Accidentally bought a car with finance outstanding in UK, what to do now?

toyotafan

My friend bought a car in a car park from a Polish guy, and he did not check car history before purchasing. He then checked its history by Motorcheck.ie after gettting an advice from a friend, and the report showed a "Finance Outstanding in Ireland = No", and "Finance Outstanding in UK = Yes".

Can you give some advice what to do now?

The car has Irish reg already.

Atlantic Dawn

It could be possible the outstanding finance just hasn't been processed if it's less than a month since it was brought over, best first thing to do would be contact the finance company who the money is owed to. Have you any idea how long it has an Irish reg?

CiniO

toyotafan wrote: »

My friend bought a car in a car park from a Polish guy, and he did not check car history before purchasing. He then checked its history by Motorcheck.ie after gettting an advice from a friend, and the report showed a "Finance Outstanding in Ireland = No", and "Finance Outstanding in UK = Yes".

Can you give some advice what to do now?

The car has Irish reg already.

Moral of the story - never buy cars from Polish guys

Fann Linn

CiniO wrote: »

Moral of the story - never buy cars from Polish guys

In carparks.

Toyotafanboi

Fann Linn wrote: »

In carparks.

Without doing a history check.

Jesus I'm loathe to hand money over for a motor check but to be fine with that but beforehand handing over money to someone from another country for a car from another country....

mickdw

Crap situation but if your friend didn't do the most basic check, I have little sympathy.
What kind of value are we talking have here.
I'm not so sure that I'd be calling the bank to volunteer info about where they could find the car.

bazz26

Another textbook example of how not to buy a car and why some people need protection from themselves. Not sure what your friend can do now other than hope the bank never come looking for it.

Damien360

Can you legally get the reg changed from UK to Ireland without being the legal owner, that is the bank ? If it was allowed, what is to stop someone getting UK finance, skipping UK and taking the car with them ? Would a UK bank be able to chace cheaply in this jurisdiction ?

TheAnalyst_

I believe it would be quite difficult for them to repossess it in another jurisdiction.

Fann Linn

Without giving too much away, what sorta car and how much?

bennyc

I wouldn't be contacting the finance company, let them chase back here if they need to , for all anyone knows the original owner is still paying off the loan on the other side, why draw attention to it ?

toyotafan

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

It could be possible the outstanding finance just hasn't been processed if it's less than a month since it was brought over, best first thing to do would be contact the finance company who the money is owed to. Have you any idea how long it has an Irish reg?

Thanks all,
The car was first registed in Ireland on 10 Feb 2018 by the previous owner, and my friend got his own new logbook just today. It is a Renault Megane 2009.
He does not know which finance company he should contact. He has the address of the previous owner in Ireland throught the pictures of the old logbooj. Is there any chance to report Garda or Civil defence for this case?

dubrov

Why would your friend pay for the check after buying it? It's pointless at that stage

kermitpwee

Leave it be, there is feck all finance left on a 2009 car now if any.

Cee-Jay-Cee

toyotafan wrote: »

Thanks all,
The car was first registed in Ireland on 10 Feb 2018 by the previous owner, and my friend got his own new logbook just today. It is a Renault Megane 2009.
He does not know which finance company he should contact. He has the address of the previous owner in Ireland throught the pictures of the old logbooj. Is there any chance to report Garda or Civil defence for this case?

Tell your friend to not worry about it, there cant be that much finance on a 9yr old Renault and I can guarantee that the finance company will have no interest in chasing it as its worthless to them as it would cost more to process the repossession order and have it collected and shipped back the uk. Repossessed cars are then generally auctioned so auction fees have to be paid also.

Dero

It does raise the question though of whether this would have any effect on selling the car on. Fair enough there's probably feck all finance actually outstanding (if any), but until that "flag" is reset will the car be harder to sell?

Assuming of course that further buyers actually do a history check on what is getting to be an old-ish car...

wexie

Dero wrote: »

It does raise the question though of whether this would have any effect on selling the car on. Fair enough there's probably feck all finance actually outstanding (if any), but until that "flag" is reset will the car be harder to sell?

Assuming of course that further buyers actually do a history check on what is getting to be an old-ish car...

If it becomes a problem down the line they can just sell it to a Polish chap in a carpark

bazz26

It's very unlikely that they would go to the trouble of repossessing a 9 year old car especially in another jurisdiction. It's just not financially viable for them to. OP's friend got lucky this time.

toyotafan

Fann Linn wrote: »

Without giving too much away, what sorta car and how much?

Fann Linn wrote: »

Without giving too much away, what sorta car and how much?

Renault Megane 09, paid by cash 3.4 grand.

toyotafan

Fann Linn wrote: »

Without giving too much away, what sorta car and how much?

Renault Megane 09, paid by cash 3.4 grand. 61000 miles on clock, running perdect. Passed NCT by previous Polish owner till Feb.2020 so friend thought he got a great price but now a painful lesson

toyotafan

Fann Linn wrote: »

Without giving too much away, what sorta car and how much?

