Hello,

Hoping for a bit of advice! My gf has had her Vauxhall finance on a 3yr PCP finance deal with Vauxhall since September 2014. She put down a deposit and paid £117 a month since then but has only done about 3500 miles since she's owned it! She doesn't want it anymore and wants to get rid of it.

A search online suggests if you're over half way through a finance deal you should be able to terminate it early without too much trouble. She's called up the finance company and apparently they weren't clear at all on what she had to do. Considering she's done so few miles the car is in excellent condition so they'll make plenty of money when they go to sell it. She must have paid more than what it's lost in depreciation.

What is the best way to end these deals, and what would she have to pay? Apparently the woman she spoke to mentioned selling it back to the dealer or to WBAC but surely she can just hand the keys back, sign some paperwork and cancel the monthly payments?

Thanks for your help!

We went through the girlfriends a few days ago on her fiat 500. It's all in the contract she signed with the finance company, I'd imagine each is different but hers states if you've paid X amount or more you can hand the car back with no questions asked but may be billed to get the car in a sellable state (alloy repairs etc).

Go through her paperwork and highlight the key points, for fiat she has to right a quick letter to FCA (her finance provider) to get things rolling.

Before handing it back give it a mini valet of some sort and take your own pictures of everything you possibly can so they can't bill you for something that wasn't there when it left you.

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by LGM

That's what I'm hoping hers will say. She's barely driven the damn thing so it just makes no sense to keep it anymore and she's well over half way through the agreement, and the car is in perfect condition. 3500miles in 2 and a half years means the car is spot on still, but she thinks she may have missed a service last year but I'd be surprised if it needed it! She's wanting to give it back this weekend so she doesn't have to make anymore payments. She said it was really hard to understand what the woman was saying but apparently she mentioned something about waiting 10 days for paper work and while they calculate what she owes or something. I don't think they understood what she was asking.

Could she hand the car back to a local dealer which isn't the one she got it from?

It sounds like they thought she wanted to settle the remaining balance.

Once again according to my girlfriends paperwork it's not Fiats car it's the company who financed the car so her fiat goes back to the finance company and then I'd imagine to the auctions or elsewhere.

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by LGM

It sounds like they thought she wanted to settle the remaining balance.

Once again according to my girlfriends paperwork it's not Fiats car it's the company who financed the car so her fiat goes back to the finance company and then I'd imagine to the auctions or elsewhere.

Ok, thanks for your help mate. Where did your girlfriend give her car back too, or was it collected?

on straight forward finance  you do have the option of "voluntary termination" usually once 50% of the loan is repaid Im not sure if its the same with a PCP.

Sounds like you're meaning Voluntary Termination of the PCP agreement, in which case it needs to be beyond 50% of the total amount payable under the agreement, nothing to do with time or amount of months into the agreement.

 

This will be useful reading for you: http://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/car-finance-voluntary-termination-pcp-hp/

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by Wardy

Ok, thanks for your help mate. Where did your girlfriend give her car back too, or was it collected?

She's not give it back yet, she can't hand it back til the end of next month but we will be sorting a letter to send to them soon.

Sounds like you're meaning Voluntary Termination of the PCP agreement, in which case it needs to be beyond 50% of the total amount payable under the agreement, nothing to do with time or amount of months into the agreement.

This will be useful reading for you: http://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/car-finance-voluntary-termination-pcp-hp/

Thanks, I'll give that a read. I just presumed as she was well over half way through the deal she would have paid off more than the 50% of the agreement to be able to end the deal and give it back.

Dig out the contract as well, as all the info to work the 50% point will be in there.

 

Depends on her individual agreement and how the PCP has been setup basically.

As has been said you can VT voluntary terminate when 50% has been paid, speak to the finance company, write to inform them, and they'll advise how they will collect/inspect the car.

Alternatively speak to the finance company, get a settlement figure of what is owed, if the car is worth more, which it might be as the miles are low and the condition is good, hawk it around a few dealers and car buyers and do a WBAC quote and see if you can get more for it, get some of your money back. Don't just give it back.

As has been said you can VT voluntary terminate when 50% has been paid, speak to the finance company, write to inform them, and they'll advise how they will collect/inspect the car.

Alternatively speak to the finance company, get a settlement figure of what is owed, if the car is worth more, which it might be as the miles are low and the condition is good, hawk it around a few dealers and car buyers and do a WBAC quote and see if you can get more for it, get some of your money back. Don't just give it back.

