Finance Question

Gumbo

Guys, question for ya!

My sister has done a deal on an 05 E90 320d.
SE spec with a few little extras including BMW bluetooth and extended lighting pack but we have since done the usual history check which shows it has finance attached.

usually we walk away or do a deal with the owner where we pay the finance and give him the balance but in this case the owner was shocked :eek:

he bought it from a big garage in north Dublin and from investigation through the dealers, it turns out the last owner had finance on it.

its seemly being sorted as we speak by the garage (their in contact with TSB) but a letter has been sent to the previous owner.

here are my questions :

the current owner, is he protected because he bought from dealer?
can TSB still take the car from him?
if my sister bought this car, can TSB take it off my sister?

the garage have told the current owner that theres nothing to worry about as we would have to clear it if the bank cant trace the old owner, but im not so sure.

normally we would turn to the next car but currently there is a lack of decent E90's in this price range, there either dog rough, ES spec with mega mileage where this one is spotless, well looked after, service history and decent spec.

What would you do?

EPM

Afaik if there is a car finance agreement in place then the car is the collateral and the bank technically owns it

Gumbo

EPM wrote: »

Afaik if there is a car finance agreement in place then the car is the collateral and the bank technically owns it

that was my understanding of it too.
but the dealer is saying otherwise but tbh i wouldnt take their word for it either.

i may ring the bank themselves on Monday and see what they say.

CharlieCroker

as EPM said, the bank owns it.
the current owner would prob get some joy from the dealership but if you're sister bought it privately then she'd be pretty much on her own. give it a week to 10 days to give them a chance to sort it. Obviously the origional owner has kept paying the loan as PTSB haven't come looking for it

Gumbo

CharlieCroker wrote: »

as EPM said, the bank owns it.
the current owner would prob get some joy from the dealership but if you're sister bought it privately then she'd be pretty much on her own. give it a week to 10 days to give them a chance to sort it. Obviously the origional owner has kept paying the loan as PTSB haven't come looking for it

she hasnt bought it yet, its just one of the best examples for sale at the moment taking price, year, condition and history into account.

i'd hate for her to lose it if ya get me, but not enough to take the chance either.

its been going on since last Friday, but in fairness its a short week etc

Jo King

CharlieCroker wrote: »

as EPM said, the bank owns it.
the current owner would prob get some joy from the dealership but if you're sister bought it privately then she'd be pretty much on her own. give it a week to 10 days to give them a chance to sort it. Obviously the origional owner has kept paying the loan as PTSB haven't come looking for it

The PTSB may not know where it is to repossess it. The dealership has failed to give good title to the current owner and can be sued by him.
The dealership should pay the PTSB and sue the person who gave them the car. The dealership may have taken it in as a trade deal from a dealer. The o/p should only take the car on the basis the finance has been cleared.

bazz26

I'm sure it would not be too much trouble for the bank to track down where the car is located to repossess it if they really wanted to. They maybe able to get some sort of court order as part of the repossession to get information from the DOE on the current registered owner of the vehicle.

OP, it does sound a bit complicated, to be honest imo if your sister did go ahead and buy it and for some reason the bank came and repossessed it then I would imagine that she would have to try and legally pursue the previous owner who sold it to her. (Not sure on the legal standpoint on this regarding a private sale). The previous owner may then have to persue the garage that sold it to him/her who in turn would have to chase the original owner who owes the finance.

Potentially your sister could loose the car and then have some drawn out battle trying to take some sort of legal action against the person who sold it to her. Personally, I'd wait a bit more and see if it sorts itself out, if it doesn't then I'd let it go.

mickdw

Dont touch it til you get confirmation of being cleared from bank. As said above, current owner is ok in that he can chase the garage if the bank took the car away. If your sister buys, she is on her own.

Jo King

bazz26 wrote: »

I'm sure it would not be too much trouble for the bank to track down where the car is located to repossess it if they really wanted to. They maybe able to get some sort of court order as part of the repossession to get information from the DOE on the current registered owner of the vehicle.

And that's not much trouble? Going to court even if the Court would do it costs a lot of money and is time consuming. Even with an order telling them the name of the current registered owner the vehicle still has to be tracked down and physically seized. With the time lapse between registrations and the fact that ambiguous addresses can be used in registering a court application would be unjustified in most cases.

rev2.0

Jo King wrote: »

And that's not much trouble? Going to court even if the Court would do it costs a lot of money and is time consuming. Even with an order telling them the name of the current registered owner the vehicle still has to be tracked down and physically seized. With the time lapse between registrations and the fact that ambiguous addresses can be used in registering a court application would be unjustified in most cases.

Surely the bank could report the car as stolen and flag it on ANPR?

bazz26

Jo King wrote: »

And that's not much trouble? Going to court even if the Court would do it costs a lot of money and is time consuming. Even with an order telling them the name of the current registered owner the vehicle still has to be tracked down and physically seized. With the time lapse between registrations and the fact that ambiguous addresses can be used in registering a court application would be unjustified in most cases.

They employ the services of a repo company to track down the whereabouts of the vehicle if there is a substantial asset value still attached to that vehicle. If it was as simple as just defaulting on a HP loan, moving the car on and finance companies didn't track them down then finance companies would be out of business years ago.