What To Do If You Can’t Pay For Your Car

Monday, 6. December 2010

If you were to have some major surgery, I’m sure you would need to know that the person carrying out the work was a qualified and capable surgeon with a history of successful operations. If not you may end up a paraplegic or worse still not survive the operation, so I’d say that it was quite important to feel confident that you are using a professional who is good at his job. On the other hand you may have a faulty gas appliance and need a repair carried out. Who would you call in to carry out the repair? Would you call in the odd job man from round the corner or would you search for a Corgi registered engineer? No doubt you’d get the odd job man cheaper but if he doesn’t do a professional job you could end up with a gas explosion or a gas leak that you can’t smell that could put yours and your family’s lives at risk. So why is it that you don’t apply the same judgement when selecting the provider of your car finance? You may not put your life at risk but you could certainly be putting your car, your home and all its contents at risk. Get it wrong and miss payments and you could end up with a court order that results in a charging order on your home.

Ultimately you could end up being thrown out of your home through not employing the services of a professional finance broker, giving you good advice, in the first place. The problem is complacency. You see if you drink and drive you may go for years without having an accident, so does that mean it’s OK to ignore warnings about drink driving? Of course not and nor should you ignore the regular warnings that I put out regarding the use of non professional brokers. Advisors that are experienced and able to give impressive advice irrespective of the type of finance. The sort of advice that I’ve been providing for years.

Let me give you an example. Do you know how section 90 of the Consumer Credit Act works? If you have an HP or Conditional Sale agreement it prevents a lender from collecting goods from a client without a court order once a third of all the loan cost has been repaid (excluding insurances). The exception is if you voluntarily surrender the car, in which case no order is required. But if the lender or a collection agent calls round and insists that you hand the car back without a court order they are treading on very thin ice. In fact if they have applied undue pressure or intimidated you, the customer, in any way, as is often the case with collection agents, you are in a very strong position. Let me explain what would happen if you have genuinely consented to the removal of the car or they have a court order. The car will be sold and any shortfall between what the car is sold for and the lender’s termination figure is your responsibility. They will take you to court and if you don’t respond, charges will be added. In the end a judgement will be issued and if you don’t make arrangements to pay, a court appointed bailiff may turn up to relieve you of possessions to the value of the sum owed. Still can’t pay off the debt and you are buying your house? Then a charging order will be issued and depending on the company they may apply to have the house sold to recover the debt! You could be homeless. Don’t believe me believe the Office of Fair Trading who have reported charging orders being applied for debts as low as £600, see Telegraph article below. But wait, I’m a professional broker who provides a full service to his customers. Assuming that the collecting agent doesn’t have a court order after a third of the cost has been paid. He intimidates you and you hand over the car. But if this is the case then, with my help, you would not only be relieved of any further liability but you would also be entitled to the return of all money paid under the agreement. Will you find yourself in this position or a similar one with a different type of finance? Probably not, but if you do who would you like in your corner providing you with advice? Me or the odd job man? Had a bad experience, let me know? By Graham Hill