Returning a PCP car

laserlad2010

My girlfriend can't afford her PCP contract any more. She is 18 months through a 36 month PCP contract on a 162 Mini One D, and wants to get rid of it.

The garage want her to pay €11,000 if she returns the car now. She's done a fair whack of mileage above her allowance which will hit her when/if she returns the car.

It's obvious that she should never have taken the contract, or been allowed to take the contract (salary not high enough, can't afford balloon payment), but that's a moot point.

Can she sell the car separately and pay the garage?

Has anyone any experience of returning a car halfway through PCP?

happywithlife

laserlad2010 wrote: »

My girlfriend can't afford her PCP contract any more. She is 18 months through a 36 month PCP contract on a 162 Mini One D, and wants to get rid of it.

The garage want her to pay €11,000 if she returns the car now. She's done a fair whack of mileage above her allowance which will hit her when/if she returns the car.

It's obvious that she should never have taken the contract, or been allowed to take the contract (salary not high enough, can't afford balloon payment), but that's a moot point.

Can she sell the car separately and pay the garage?

Has anyone any experience of returning a car halfway through PCP?

Nobody forced her. She obviously thought it was idea at the time. It's a hard lesson learned. She can't sell the car as she doesn't own it as such. I assume her only options really are pay the 11k to buy her way out of the contract or look at her finances (really look at them) and see where she can cut back to make the repayments more affordable. Many young women I see make luxuries a priority but really they forget they are luxuries. I'd make a fair guess her grooming bills are quite high - does she get waxing done at a saloon for example? The best of make up? Hair always done every few weeks? There are ways to cut back there for example
I'd be slow to hand the car but still be paying back a loan or repayment plan for the 11k because imo if she's paying she may as well have the car. It's a hard lesson but I hope she learns from it

road_high

First instinct would be grin and bare it. How much per month is it?
11k is a lot to pay for having no car...may as well be paying the same money and having the pleasure of the car in my opinion. Without knowing the facts and figures.

bazz26

This is really the worst situation when it comes to PCP - doing high mileage and having to hand the car back.

Her only option may be to sell the car back to the garage and take out a loan to pay off the difference between what the garage give you and the GFMV ~ €11,000. Talk to the likes of your credit union around taking out a loan for 11,000 with them over a longer term where the monthly repayments are more manageable for her. For example, paying €150 per month over 5 years might be more manageable than currently paying €300 per month for 3 years.

Selling the car privately when there is outstanding finance on it is tricky to say the least. Most buyers will shy away when they hear there is outstanding finance or do a history report on the car.

KFed

Im not familiar with the mini one D so looked it up. Mini.ie have a 181 for 22k on the road with payments of 181/month.

Is that the car, 22k on the road brand new? If so, and hers is a 162, the dealer wants her to pay another 50% of the cost to hand back a car that she has already made 12-18 monthly payments on if it is c. 18 months old? She will then have paid in total 60% of the cost of the car but have only had 1.5-2years use???

The dealer can probably resell it for 70% of a new model, so she really needs to dig in and find a way to keep the car to get better value for herself.

I think the advice here about talking to the credit union is the best advice. The car at this age is surely worth much more than 50% of retail so financially the best bet is to find a new source of finance to buy the car out of the pcp deal and then have a longer term loan, e.g. 4-5 years and to have as low a monthly repayment as possible.

Even if she can get a credit union loan to buy the car now, that would be an unsecured personal loan. This means she would be free to sell the car at any point. She would almost certainly get a better deal than handing back the car and can use what she sells it for to repay the credit union loan.

Could you help her with the payments until the pcp term is up even and then use a cresit union loan to buy the car with a 3-5y loan term?

Id advise getting good advice. Yoy wont get that from the dealer or pcp finance house who are out for their own interest in the car and collecting the payments/balloon or taking the car back.

The state agency mabs, money advice and budgeting service, also offers help and advise on finances or askaboutmoney has some good advice and people often post with money makeover scenarios. You could post there also and may get good specific advice.

