My husband and I bought a car outright (traded in old car and paid balance with a bank draft) from an independent dealership (not a member of SIMI) 3 years ago. Last week, we got a letter from Friends First stating that the car is subject to a finance agreement with them, and is legally their asset.
When we rang Friends First, they said there is an outstanding hire purchase agreement on the car, which has recently been defaulted on. They said that if we bought the car in a private sale, they could seize the car from us, but that if we bought it from a garage, they would go after the garage. We told them we got it from a garage, and sent them copies of our invoice, as well as a copy of the original ad from the garage website.
FF then rang us back to say the invoice we have is a fake. It turns out that the salesman we dealt with in the garage owned the car and had the finance with FF. He sold us his own car and faked the invoice from the garage. However, the garage must have known as the car was advertised on their website, we viewed it twice in their forecourt, spoke to other sales staff about it, and made out the bank draft to the garage.
FF have a meeting with this guy later this week, and say they are hopeful of working out an agreement with him re the outstanding amount (€12,000, which is more than the car is now worth). But we have some major legal concerns:
1. If FF agrees a settlement with the guy and he pays them, does legal ownership of the car then go to him?? How do we make sure that ultimately we are recognised as the legal owners of the car?
2. If their agreement involves paying the money in installments, what are the implications for us in the meantime? We assume we can't sell the car until this is sorted. Are there any insurance issues, as we are now holding insurance on an asset that we don't own? If the car is stolen or crashed, can we claim?
3. If they don't reach an agreement, or if he defaults again, and FF come after the car, where do we stand? From our point of view it was a garage sale, so the garage should be liable, but because of his fraud, is it now seen legally as a private sale, and can FF seize the car? Can we fight this?
We would really appreciate some legal insight on these issues. We are very stressed as my husband lost his job recently, and I am 6 months pregnant. We can't lose our car. Thanks in advance.
When we rang Friends First, they said there is an outstanding hire purchase agreement on the car, which has recently been defaulted on. They said that if we bought the car in a private sale, they could seize the car from us, but that if we bought it from a garage, they would go after the garage. We told them we got it from a garage, and sent them copies of our invoice, as well as a copy of the original ad from the garage website.
FF then rang us back to say the invoice we have is a fake. It turns out that the salesman we dealt with in the garage owned the car and had the finance with FF. He sold us his own car and faked the invoice from the garage. However, the garage must have known as the car was advertised on their website, we viewed it twice in their forecourt, spoke to other sales staff about it, and made out the bank draft to the garage.
FF have a meeting with this guy later this week, and say they are hopeful of working out an agreement with him re the outstanding amount (€12,000, which is more than the car is now worth). But we have some major legal concerns:
1. If FF agrees a settlement with the guy and he pays them, does legal ownership of the car then go to him?? How do we make sure that ultimately we are recognised as the legal owners of the car?
2. If their agreement involves paying the money in installments, what are the implications for us in the meantime? We assume we can't sell the car until this is sorted. Are there any insurance issues, as we are now holding insurance on an asset that we don't own? If the car is stolen or crashed, can we claim?
3. If they don't reach an agreement, or if he defaults again, and FF come after the car, where do we stand? From our point of view it was a garage sale, so the garage should be liable, but because of his fraud, is it now seen legally as a private sale, and can FF seize the car? Can we fight this?
We would really appreciate some legal insight on these issues. We are very stressed as my husband lost his job recently, and I am 6 months pregnant. We can't lose our car. Thanks in advance.
