Hi,
I am new here so sorry if this is in the wrong forum! I bought a car on finance from Santander in 2010. All was going well until my husband lost his job and we ended up defaulting on the agreement in 2013. After much argument we agreed a repayment deal in 2014 with Santander's solicitors DWF on the basis that they would suspend recovery proceedings so long as we kept paying. As far as I know we have not missed a payment, but the standing order was through my husband's bank account and he cannot get hold of statements, so there may have been a missed payment that we don't know about. We haven't had any notification from DWF that we missed any payments.
On 19/11/2015 DWF/Santander issued a County Court claim for a possession order for the vehicle. I should just say I am a litigation solicitor so know how the Court procedure works. I don't need advice about that, just whether to defend the proceedings.
I accept the agreement was valid, that we defaulted and that we owe them the balance, less the payments we have made to them in the interim, which haven't been accounted for in the Particulars of Claim. I also accept that they are entitled to recover the car, regardless of the agreement I had with DWF, although I would imagine the Court would be reluctant to order recovery when we have shown a willingness to pay the balance.
The vehicle developed a massive fault in the engine on Christmas Eve 2014. Since then it has had a new engine at a cost to me (loaned by my in-laws) of £1,500.00. The replacement engine was reconditioned and had a different major problem so I have had to SORN the vehicle until I can deal with the problems. It is currently worth no more than scrap value because the current engine problems mean it cannot be driven safely. I have had to borrow another £1,000.00 from my in-laws to buy a replacement car as I have two young children (5 & 2) and my husband can't get to work without a car.
The terms of the agreement are fairly standard and what Santander intend to do after repossessing the vehicle is to sell it at auction, where it will probably fetch significantly less than what we owe on the agreement. There will then be their fees and the auction fees to add to it, meaning I would potentially end up owing them more than the balance of the finance once they have sold the car. I don't really want to sell it, I want to save the money to replace the engine, but equally I don't want to end up facing a bill for DWF's costs on top of everything if I defend the claim and lose.
I intended to write to them alerting them to my priority debts and sending evidence, which I would copy to the Court, offering to commence repaying the finance once I have cleared my priority debts, which are currently sitting around £1,800.00 in Council Tax arrears and unpaid energy bills. I'm wondering if anyone knows if that will work?
Thanks
Kathy
I am new here so sorry if this is in the wrong forum! I bought a car on finance from Santander in 2010. All was going well until my husband lost his job and we ended up defaulting on the agreement in 2013. After much argument we agreed a repayment deal in 2014 with Santander's solicitors DWF on the basis that they would suspend recovery proceedings so long as we kept paying. As far as I know we have not missed a payment, but the standing order was through my husband's bank account and he cannot get hold of statements, so there may have been a missed payment that we don't know about. We haven't had any notification from DWF that we missed any payments.
On 19/11/2015 DWF/Santander issued a County Court claim for a possession order for the vehicle. I should just say I am a litigation solicitor so know how the Court procedure works. I don't need advice about that, just whether to defend the proceedings.
I accept the agreement was valid, that we defaulted and that we owe them the balance, less the payments we have made to them in the interim, which haven't been accounted for in the Particulars of Claim. I also accept that they are entitled to recover the car, regardless of the agreement I had with DWF, although I would imagine the Court would be reluctant to order recovery when we have shown a willingness to pay the balance.
The vehicle developed a massive fault in the engine on Christmas Eve 2014. Since then it has had a new engine at a cost to me (loaned by my in-laws) of £1,500.00. The replacement engine was reconditioned and had a different major problem so I have had to SORN the vehicle until I can deal with the problems. It is currently worth no more than scrap value because the current engine problems mean it cannot be driven safely. I have had to borrow another £1,000.00 from my in-laws to buy a replacement car as I have two young children (5 & 2) and my husband can't get to work without a car.
The terms of the agreement are fairly standard and what Santander intend to do after repossessing the vehicle is to sell it at auction, where it will probably fetch significantly less than what we owe on the agreement. There will then be their fees and the auction fees to add to it, meaning I would potentially end up owing them more than the balance of the finance once they have sold the car. I don't really want to sell it, I want to save the money to replace the engine, but equally I don't want to end up facing a bill for DWF's costs on top of everything if I defend the claim and lose.
I intended to write to them alerting them to my priority debts and sending evidence, which I would copy to the Court, offering to commence repaying the finance once I have cleared my priority debts, which are currently sitting around £1,800.00 in Council Tax arrears and unpaid energy bills. I'm wondering if anyone knows if that will work?
Thanks
Kathy