I am an accountant by profession and, without knowing specifics of you and girlfriend finances, if you can manage it youre likely to be best served by finding a way to keep the car and repay over a longer term, or, take a longer term loan and sell the car to clear as much of the loan as possible, leaving a smaller loan than the 11k more that the dealer wants after the car is gone...

MarkN

happywithlife wrote: »

Nobody forced her. She obviously thought it was idea at the time. It's a hard lesson learned. She can't sell the car as she doesn't own it as such. I assume her only options really are pay the 11k to buy her way out of the contract or look at her finances (really look at them) and see where she can cut back to make the repayments more affordable. Many young women I see make luxuries a priority but really they forget they are luxuries. I'd make a fair guess her grooming bills are quite high - does she get waxing done at a saloon for example? The best of make up? Hair always done every few weeks? There are ways to cut back there for example
I'd be slow to hand the car but still be paying back a loan or repayment plan for the 11k because imo if she's paying she may as well have the car. It's a hard lesson but I hope she learns from it

Welcome to the patronising hour eh?! Ever find your circumstances in life have changed? No? Lucky you.

OP, all the bank want is their money. If you can sell that car for 15k and give the bank a cheque for 11k and keep the rest, happy days. The problem is someone giving you 15k while you then wait for it to clear and all the while not giving your cash doner the keys or the car as that would be extremely unwise! If the finance was with say BOI you could literally go into a branch with the buyer and lodge the money and be somewhat assured that the money is in your account. I did that with someone when selling a car but the car was mine.

Yes, it’s not technically yours to sell but as I said, they just want the settlement paid.

Squeaksoutloud

Would that half rule not apply here?

www.ccpc.ie/consumers/money/debt/problems-making-car-repayments/

Hire purchase contracts, which include PCP, allow you to end your contract and give back the car once you have paid half the hire purchase price – this is called the ‘half rule’. With PCP, a lot of the cost of the car is to be paid at the end of the agreement, so you may be close to the end of the contract by the time you have paid off half of the PCP cost. But ending your contract using the half rule may be an option.

DaveyDave

Is it not possible to have an arrangement with the dealer where the person buying the car makes the payment to the dealer?

MarkN

Squeaksoutloud wrote: »

Would that half rule not apple here?

www.ccpc.ie/consumers/money/debt/problems-making-car-repayments/

Hire purchase contracts, which include PCP, allow you to end your contract and give back the car once you have paid half the hire purchase price – this is called the ‘half rule’. With PCP, a lot of the cost of the car is to be paid at the end of the agreement, so you may be close to the end of the contract by the time you have paid off half of the PCP cost. But ending your contract using the half rule may be an option.

OP, check the paperwork of the agreement that she signed, the halfway would be in the terms and conditions if applicable.

DaveyDave wrote: »

Is it not possible to have an arrangement with the dealer where the person buying the car makes the payment to the dealer?

Another good suggestion. I had a good relationship with a dealer and needed a car gone ASAP, they wrote me a cheque for what I needed, they could sell the car for whatever they wanted then.

happywithlife

MarkN wrote: »

Welcome to the patronising hour eh?! Ever find your circumstances in life have changed? .

I emboldened the bit about the gf shouldn't have been allowed to take out the contract. That grates on my nerves as she wasn't forced to. It's typical attitude of a certain generation where they want everything and want it now. There is such a thing as personal responsibility.
I am not lucky. I have been in tough s****y financial circumstances . My husband was in a similar situation but with a HP agreement he decided on a whim to hand back the car without realising he was liable for a minimum payment. He - we as a couple- had to pay without having the use of a car which is why I urged the op to look at making cutbacks to try and hold onto the car

MarkN

happywithlife wrote: »

I emboldened the bit about the gf shouldn't have been allowed to take out the contract. That grates on my nerves as she wasn't forced to. It's typical attitude of a certain generation where they want everything and want it now. There is such a thing as personal responsibility.
I am not lucky. I have been in tough s****y financial circumstances . My husband was in a similar situation but with a HP agreement he decided on a whim to hand back the car without realising he was liable for a minimum payment. He - we as a couple- had to pay without having the use of a car which is why I urged the op to look at making cutbacks to try and hold onto the car

Sorry to hear you’ve had difficulty but you’re assuming an awful lot about a stranger in your previous post all the same.

listermint

MarkN wrote: »

Sorry to hear you’ve had difficulty but you’re assuming an awful lot about a stranger in your previous post all the same.

