Litigation, Disputes and Debt Recovery Case Studies

Finance Company Dispute

We acted for a client who purchased a new high spec BMW. Our client obtained hire purchase finance (HP) to purchase this vehicle. Unfortunately, whilst the client was on holiday, a member of their family drove the vehicle (without our client’s consent) and was stopped by the Police. The Police impounded the vehicle and refused to return it to the client. In addition when the finance company discovered that this occurred they served a default notice under the Consumer Credit Act potentially entitling them to repossess the vehicle and sell it at auction. Our client was unable to resolve the situation himself and sought our advice.

Within five days of instructions we were able to convince the Police to allow our client (not the finance company) to recover the vehicle to the great annoyance of the finance company! In a further fourteen days the finance company confirmed that they would not proceed on their default notice and our client was therefore able to recover the vehicle and avoid the finance company repossessing the vehicle.

We did advise our client that we would have been able to achieve this result through the issue of court proceedings if the vehicle had been repossessed by the finance company but fortunately we were able to resolve the matter very swiftly to avoid the necessity for litigation. This has saved our client a considerable sum of money and we have allowed him to recover his vehicle.

Repossessed Vehicle

Our client had purchased a vehicle under a hire purchase agreement and had been paying finance on that vehicle for in excess of two thirds of the finance period. We advised the client that his vehicle was therefore a ‘protected goods’ under the Consumer Credit Act 1975.

Unfortunately, the client fell into arrears with his payments and the finance company obtained a Possession Order to recover the vehicle and then proceeded to recover the vehicle but before they had obtained a formal warrant from the court. We said that this was in breach of the Regulations.

Proceedings were issued against the finance company. These became extremely protracted and the matter was listed for a two day trial. Fortunately the finance company did, in the end, capitulate and the case was settled on the morning of the trial with our client recovering damages and costs.

Defective Vehicle

We were contacted by our client who had purchased a second hand vehicle from a car dealership after he spotted the Defendant’s advertisement for the vehicle on eBay. Unfortunately there were many defects with the vehicle and we advised our client that he was entitled to rescind the contract and recover all of his monies.

It was necessary to issue proceedings and those proceedings were initially defended but then Judgement was obtained as the Defendant failed to comply properly with the court timetable.

We then issued a High Court Writ of Fieri Facias and instructed a High Court Enforcement Officer to attend at the Defendant’s premises to recover the damages awarded by the court. The High Court Enforcement Officer expressed his intention to repossess a number of vehicles on the forecourt of the Defendant’s dealership and, not surprisingly, the Defendant paid the full amount outstanding! Our client was able to recover the loss of his vehicle, interest and costs.

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