The Black Horse car finance saga ...

[Eels]

OK, so after finding that my Black Horse personal loan actually binds me as if it were a Hire Purchae agreement, I have taken this up with the company and also my local trading standards.

The company took 6 weeks to respond to my complaint, and have not addressed my problems with their responses. I have asked them to clarify that it is legal to place a vehicle on the hire purchase register when it was not bought with a hire purchase agreement, and I have asked them to address the fact that I was mis-sold my finance agreement. All they will say is that it was in the small print that they can demand full repayment at any time should the vehicle be damaged or change hands.

Should I just cut my losses and accept that I am stuck with this now-unused vehicle, or should I just insist that they should abide by the Hire Purchase rules which they have imposed on me and try to make them take it back when I have paid half? That option is attractive because it would **** them off, but it also means another year of repayments.

Any comments from OneEyedVic or anyone with experience of these situations would be great!

[Oneeyedvic]

Will talk this over with a couple of people and come back to you (probably on Friday)

My personal feeling is that if they will not be able to enforce the agreement in court as it would be deemed an unfair contract, but I want to consult my fellow director (who has more experience in car finance) as well as my old boss.

I did speak to another lender who does 'Conditional Sale; which is similar to Hire Purchase but there a few technical differences (won't bore you with them) - I assumed that this was a way out of the halves and thirds rule but it is not. They can also register on HPI.

If anyone else in the industry has a thought, would be interested.

Maybe worth a call to Experian HPI and ask there opinion too.

[Loosehead]

Can you clarify:

If you borrowed the money as a personal loan and not a hire purchase on a car then how do they even know about the car to register it? Presumamby you filled in a form and that included a box with the car reg. Seems like an HP agreement to me.

That being the case I would imagine that they can't have it both ways, you should be able to use the HP rules the same as they can.

[WoWo]

I was also in the same position, I purchased a motorcycle through the now defunct Motorcycle city, and was told on more than one occasion and explicitly that this was not a hire purchase agreement, when I came to sell it the deal fell through when the person bying it did an HPI check and the bike came up.

I did send a letter to Motorcycle city but didn't get much more than a standard response.

[Eels]

Basically I took out the finance through the dealership, so although the agreement is entitled Personal Loan, the company know of the car and have plonked it onto the HP register, thus preventing me from selling it. I have threatened to use the rule of halves but they won't take me on, they just keep sending me copies of the agreement with the bit about loss, destruction or sale of the goods highlighted!

[Oneeyedvic]

Apologies for taking so long, have been up to my neck - Okay, have spoken to my old boss (been in the industry for 40 years).

Firsly, we believe that they are not allowed to register their interest on HPI as they have and will never be able to prove 'interest' in the car. If they say that they do have an interet, then this turns into a conditional sale or hire purchase agreement.

Secondly, the terms and conditions stating that they have a right to get their money back if you sell the car or dmage it may be an unfair contractual term. (my exboss reckons 50/50 - I personally think 75/25 in your favour).

I think the essence of this is that they are relying on the fact that no one will ever take them to court on this. They are just too big. That said, on a personal note, I reckon it would be a very strong case.

The best I can suggest you do is keep pushing trading standadrs and also complaining to the Office of Fair Trading - as I feel they have been in breach of their consumer licence. www.oft.gov.uk and possibly hthe FSA.

Again, as a personal view point, I reckon I would fight them, and even stop paying the agreement now. I don't think they could afford to lose a case (and I could mount a good defense) as all their agreements would be classsed as invalid and non-enforceable. This would have a short term (around 6months - 1year) very adverse affect on your credit rating though as it would show up as a default.

Sorry if this is more confusion for you.

[jo5ephedward]

Hi - I have a similar problem (sorry to hi-jack) I have a car on finance with BH and was under the impression it was HP...I have now re-read the small print and indeed it is a loan which appears to be tied to the car (can they do this?)
I will be writing to them ASAP as i have moved to London since purchasing the car last year and it�s just locked in my parents garage and costing me �200 a month for nothing.
I assume the only way they can know you have sold the car is to place it on a HP register - something i was not told about!