Sage advice, actually better than yours which amounts to trying to sell a car with finance owed on it...

retalivity

Isnt one of the options at the end of a pcp contract to just hand the keys back, instead of a final balloon payment? Im in a pcp agreement, 3 yrs up end of march. Options available to me are
1) final lump sum payment 2) structure final payment over 2 yrs 3) use gfmv (or better) as a deposit towards a 181 and a new pcp contract. Or 4) hand back the keys and walk away with no car.
So sticking it out for another 18mths would mean handing it back for nothing instead of handing it back for an 11k penalty now? Is that an option here?

MarkN

listermint wrote: »

Sage advice, actually better than yours which amounts to trying to sell a car with finance owed on it...

I’m all ears for how you advise €11,000 disappears into a hole..... have you experience of settling with a finance company early?

laserlad2010

Thanks for all of the responses. I particularly enjoyed the keyboard warrior assumption that my girlfriend was blowing her entire salary on "grooming" and then struggling to pay back her PCP:rolleyes::rolleyes:. It's the other way around really. I say "shouldn't have been allowed" because she clearly can't finance a brand new car if you look at her salary - no way would she have afforded the balloon payment, and the dealership performed all sorts of wizardry to cut down the deposit required as she didn't have that money either. I wasn't with her at the time as I would have stopped her.

The reality is that whilst she can afford the monthly payments, on top of rent it's quite a chunk of her monthly take home pay, and the problem is that she's racking up high mileage commuting to and from work and is terrified something will happen to the car as she's no money to afford replacing stuff. She's also facing a hefty mileage bill in another 18 months.

It's quite stressful for her and I don't see a way out. My finances don't need examining in this situation as I'm not sure how many lads out there would take on a PCP repayment scheme, or offer to pay 11 grand for their girlfriends car - although I'm close to offering to get rid of my own car and just contribute towards the cost of her repayments.

It seems the best way is to just see out the contract and then get a much cheaper runaround car she can afford to maintain.

Let me know if there are any other options.

MarkN

laserlad2010 wrote: »

I'm not sure how many lads out there would take on a PCP repayment scheme, or offer to pay 11 grand for their girlfriends

Better hope you never get married to her

Take away the stress of having to have the balloon payment at least, you don’t have to do that regardless of what happens, as has been said you can just hand back the keys.

Check the halfway rule in the paperwork if you have it (I’m sure you do) and work out how many more payments you’d have to reach that point even, that may help feel there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Unfortunately it’s easy to get excited in the idea of a new car and it’s easy to forget that the person sitting across from you is still a salesperson at the end of the day, always be closing is drilled into them, although some are nicer individuals than others, the monthly target is always on their mind.

jca

retalivity wrote: »

Isnt one of the options at the end of a pcp contract to just hand the keys back, instead of a final balloon payment? Im in a pcp agreement, 3 yrs up end of march. Options available to me are
1) final lump sum payment 2) structure final payment over 2 yrs 3) use gfmv (or better) as a deposit towards a 181 and a new pcp contract. Or 4) hand back the keys and walk away with no car.
So sticking it out for another 18mths would mean handing it back for nothing instead of handing it back for an 11k penalty now? Is that an option here?

Option 3 is wrong, any value over the gmfv is your deposit entering a new deal. Option 4 is a non runner for the op's girlfriend because she has exceeded the stipulated annual mileage allowance and will have to pay for every excess km.

ForestFire

I think you need to break this down and at least eliminate some of your concerns.

1. Nobody can afford the balloon payment at the end (or very few if you need PCP in the first place)

A car last at least 10years, So you

A) keep car and Refinance the balloon payment over another 3 to 4 years

sell car and payoff balloon payment, if it covers it all

C) hand back to dealer and walk away (you are going to have to check how much the over mileage will cost in this case.

