't" have an adverse effect. Depending on how long you've had the car I imagine you probably haven't paid off 50%.

Remember voluntary surrender is different. Its on par with repossession

The only thing I have to add that PP haven't said (I don't think) is you can't sell the car if it's on finance. It's not yours yet, it's still owned by the finance company. So don't think you can sell it and pay the finance off with a lump, it doesn't work like that.

@freezedriedromance

Remember voluntary surrender is different. Its on par with repossession

It's not on a par. It doesn't negatively affect your credit rating.

OP, I would suggest you speak with the finance company tomorrow and ask them how much extra you would need to pay to take it to the 50%.

They won't repossess it on your behalf.

The issue you have is that the log book isn't in your name & you're neither the owner or registered keeper.

If it were me, I would hire a repossession agent, and arrange for the car to be sold, and then pay the shortfall.

However this works, it's going to cost you.

Agree with above. You need the finance company's permission to sell and its rarely given in these cases. You will be looking at surrender or termination. Or keep the car yourself.

Can't you report it as stolen? If it's all in your name, I would.

Then get in touch with the finance company and see how best to arrange getting out of it.

Houseofgoldandbones - yes it does, as per my pp a voluntary surrender is different to a voluntary termination. 50% is needed for a termination. A surrender is simply handing it back before then.

@freezedriedromance thanks for your advice that's really helpful. I don't think I have paid 50% off yet but I will see how far from that I am and look into voluntary termination. I'm happy to keep the car at least until I've paid 50% of the finance if it means not negatively affecting my credit score and if I can get the back back in my possession. But that requires getting my friend to give it back to me.

@HouseOfGoldandBones thanks for this. I will call the finance company and see how much I have left to get to 50% and see what their advice is. Sorry if I didn't make it clear in my post but my details are on the log book so I am the registered keeper. Which is why I'm having to pay some of the fines that he has been ignoring.

@addicted2spaniels this was my thought process when I contacted the police, I thought it would be as simple as reporting it stolen. But they said they couldn't get involved as it's apparently only a civil matter!

OP, was the car from a dealership?

I once agreed with a dealer to take back my car and end my finance agreement early when I was moving away and no longer needed the car.

The dealership bought the car from me for about £400 less than the remaining finance e.g there was £7,500 left on finance and they paid £7,100 for it. So I was out of pocket, but preferential to voluntary surrender, or paying £250 a month for a car I had absolutely no use for.

Do any of your other friends know where he is living?

@cheerfulpanda

OP, was the car from a dealership?

I once agreed with a dealer to take back my car and end my finance agreement early when I was moving away and no longer needed the car.

The dealership bought the car from me for about £400 less than the remaining finance e.g there was £7,500 left on finance and they paid £7,100 for it. So I was out of pocket, but preferential to voluntary surrender, or paying £250 a month for a car I had absolutely no use for.

Hi, yes the car was bought directly from the dealership so I will look into this. Thank you! I don't mind losing out on some money if it means getting out of this situation.