Car Finance: Termination letter Finance Co. want to surrender car and pay balance.

R

Ray J

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Hi all,

I'm sure this is a situation that many people are finding themselves in.

My sister is in trouble with her car finance, 14k outstanding and no means to pay due to loss of employment, she has tried advertising the car with no result.

She has only approached me for help with the sale yesterday, I have experience in the motor trade and I will use all my skills to try to help but we need the time to get it accomplished.

She has received a Termination letter, the Finance Co. want her to surrender the car AND pay the balance, which naturally, she finds unfair ( quick sale price on the car is currently 17k), her health has started to deteriorate as a result of this and other worries.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
What type of car is it, engine size etc. Where has she advertised the car? Has there been anyone to look at it? I found http://www.donedeal.ie good for private sales (bought one in Nov 09), though if she is stuck she may need to drop the price a good chunk.
A garage will probably also buy it but at a much cheaper rate. Can she get a loan to clear the car debt and the pay that off, though having lost her job I assume this would be difficult.
 
Thanks for the reply. I agree with using DoneDeal, I have found it an excellent site, its an '08 Opel Astra 1.4 5dr, she has had no calls on the car but I believe I can change that with a new strategy as I have identified some things that she was doing that would be common mistakes. Unfortunately a loan would be out of the question, the only means of addressing this is to sell the car.
Can anyone offer advice on dealings with the finance co?
 
edit: theres a few on carzone for sub 10K - her 17K quick sale price is way too much.
 
+1

If she is trying to sell it and her "Quick sale" price is 17K she is not going to sell it quick (if at all), considering most 08 Astras are between 12K-14K: [broken link removed]

Losing 3K is much better than paying the 14K loan and losing the car!
 
Is this a hire purchase agreement? If so, she can't sell the car as she doesn't own it - the car finance company does.
 
Surrender the car to the finance company before its reposessed. Then she will only have an 'S' on her credit history rather than an 'R'.. The finance company will then sell the car and send her a request for the balance, even if the balance is 4k she can come to some arrangement with the back about re-payments, better to give something than nothing at all. does she have payment protection on the finance for loss of employment?

If she only owes 14k on the car why is she looking for 17k for it? surely the wise thing to do would be to sell it if possible for the 14k and walk away?? Or am I missing the point?
 
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Hi all, I checked Carzone before posting here and you are correct, an '08 Astra can be had for as little as 10k and I have told her this however they are also priced as high as 20k the difference comes from varying spec and this particular car is fully loaded with leather heated seats etc. She is hoping to be successful in around the 17k mark but I'm not hopeful, my advice is to put 500euro on top of the finance and shift it but she's concerned about not being able to afford another car once it sells, obviously I want to help and get a result but I fear 17k may well be a bridge too far.
 
Surrender the car to the finance company before its reposessed.

Deb it seems that the finance company want the car surrendered AND the 14k balance, this is what has her crawling the walls
 
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17K is crazy is her situation, regardless of spec. If she is "crawling the walls" why is she trying to make a profit as part of the sale?

Why on earth would you advise her to put €500 more on top of the 14K finance, when she is trying to sell the car ASAP to prevent losing the 14K AND the car. Surely you should advise her to sell for 11K and cut her losses :confused:

As for affording another car, there are thousands of cars available for less than 17K. I sold a 02 Corolla for 3K recently, surely something like that would suffice, considering she has lost her job?
 
Hi Ray
So what you are saying even if the car got repo'd by the finance company she would still owe 14k? That would seem the balance on finance is approx 24k?
What is the outstanding balance on the finance?
 
Ray J said:
I have experience in the motor trade and I will use all my skills to try to help but we need the time to get it accomplished. ...................... which naturally, she finds unfair
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What experience have you got Ray ?
Why are you coming on a public forum if you have experience ?

It is not really unfair.
It's reality unfortunately.
Tell her to cut her losses.
 
If there is finance os on the car does she not need the permition of the finance company before trying to sell the car? ie does the car not actually belong to the finance company?
 
Hi all, to clarify some points...

Deb the letter looking for the surrender of the car reads "TERMINATION NOTICE - ... we hereby now terminate the said Agreement... We request you pay to us the sum of €13336.00 being the amount due to us ... We also request that you surrender to us the Goods"
It would seem they want paying of that figure Plus the car.

Billo to answer your query, my experience consists mostly buying and selling motor vehicles as a hobby over the past fifteen years and turning a modest profit from each car, my specialty is in presentation of the car which I believe to be one of the biggest factors in a quick and successful sale, I think that experience coupled with other lessons learned along the way can help in this situation

Redbhoy many thanks for your link, it has given us something to think about

Jack, I believe the car does belong to the finance company however since they are looking for it to be surrendered we believe they will not consent to us selling it, she feels that if a draft for payment for the car from the prospective buyer is made out to the finance company then this should be satisfactory, I am uncertain of this and I am unable to advise her in this regard
 
I believe the car does belong to the finance company however since they are looking for it to be surrendered we believe they will not consent to us selling it, she feels that if a draft for payment for the car from the prospective buyer is made out to the finance company then this should be satisfactory
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I don't think the finance co.would be happy about your sister's idea and I imagine that they would probably seize the car from the new buyer .
 
Certainly any buyer worth their salt would be checking for outstanding finance and running for the hills if there was anything out of the ordinary....
 
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