D) get a new car on PCP ( I guess this is not a real option)

2. Why she worried that something might happen to car now when driving. I presume it's insured with fully comp insurance?

drunkmonkey

Think we need to know how much the mini is costing a month and how much she can afford a month. She still needs a good reliable car, can we clear the mini and get a polo for example.

liamog

I thought the half rule could be used to get out of the over-mileage fees.
I'd heard that it won't affect your credit as it's classed as settling the debt, though you are unlikely to get another PCH or HP from the financier.

Sadb

MarkN wrote: »

Welcome to the patronising hour eh?! Ever find your circumstances in life have changed? No? Lucky you.

OP, all the bank want is their money. If you can sell that car for 15k and give the bank a cheque for 11k and keep the rest, happy days. The problem is someone giving you 15k while you then wait for it to clear and all the while not giving your cash doner the keys or the car as that would be extremely unwise! If the finance was with say BOI you could literally go into a branch with the buyer and lodge the money and be somewhat assured that the money is in your account. I did that with someone when selling a car but the car was mine.

Yes, it’s not technically yours to sell but as I said, they just want the settlement paid.

The garage want 11k to return the car. If she were to sell it, paying back the finance company would cost much more than 11k.

colm_mcm

How much a month is she paying? 11000/18 is over €600

Sadb

laserlad2010 wrote: »

Thanks for all of the responses. I particularly enjoyed the keyboard warrior assumption that my girlfriend was blowing her entire salary on "grooming" and then struggling to pay back her PCP:rolleyes::rolleyes:. It's the other way around really. I say "shouldn't have been allowed" because she clearly can't finance a brand new car if you look at her salary - no way would she have afforded the balloon payment, and the dealership performed all sorts of wizardry to cut down the deposit required as she didn't have that money either. I wasn't with her at the time as I would have stopped her.

The reality is that whilst she can afford the monthly payments, on top of rent it's quite a chunk of her monthly take home pay, and the problem is that she's racking up high mileage commuting to and from work and is terrified something will happen to the car as she's no money to afford replacing stuff. She's also facing a hefty mileage bill in another 18 months.

It's quite stressful for her and I don't see a way out. My finances don't need examining in this situation as I'm not sure how many lads out there would take on a PCP repayment scheme, or offer to pay 11 grand for their girlfriends car - although I'm close to offering to get rid of my own car and just contribute towards the cost of her repayments.

It seems the best way is to just see out the contract and then get a much cheaper runaround car she can afford to maintain.

Let me know if there are any other options.

Sorry, but your gf sounds like an idiot. Was she unaware of her salary when taking out the finance? Unaware of how much her rent costs? Unaware of how far her workplace was? Surely if she can drive then she is a big girl and shouldn’t need a man to “stop her” or help her with basic math? Sounds like she will just have to suck it up and learn for the future.

beechwood55

*I wasn't with her at the time as I would have stopped her.*

Is she missing a brain cell? Could she not have figured it out by herself?? Actually from what you have posted, she hasn't been able to figure it out.
Maybe she should look on it as a hard learned lesson and realise that she is now living in the adult world where problems can't just disappear because things get tough.

VW 1

listermint wrote: »

Sage advice, actually better than yours which amounts to trying to sell a car with finance owed on it...

Sage advice which consisted of asking the OP does his missus get waxing done at a salon. Fair play.

MissShihTzu

We've all made mistakes, I'm sure. Nobody is perfect.

But I have to ask.When your GF decided to buy the car did she not go over her budget? It's so easy to get caught up in the moment, and think you can manage when in fact it might be difficult.

What's changed that she now cannot afford the payments after presumably paying it over half the term? Has she had a pay cut? Rent rise?

I think the idea of the credit union is a great one. I would go there first and get the loan to pay off the car. The max amount of time you can pay back a car loan is 4 years, and the payments will be smaller too. Maybe try the bank as well?

But be careful - Now that credit searches are recorded, it might mess up her credit if too many searches are recorded in a short space of time. Research the options carefully, before making a formal application.

Hope it works out for her.

colm_mcm

Surely just paying the PCP monthlies now and taking out a loan for the GMFV amount when the time comes will be the best way to do it?

JoeA3

The comments about the girl’s intelligence are just stupid and unnecessary. Why post crap like that? This isn’t Facebook folks ffs. The guy is looking for constructive advice, that kind of mindless crap is just useless and quite frankly boring for the rest of us to read.

