My Mum sold a car that isn’t legally hers?

[Lilly1102]

Last year my Mum gave me my late grandmas car (she legally transferred ownership to myself). She inherited it but never drove it as she has her own car and it was just sitting on their driveway doing nothing. I am an only ‘child’ and my grandma really did adore me and would be so pleased I learnt to drive in her car.

i’m 25 so was a late learner. I insured the car, taxed it etc. When I passed my test my partner bought me a more ‘stylish’ car for Xmas. He pays for the tax and insurance on that one so I decided to continue paying for the car I learnt to drive on for a year just to get some no claims and also my younger cousin learnt to drive in it with my uncle so I thought I may as well insure it.

my cousin is now done with the car , my Mum has decided she wants to sell it. I asked her very politely if there was any possibility I could get a very small percentage of the car sale (ie £300) just because I’ve paid £1400 for the car over the year even though I never drove it.

I asked out of principle because legally it is actually in my name etc, it wasn’t about the money, i just asked to see if my parents actually ever considered my opinion or asking me.

my mum has never put any money into that car as my grandma bought it and my mum never drove it even when it was her name (I think she SORNed it).

It took so much courage to ask her as my parents are VERY ‘funny’ with money and I was right to be scared because she phoned me back SCREAMING down the phone telling me she needs the money for the car sale.

she screamed and cried and said ‘I don’t live in the world she’s living in’ (she assumes because I work in finance that I am some rich bitch) which is SO far from the truth.

I’d like to emphasise that my parents live in a 5 bed detached house with a large garden in the Home Counties with NO mortgage. My father is retired and although my mum doesn’t work (she’s also close to retirement age) they are hardly hard done by. Me and my partner on the other hand (although we are also not hard done by) we don’t own a house and we more a less live pay cheque to pay cheque most months.

her reaction really stunned me. It stuns me because they’re so critical of my boyfriend’s father who recently inherited a relatively large sum of ££ from a house sale. My parents think he is selfish for not giving my partner any money for a house deposit from it and they always tell me that if they had spare money they would give it to me.

me and my boyfriends view is that it’s his fathers money - he can spend it on what he likes but my parents have such a double standard because whenever I ask for any help (not on a large scale at all) they quick up a huge fuss.

was I wrong for asking? Like I say, I don’t want the money but I’m more hurt at my mums reaction given her beliefs about other people’s attitudes towards their money! They’re so judgemental about everyone else and as soon as I ask (which I never do because even growing up I was met with reactions like this) it turns out to be a huge drama.

You can't 'agree' with punctuation.

Your DM must be my generation? If so, she is talking out of her hat. We most certainly went abroad for holidays, had week-ends away and paid for activities for DC. She's talking as if you were brought up in the 50s (as I was - one room for a family, grotty two-bed flats etc., in London, I am not at all nostalgic for those times!) but it was surely the 80s and 90s, both prosperous.

I’m more confused why a man in the village paid double the market value of the car. It’s not a particularly exciting car. Was there something very special about it?

I feel for @Lilly1102 - I would have interpreted this as ownership, but can see how the confusion occurred. Your mum’s reaction wasn’t helpful though.
You mention spending £1400 on it and I assume some of this is insurance - if you paid annually, some insurance companies will give you back any full months remaining, minus an admin fee. Possibly not any use but I wanted to check you were aware you could do this.

lol no, I’m just as baffled. It is the most basic car and I wouldn’t pay more than £800 for it, personally. But I have no idea about car value.

From what my parents said he was just very keen to buy for a relative. It seems crazy to pay that much in my opinion. But when I found out that she was selling it for THAT much, along with the fact that (albeit, wrongly) I thought I was the legal owner; I thought I would very politely ask if she’d consider sharing any proceeds.

IF I have children and I gave them a car that i inherited to drive round when they pass their test - even if their partner bought them a slightly nicer car as a present, I wouldn’t randomly decide a year later to sell it.

I probably wouldn’t even do that if I actually bought the car for them in the first place as a gift is a gift and I was under no impression it was being borrowed.

But I appreciate that everyone’s values are different - what does irk me is that I’ve heard my mum complain multiple times about people who give stuff to people and then ask for them back.

She gave you the car though right? So you are the legal owner. Your Mums just been really shitty.

Seems like you are a normal sensible person OP, people are being very harsh . It’s horrible when parents react like that especially if you have experienced it all your childhood , you always hope and expect they will change but they never do , do they . The fact that they are making disparaging comments about your partners family just shows what they are like . Sorry OP.

Don't worry, boomer women are weird about money generally. Look at the waspi's. I was orphaned in my 20s and did get a small inheritance, but my MIL is obsessed with how much and always probing for info. When ever we eat out with my MIL she hints over and over that eating out is unaffordable for her (even though she is the one usually suggesting eating out) and either me or my husband end up getting the bill. Even when she invites us over for dinner she asks us to pick up all food for us to eat. I think she is just accustomed to being babied by her various husbands/boyfriends. I can't understand her at all. She has good health and mobility, enough to go to the golf course three days a week, but doesn't seem to want to get a part-time job to sort her finances - it's bizarre to me. I'm a total work horse and will probably end up having to work until I'm 71 the way things are going, and started when I was 16. She's been retired since her 50s and basically waited for her dad to die as her financial plan - plus all her jobs were very much entry level. I guess Boomer women were side lined in their day so they feel really financially disempowered. In a way we should be grateful we're financially empowered - even though I'd prefer not to be worked to the bone with my MIL shaking me down like I'm some sort of money tree. The boomers I know who immigrated to Britain seem to be more pioneering/empowered despite having harder ride and seems to have planned financial for retirement.

