# How best to deal with bank - repossession of company vehicle?



## SmallBiz (28 Dec 2008)

I am a sole trader and have a company car which is leased thru Bank of Ireland.

My business is in financial difficulty and I can no longer afford to keep the company car.

I have tried to sell it, but haven't been successful and would now like to have the bank repossess it.

I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me as to how to best go about this.

I have already called the bank and indicated that I will no longer be able to pay for the vehicle.  There is still 23k outstanding on the 5 year lease and the vehicle is worth approx. 22k.  The person I spoke to told me that as it was a bad time to sell cars, they may value the vehicle at 18 or 19k and I would have to pay the 4 or 5k difference.

Can they just put any value on the vehicle or are there some guidelines they have to stick to?  Is it best for me to have the car valued at the garage it came from and to approach them with that valuation?

I can't afford to pay 4 or 5k to the bank over and above what I have already paid over the last 2 years and the 8k deposit I paid.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.


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## fmc (28 Dec 2008)

depends on what kind of relationship you have witht them and the rest of your dealings either business o personal accounts but you could just hand them over the keys and  say good luck with that guys it all yours now. Not being smart its happened planty of times.


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## Speedwell (28 Dec 2008)

As far as I am aware you can hand back a financed vehicle under the "Voluntary Surrender". There are conditions to do this, i.e. I think you have to have paid a minimum of a 1/3 off the car. 

You will be required to write to the finance house to surrender the car and they will take it away. This will have to be done before the next payment is due. This is much better than simply not paying your repayments. If you simply do not repay and do not voluntarily surrender then they will repossess and you will get a bad credit rating. 

You will however be liable for any difference between what they sell the car for and what you owe. Unfortunately I do not think there is anyway around this. 

Hope this helps.


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## contemporary (29 Dec 2008)

> Can they just put any value on the vehicle or are there some guidelines they have to stick to?



They can just send it to somewhere like wilsons auctions who will try and sell it off, they might get, say, 15k for it, the auctioneers will ring the bank then and tell them the offer, if they accept it then there is nothing you can do.

Also see this

http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/index.jsp?pID=146&nID=388

*How do I get out of my hire purchase agreement?* 
  If you no longer want to keep the car, or find that you cannot afford the repayments, you can end a hire purchase agreement at any time. However, there are certain conditions and costs involved.   


You must give notice in writing and agree to return the goods.
You must, by law, pay half the hire purchase price, less the total of your payments to date. This is sometimes called the half rule.
You must also pay for repair costs if you have not taken reasonable care of the car.
  If you can afford it, you can decide at any time to pay off the full hire purchase price and become the owner of the car.


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## jhegarty (30 Dec 2008)

SmallBiz said:


> and the vehicle is worth approx. 22k. .




If you can't sell it for 22k then it's worth less than that.


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