@OP, it would be useful if you could tell us what the car is costing her per month as it stands. I’ve been through pcp deals myself and I’m trying to work out how handing back the car is going to cost €11k. She’s doing big miles for work so she’ll still need something decent and reliable so will need to consider that too.

Danbo!

beechwood55 wrote: »

*I wasn't with her at the time as I would have stopped her.*

Is she missing a brain cell? Could she not have figured it out by herself?? Actually from what you have posted, she hasn't been able to figure it out.
Maybe she should look on it as a hard learned lesson and realise that she is now living in the adult world where problems can't just disappear because things get tough.

I’ve a car on PCP and to be honest, the sales tactics were mental. Even though I had the cash to buy the car, at 0% finance, PCP route was more for convenience. Still, after telling the sales guy this, he had his spiel burned into his head so much that I got the full show - “a brand new car for just €3,000 deposit, and sure your trade in is worth €4,000, so your monthly payments will be even lower!” Etc etc.

Does this completely excuse her? Not at all. I completely agree people need to have some personal responsibility but it’s not completely outside the realms of possibilities that someone without much financial savvy could be very easily talked into it.

893bet

Do they want 11k from her plus the car back at this point?

Slightly confused.

ForestFire

Danbo! wrote: »

I’ve a car on PCP and to be honest, the sales tactics were mental. Even though I had the cash to buy the car, at 0% finance, PCP route was more for convenience. Still, after telling the sales guy this, he had his spiel burned into his head so much that I got the full show - “a brand new car for just €3,000 deposit, and sure your trade in is worth €4,000, so your monthly payments will be even lower!” Etc etc.

Does this completely excuse her? Not at all. I completely agree people need to have some personal responsibility but it’s not completely outside the realms of possibilities that someone without much financial savvy could be very easily talked into it.

At 0% finance that makes perfect sense, to have min deposit and min payments.

Keep your savings earning some kind of interest until end of pcp.

All this of course assumes you can afford the car over it's life in the first place.

Danbo!

ForestFire wrote: »

At 0% finance that makes perfect sense, to have min deposit and min payments.

Keep your savings earning some kind of interest until end of pcp.

All this of course assumes you can afford the car over it's life in the first place.

My point was that even though the salesman knew I was only using the pcp for convenience, he still put on the big show of “brand new car for flip all, you’d be stupid not to” etc.. I could imagine many people who cannot afford the car to be blinded by the low deposit and the heavy focus the salesman puts on repeating “only €xxx per month”

laserlad2010

Folks all responses appreciated, try to stick to the questions at hand rather than slagging her off please.

Yeah, look, I can't argue with the line "tough cookies, she should have realised what she was getting into" because that's exactly what's gone on. However, I'm just trying to help her fix the situation.

Her repayments are 320 a month, and with tolls and petrol her car costs approach 700 a month.

I have gone through the paperwork and that's what they want if she returns the car now, which is bizarre but that's the official written response they've given. It possibly includes the mileage charge.

Look, at the end of the day, she can make the repayments but then she struggles for the rest of the month. I feel it's probably a combination of the overall car costs rather than the actual PCP repayments.

My query really is how else can someone get out of a PCP rather than the halfway clause. Has anyone sold the car separately and then given the financiers a cheque?

Water2626262

laserlad2010 wrote: »

My girlfriend can't afford her PCP contract any more. She is 18 months through a 36 month PCP contract on a 162 Mini One D, and wants to get rid of it.

The garage want her to pay €11,000 if she returns the car now. She's done a fair whack of mileage above her allowance which will hit her when/if she returns the car.

It's obvious that she should never have taken the contract, or been allowed to take the contract (salary not high enough, can't afford balloon payment), but that's a moot point.

Can she sell the car separately and pay the garage?

Has anyone any experience of returning a car halfway through PCP?

It’s hard to understand the figures and where this 11k is coming from.

Also if you sell the car privately the wear and tear doesn’t mean anything.

Surely there is some equity between trade in value and gmfv.