Registered keeper of the car is NOT the owner.

in this instance , the mom is as ownership was transferred when the grandmother died. I assume it’s in the will. The will is therefore the receipt and transfer of ownership.

That’s what I thought. And even the mum was a ‘registered keeper’. It’s funny, no one actually legally owns a car. We’re all just registered keepers.. read your log book properly.

scratch the above.. I’ve been corrected. The mum was the legal owner of the car as it was gifted to her. But then the logic follows that OP is the new legal owner as mum gifted to them.

i can only imagine the kind of soap opera you live in. sounds like an Eastenders christmas special

The car is legally your mothers which you had beneficial use I’d. The only moral position you can take is any repairs or MOT costs are beneficial to the resale value of the car. All insurance costs are yours to bear.

I find the responses on this thread a bit bonkers, your Mom effectively gave you the car (despite not legally) and then sold it. Then got hysterical to you when you asked about it.

Very strange behaviour, only advice is chalk it up to experience and step away a bit.

Though her reaction must have been very upsetting @Lilly1102, hope you’re okay.

I’ve just traded my car in. All the needed was my V5 to transfer ownership from me to them. They also checked me via my NI number on the dvla website to make sure I didn’t have any points etc for when I did a test drive. But no other proof of ownership on the car was asked for. They asked if I had finance on it remaining and I didn’t. Otherwise that has to be settled first.

EDITED because I didn't read the updates... after 18 years on MN, you'd think I knew better! Mea culpa. Will now go and cancel that cheque.

To give you the flip side of this, I gave a family member my old car when I bought a new one as she needed it at the time. When her circumstances improved and she bought a new car, she sold my old car and I was pretty livid that she didn’t offer to give it back to me or offer at least a portion of the proceeds!

But how did you “give her the car”? According to many on this thread, you need to have written and signed a receipt or similar declaring them as the new owner (which no one would ever ask to see as the only doc anyone ever asks for is the log book)

@Lilly1102 the car is yours. Your mum cannot sell it, you would need to sign the ownership doc to say you are transferring it elsewhere, which you can refuse to do. You might be better getting the car in your possession.

Your mum does not deserve the money or any kindness if that is how she treats you. Your DGM wanted you to have the car, end of.

I bet grandma's having a right old chuckle about this ❤️ or is she merely watching over to teach you all a valuable lesson - either way you have special memories of her to keep and that's what's important.

On another note, I remember being your age and leaving home - as far as I was concerned it was no big deal but my mum was hysterical & made a big drama out of it, she didn't speak to me for a year, came to the house once. What I didn't realise at the time (why would a 20+ year old even know or care about such things) but she was in the throes of menopause and was very erratic & suffering badly - this is nearly 40 years ago, my dad took the brunt of it - such things weren't spoken about then. Little did I know that now I'm in that exact situation, menopausal with a daughter who often mentions moving out - I understand exactly how she felt, and if she felt anything near as bad as I have then karma is at play and I'm being taught a horrid lesson to see if I'm any better at this thing called life. I've learnt from her mistakes and I've tailored bringing my daughter up to make sure her experience of her mum is better than mine was but it will be horrid when she moves out, I'll have to be brave and supportive of her no matter what.

Your mum might be going through things that she finds difficult, her losing her mum for example, money worries, her health and you being an independent young woman who doesn't need her as much anymore.

Talking can solve many things - it's not always easy but this car selling business is a perfect example - and I'm not sure either of you want a repeat performance.

Good luck xx

So, your mum let you borrow HER car and when you’ve decided you don’t need it anymore you think you now deserve some money for it?

you get no claim on something just because you’ve used it, you’d have to pay insurance and tax etc on any car so that’s not money you’ve put into the car. If you’d perhaps spent a lot of money getting it fixed up at a garage or made improvements (not maintenance appointments) then I might say you could stand more of a chance.

im 26, my parents are also well off. I take everything they ever give to me like I am the luckiest person on the planet. Millions of people could never dream of having a car given to them, let alone asking for some money for it after you get a nicer one. I’d apologise to your mum asap.

The very first post by @BilboBlaggin is actually correct. Your grandma left the car to your mother, which as grandma is no longer alive, makes the car your mothers inherited property. She then gave you the car. As your mother is still alive, she is the legal owner. You are only the registered keeper. I'd tranfer the registered keeper details back to your mother, give her the car back and use the one your partner bought you.

Do you maybe not think your mums reaction is because they actually are not doing so good?! Maybe the cost of living is draining their retirement fund??? Do you maybe think by your mum crying hysterically that maybe just maybe things are not a financially stable as you think! That you do not actually know your parents finances atol your just guessing.. just maybe you need to grow up and realise you are being a bit childish..

There is no ownership document in the UK. If you’re referring to the V5C then there’s no signature required these days to transfer to a new keeper.

The gran left the car to her mum, not to OP…

Mum GAVE it to OP. Keep up