Renault Megane 09, paid by cash 3.4 grand. 61000 miles on clock, running perfect. Passed NCT by previous Polish owner till Feb.2020 so friend thought he got a great price but now a pain lesson

wexie

On a more serious note I don't really understand the systems both here and the UK allow this to happen.

you'd think that in the days of internet connected databases and the lot that it wouldn't be possible to

1) sell a car with outstanding finance on it and have all the paperwork in order
2) import and register a car with outstanding finance on it.

Without it raising a red flag somewhere?

bazz26

It does in most cases when you run a history check. Buying blindly is where you tend to run into problems.

tinofapples

Out of curiosity did the seller answer his phone after the penny dropped with your mate ?

toyotafan

tinofapples wrote: »

Out of curiosity did the seller answer his phone after the penny dropped with your mate ?

This Polish guy did not answer phone or text from my friend, so this is the point. Post on donedeal was also withdrawn. I am hopping that the car wont be repossessed by the bank as someone previously mentioned.

My friend was extremely disappointed by himself and made an accident when reversing yesterday, paid out 150 bucks for other guy + 30 bucks for the reflector in his rear bumper. Trying to calm down him now, and no more driving .

I checked car history again today and the same result came.

...think, a bad situation would kill a person. I hope this country should do something to prevent such kind of cars imported from the UK to protect our people.

In my head, I don't know how a car which is still in "Finance Outstanding" could be sale, exported, imported legally. The government should be responsible to officially inspect any car before giving permission for registration in Ireland, and also before allowing it to run in our Irish road.

mickdw

There was a simple solution to your friends problem. .... do the history check before buying.
The government cannot be responsible for stupidity. If they were to bring in a system of checks, where do they stop. Do you make the government liable if someone is silly enough to accept a personal cheque and it bounces or if someone is paid in counterfeit cash, surely the government should have been all over that too.
In general, there is enough info available to a purchaser to avoid the worst errors. The pity is, most are not aware what needs to be checked.
Aside from the whole aspect of the condition a car may be in, there are a few checks that can help to ensure you don't get scammed.
History check to ensure finance free and not written off.....
Mot check for useful mileage backup.... its free.
Check engine and chassis number against reg cert.
Check owner on book is the person selling it and get a look at their licence.
Now very importantly, use the history check to verify that chassis number as inspected is same as on record. This will help avoid the common scam of being sold a stolen car with altered plates and a fake reg cert made up to make all the numbers look right.
If one does all that, there is a very good chance you will spot a scam.

bazz26

Cannot see how that would be practical to do to be honest and if it could be done would you be willing to pay more in tax to fund it? It's all good and well saying the government should do this and they should do that but at the end of the day buyers should take some responsibility and educate themselves rather than relying on a nanny state to wrap them up in cotton wool otherwise these mistakes are destined to be made over and over again. There are simple checks out there to help with this but some people either don't want to pay the money for them or simply just jump without looking where they land. The government are not responsible for people's lack of caution or common sense, that's the responsibility of the individual.

I bet the majority of people know by default that they need to get a structural engineer out to inspect a piece of property they are interested in buying before handing over any money. Why don't they apply the same logic to buying a car?

eddieham

What made him go to the trouble of finance check afterwards, when he wasn't bothered before he purchased?
You say a friend recommended it, why so ?

Hopefully all will end well for him, as others have said cant see any finance company chasing this.

Alanstrainor

Perhaps there is a fault with the motorcheck result? It seems crazy for there to be outstanding finance on a car that old and of such little value. I'm not even sure I would have done a check on motorcheck for that car.

CiniO

I know nothing about car financing as I never used one, but it seems strange to me that selling vehicle with outstanding finance is possible. Seems like a broken system.

IMO if vehicle is sold under finance, it should be bank who is the registered owner of the vehicle until it's paid for. In that case only bank should be able to sell it.

And if older car is used to secure a loan, then bank also should be written as co-owner (or some other similar setup) into registration cert, and selling such vehicle without bank authorisation should be impossible.

It's quite beyond me that bank can secure a loan with a car, but make no formal note of it in registration documents.

wexie

CiniO wrote: »

I know nothing about car financing as I never used one, but it seems strange to me that selling vehicle with outstanding finance is possible. Seems like a broken system.

IMO if vehicle is sold under finance, it should be bank who is the registered owner of the vehicle until it's paid for. In that case only bank should be able to sell it.

And if older car is used to secure a loan, then bank also should be written as co-owner (or some other similar setup) into registration cert, and selling such vehicle without bank authorisation should be impossible.

It's quite beyond me that bank can secure a loan with a car, but make no formal note of it in registration documents.

That's really it, I certainly wouldn't advocate for all responsibility to take away from buyers and placed on the government but I do find it pretty odd this stuff is possible.

How would it work out legally? It's kinda comparable to a stolen car insofar you're selling something you don't actually own (yet).