Do you know any of these figures;

Original sales price (to calc gmfv %)
Gmfv
Outstanding balance (including gmfv)

colm_mcm

laserlad2010 wrote: »

Folks all responses appreciated, try to stick to the questions at hand rather than slagging her off please.

Yeah, look, I can't argue with the line "tough cookies, she should have realised what she was getting into" because that's exactly what's gone on. However, I'm just trying to help her fix the situation.

Her repayments are 320 a month, and with tolls and petrol her car costs approach 700 a month.

I have gone through the paperwork and that's what they want if she returns the car now, which is bizarre but that's the official written response they've given. It possibly includes the mileage charge.

Look, at the end of the day, she can make the repayments but then she struggles for the rest of the month. I feel it's probably a combination of the overall car costs rather than the actual PCP repayments.

My query really is how else can someone get out of a PCP rather than the halfway clause. Has anyone sold the car separately and then given the financiers a cheque?

Important to note, the car isn't yours to sell, you're renting it.

Water2626262

colm_mcm wrote: »

Important to note, the car isn't yours to sell, you're renting it.

You can sell it no problem. Just need to clear the outstanding finance. The buyer might want to go with you to the bank to settle the finance.

Jobs OXO

MarkN wrote: »

Welcome to the patronising hour eh?! Ever find your circumstances in life have changed? No? Lucky you.

OP, all the bank want is their money. If you can sell that car for 15k and give the bank a cheque for 11k and keep the rest, happy days. The problem is someone giving you 15k while you then wait for it to clear and all the while not giving your cash doner the keys or the car as that would be extremely unwise! If the finance was with say BOI you could literally go into a branch with the buyer and lodge the money and be somewhat assured that the money is in your account. I did that with someone when selling a car but the car was mine.

Yes, it’s not technically yours to sell but as I said, they just want the settlement paid.

Welcome to the shoddy advice hour eh?!

The garage want 11k AND the car.....

colm_mcm

Water2626262 wrote: »

You can sell it no problem. Just need to clear the outstanding finance. The buyer might want to go with you to the bank to settle the finance.

The same way I can sell my neighbours house. I'd need to buy it off him first.

Mooooo

Get her to do up a budget monthly for everything not just car but food rent etc. See where she can cut back to see what she can pay back every month.
Work out what her costs wiĺ be if the car was gone, will she need a replacement, public transport etc. There not be a missive saving if the car has to be replaced. Use mabs to help her if need be. She needs some one to sit down with her to go thru everything. Unfortunately she may have to live frugally and pay off the car

ForestFire

colm_mcm wrote: »

The same way I can sell my neighbours house. I'd need to buy it off him first.

Not quite the same, she has the right/option to buy out the car immediately now or at end of pcp. There is nothing that can block this, were as having enough money to buy your neighbours house does not mean you can, and just chuck them out.

No one can block her from doing this.

This maybe possible with new buyer loging money directly to clear balance, or she could take out a sort of bridging loan to initialy buy car, sell it and pay back loan.

king02

There is something not quite right about what the garage are telling her. OP if you get the original contract and find out what the original GMFV was and add approx €5760 (€320 x 18 months left) that should be roughly the amount she needs to own the car outright. She should not under any circumstances give €11000 and the car back to the garage as they know she is in a pickle. Alternatively, call the finance company directly and get a settlement figure.
There is absolutely nothing to stop you advertising and selling the vehicle privately provided you tell the purchaser exactly what is owed on the vehicle, get them to make that payment directly to the finance company to clear it and give you the balance of what is owed if any. I have been in car sales for many years and your girlfriend is not alone and people should not be making her sound stupid. Some sales people will take any opportunity they can to make money and they are doing it again now by asking for €11k plus her car.

Jobs OXO

This is why Celtic Tiger Mk II will come crashing down. Silly lass trying to live beyond her means. What's next on her shopping list? An apartment in turkey ?

Then of course it's always someone else's fault.....

Toyotafanboi

Sounds like she can't afford commuting really, for €300 per month in diesel she must be doing around 1000kms per week. This can be a strain but as plenty of others have said you don't want to be doing that kind of mileage in a biscuit tin and say borrowing a personal loan of 7500 over 3 years to be a used car would still cost you €250 a month and fuel and tolls won't change so unless you plan to do 1000km a week in a bangernomics car, keeping the Mini at any cost seems the most logical.