Hmm, that is a very interesting suggestion, I hadn't thought about that.. that's definitely worth looking in to. When you sell a car that's got oustanding finance on it, is it your responsibility to pay off the finance company or if you gave it to WBAC for example, would they pay off the finance and then give you what was left?

Hmm, that is a very interesting suggestion, I hadn't thought about that.. that's definitely worth looking in to. When you sell a car that's got oustanding finance on it, is it your responsibility to pay off the finance company or if you gave it to WBAC for example, would they pay off the finance and then give you what was left?

I'm pretty sure you can't sell the car because it doesn't belong to you so you'd have to settle the amount and then it's yours to sell.

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by LGM

There are options.

 

The buyer transfers the settlement figure directly to the finance company, that takes care of the ownership aspect then you can complete the change of ownership.

I'm pretty sure you can't sell the car because it doesn't belong to you so you'd have to settle the amount and then it's yours to sell.

off topic (sorry) I'm trying to PM you and you can't receive messages (full up)  PM me or send me facebook details so I can get hold of you! lol... (Or clear up your messages!)

 

>>>> back on topic for the rest of you! lol..

Hello,

Hoping for a bit of advice! My gf has had her Vauxhall finance on a 3yr PCP finance deal with Vauxhall since September 2014. She put down a deposit and paid £117 a month since then but has only done about 3500 miles since she's owned it! She doesn't want it anymore and wants to get rid of it.

A search online suggests if you're over half way through a finance deal you should be able to terminate it early without too much trouble. She's called up the finance company and apparently they weren't clear at all on what she had to do. Considering she's done so few miles the car is in excellent condition so they'll make plenty of money when they go to sell it. She must have paid more than what it's lost in depreciation.

What is the best way to end these deals, and what would she have to pay? Apparently the woman she spoke to mentioned selling it back to the dealer or to WBAC but surely she can just hand the keys back, sign some paperwork and cancel the monthly payments?

Thanks for your help

 

 

 

Before doing anything hasty, check whether there might be some equity in the car.   Undoubtedly, your GF will have paid a deposit and if the car is in mint condition (and 3,500 miles says it probably is) then the car will be worth more than simply "handing it back".   If she doesn't want another car right away, the least the dealer could do is give her a voucher to use towards the deposit of a future car purchase in the next five years.   It's definitely worth ringing the finance company for the "settlement figure" and then looking at one of the on line car valuation sites (like webuyanycar.com) to see what sort of difference there could be.

Hmm, that is a very interesting suggestion, I hadn't thought about that.. that's definitely worth looking in to. When you sell a car that's got oustanding finance on it, is it your responsibility to pay off the finance company or if you gave it to WBAC for example, would they pay off the finance and then give you what was left?

She owns the car, she has the reg doc v5 so can sell it. Its not a lease deal.

All that happens is the outstanding balance remains with her. The finance company would ask for payment.

What usually happens is WBAC or any other garage would pay the finance off and give you the balance.

Run a quick quote on WBAC website and see if it is worth more than the finance.

And I'll have my 10% commission. ...lol

Edited 5 January, 20179 yr by glosrich

The contract or paperwork that your girlfriend signed when she picked up the car is key here...

Thanks again all! I was always under the impression that you couldn't really sell a car that was owned by the finance company until you'd paid it all off. I had a check on autotrader and the trade adds seem to be asking for between £6.5k-£7k for a car of the same age and mileage as hers, so I'll get her to call and ask for a settlement figure. I think she said the balloon payment at the end was about £4K, and assuming the finance ends in September 2017 there could still be some equity in the car as people have said.

I very much doubt she'll be getting another car anytime soon, it's been sat on her drive the whole time while she's paying for it each month. I don't think it's moved since August. I'm seeing her this weekend so I'll be going over the car checking tyres etc and seeing if I can get the thing started and charge the battery if not.

I'll go over the paperwork with her this weekend and then update you all on what it says plus what the settlement figure is. WBAC have given a price of £5500 on their website so maybe a dealer might offer a little more.

Thanks all again for your help. I know she just wants to get rid of it and deal with as little hassle as possible, so I said I'd try and take care of as much as I could!

The balloon payment of just over £4.5k is due in September and so from now the total amount left is just over £5.5k. WBAC have offered that so I'm not sure what the dealer will offer, but I've called a couple to see what price they'll pay. The paperwork says you can sell it back to a dealer, so if they offer around £6k (unlikely but worth asking) then we'll do that. If not, we'll just give it back.

MillsyVRS   sorry for going off topic but hows the Volvo? Happy with it?  :D

MillsyVRS sorry for going off topic but hows the Volvo? Happy with it? :D

Hey, it's great thanks! I've PM'd you.