Does anybody know what happens from an administrative point of view when the finance on a car stops being paid? Does it end up being declared stolen? Do the police get involved or does it stay purely a bank/finance matter (and whoever they involve to get the car recovered)?

makon_mc

Fcekin Polish people
Stealing your jobs, increasing rent prices and now selling cars with outstanding finance..

Btw - u sure your mate’s cars clock was not touched?

10k km per year is really really unrealistic...

RINO87

Off topic but.....

What the hell has seller being "Polish" got to do with anything, and why did you feel the need to keep pointing it out?

Your friend rushed into something without doing his homework, I do hope nothing comes of it, that they learn a lesson, and have happy motoring with the car but pointing to the sellers nationality in almost a blame type way is frankly silly. Rant over

Fann Linn

makon_mc wrote: »

Fcekin Polish people
Stealing your jobs, increasing rent prices and now selling cars with outstanding finance..

Btw - u sure your mate’s cars clock was not touched?

10k km per year is really really unrealistic...

Not really. I've a van for work and only use the car on the weekends plus holidays.
9k km from nct to nct for me.

wexie

RINO87 wrote: »

Off topic but.....

What the hell has seller being "Polish" got to do with anything, and why did you feel the need to keep pointing it out?

Your friend rushed into something without doing his homework, I do hope nothing comes of it, that they learn a lesson, and have happy motoring with the car but pointing to the sellers nationality in almost a blame type way is frankly silly. Rant over

You wanna take this one CiniO?

Skatedude

With such an old and low millage car, a car check should have been obvious to check for clocking.
i bought a 97 with just 57000 miles, so no way i was going to take that at face value, so the motorcheck was worth the few quid to have piece of mind.

Dravokivich

Just because it's a 2009 is no indication for how long the finance has been outstanding and that it may be minimal. There could have been missed payments from early into the term and the car hadn't be caught for some reason.

James Bond Junior

I think the nationality of the seller in this case is irrelevant. We have plenty of our own homegrown citizens engaged in this type of nefarious behaviour, usually the travelling salemen, so its a bit rich to zone in on their nationality as if it was part of the issue.

toyotafan

Sorry for that if I did wrong. I did not mean to pointing out the nationality but just to mention who was the seller.

My friend he is not too bright in buying a car and yes could say silly and that was his big mistake to purchase without doing car history check.

From this story, I hope other people with lack of experience in buying car could see my post here and build their own lesson
from this my friend painful lesson.
Thanks you all for your posts and I will send all of these to my friend as he is extremely down now.

CiniO

toyotafan wrote: »

Sorry for that if I did wrong. I did not mean to pointing out the nationality but just to mention who was the seller.

My friend he is not too bright in buying a car and yes could say silly and that was his big mistake to purchase without doing car history check.

From this story, I hope other people with lack of experience in buying car could see my post here and build their own lesson
from this my friend painful lesson.
Thanks you all for your posts and I will send all of these to my friend as he is extremely down now.

It's actually quite funny.
You say your friend made a big mistake, had painful lesson, and is extremely down now ????

What happened really?
Because from what we know so far, he just bought 9 year old car which is flagged in some system for some finance somewhere - which at this stage means practically nothing.

You sound like it was end of the world for your friend, while in fact very likely nothing will ever come out of this, and your friend would probably never even worry if he didn't do the online check.

I'm not criticizing or anything - just find it entertaining.

makon_mc

toyotafan wrote: »

From this story, I hope other people with lack of experience in buying car could see my post here and build their own lesson
from this my friend painful lesson.

The lesson of buing from Polish people, or lesson of not checking the car history?

r3nu4l

toyotafan wrote: »

Is there any chance to report Garda or Civil defence for this case?

I have to ask...

Did you mean to type "Civil Defence" here or something else? The Civil Defence have nothing to do with prosecuting crime or capturing criminals, they are search and rescue, first aid etc.

CiniO

CiniO wrote: »

It's actually quite funny.
You say your friend made a big mistake, had painful lesson, and is extremely down now ????

What happened really?
Because from what we know so far, he just bought 9 year old car which is flagged in some system for some finance somewhere - which at this stage means practically nothing.

You sound like it was end of the world for your friend, while in fact very likely nothing will ever come out of this, and your friend would probably never even worry if he didn't do the online check.

I'm not criticizing or anything - just find it entertaining.

+1 on this, why is he getting so bothered?

There is close to zero chance of anything coming of this. My guess would be that it's just a mistake on the system and even if it isn't the finance company will (a) have almost no chance of bothering to recoup the money by taking back the car and (b) could find it very difficult to actually trace the car even if they did.

Tell your friend to relax he is getting excited over nothing.

Also the last thing he should do is report this to anyone, be they a finance company or the gardai as this is only drawing trouble on himself, nothing more.

Henry Ford III

An old story.

I was in the kitchen one day and was astonished to see the former CEO of Apple climbing in through the window and running off with a tin of Mr. Sheen.

I said "To hell with those Jobs coming over here and stealing our Polish".