If the monthly payments are 320 and assuming she done a minimum deposit of €2200 ish, then she should owe around €14k on the car, so it's very hard to picture how they may want €11k and the car to clear the debt. That would be putting a trade value on the car of €3k which makes no sense, even with a high current mileage of around 75k kms.

Toyotafanboi

Jobs OXO wrote: »

This is why Celtic Tiger Mk II will come crashing down. Silly lass trying to live beyond her means. What's next? An apartment in turkey ?

The next post like this will get banned.

Let's either try to help them or don't bother posting!

ForestFire

laserlad2010 wrote: »

I feel it's probably a combination of the overall car costs rather than the actual PCP repayments.

But are the overall costs going to change if she sells car?

She still needs to drive to work the same distance? Same tolls and same fuel costs?

Is there an alternative that she can use like public transport?
How much will that cost?

What is the plan if she can sell the car.?

Lantus

laserlad2010 wrote:

My girlfriend can't afford her PCP contract any more. She is 18 months through a 36 month PCP contract on a 162 Mini One D, and wants to get rid of it.

Sorry to hear that. Contractually she must pay the 36 months of payments. The 12k sounds very high given the deposit and 18 months of payments. You will need to provide more figures to validate that.

Yes if you hand back the car charges can apply by the lender to offset depreciation.

As others have hinted at it is best if at all possible to cut costs everywhere to keep payments going for at least the next 18 months. Then you can hand the car back and only have any mileage costs to handle.

Selling the car privately will be impossible at this stage as I understand it. You cannot fast pay off the 18 months finance outstanding in one lump and you would still need to pay off the balloon payment before someone else will buy it via a bridging loan.

happywithlife

She seems to have an awfully long commute - as she is renting anyway can she move closer to work and cut out the cost of tolls and reduce the fuel bill substantially? Or can she drive part way and commute via public transport for the remainder? The way you are describing getting rid of this car and replacing with a cheap run around doiesnt sound feasible ' that much mileage on a banger will surely end up with big maintaince bills. You mentioned earlier she is afraid of something happening the car and being unable to afford the cost of that - is she servicing the car at the moment? It's easy to put off the cost of services when money is tight but ultimately you end up with a much bigger bill when car reaches crisis point. In this weather I'd at least get the tyres checked to make sure they are road worthy

KCross

laserlad2010 wrote: »

My query really is how else can someone get out of a PCP rather than the halfway clause. Has anyone sold the car separately and then given the financiers a cheque?

Im confused, you are looking for a way out and the halfway rule gives you exactly that. Why are you saying "rather than the half way rule". Its sounds like exactly what you need here.

Selling the car privately and settling finance etc is hassle and is unlikely to leave you any better off.

Just invoke the halfway rule and hand it back.

Then buy a cheap runabout.

Lantus

laserlad2010 wrote:

Has anyone any experience of returning a car halfway through PCP?

Doesn't the half way rule naturally occur at 3 years give or take? You generally pay of a bit more so there could be some scope to return a few months earlier? Halfway through the first 3 years is roughly one quarter way.

mickdw

Whats the most she will save if she could clear the mini in the morning assuming she needs a car for work - maybe 200 per month overall saving.
Anyway
If the mini cost 23k for example, gfv should be around 9k. 18 further payments of 320 is 5760 so to buy the car outright today will cost in the region of 14760 regardless of mileage.
An 18 month old mini i would have though is worth more than that so do not give it back and agree to give 11k too. Either you are misunderstanding the figures or she is way way behind on her payments or she paid for about 10k of extras when buying it.
From what i know of the figures, best to get cu loan of 14700 and clear dealer finance then sell the car for that amount or more and be clear of debt.

afatbollix

You can't sell the car as you don't own it. The finance company own it. What does the contract say for failed payment or ending the contract early? It should be in the contract. Also it should have the amount per mile when you go over the contracted amount. Should be about 10c a KM.

With that amount of money being spent on commuting I'd move closer to the job and save yourself E700 a month.