She is fully aware that no payment = no car.
My question is how long will they give her to pay? I think she needs to speak to them.
She can probably afford the payments but I doubt she will get a loan, as before Christmas she had a massive cash flow problem, trying to pay for a £3500 car loan with no income other than job seekers. She is now in full time employment but she has only worked there for a month so her cash flow is still very bad.
My question is what will happen if she never pays to the car?
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I'd think they either pass the debt onto a collector (eventually) or take the car and sell it. But it's worth a lot more than £680 otherwise it would be scrap by now.
She needs to talk to them tomorrow. She effectively agreed to pay the excess when she took the car to the bodyshop.
Edited by rtj70 on 18/03/2009 at 21:21
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Obviously I don't know your friend's full circumstances but I would feel inclined in her position to pay the bill on a credit card, then sell the car and pay off the card and some other debt.
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Her position is about as bad as it gets, her career choice is very expensive (a lot of her income goes on university fees etc). She can make payments but at the moment her financial position is in a mess. In terms of credit cards I think she is already maxed out, she spent £200 on it on two new tyres and a service.
I do think she needs to sell the car to pay of her debts, but she works 25 miles away and she needs a car for a job and career, getting a job closer to home is not an option.
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I know but they have taken nearly 5 weeks to repair and kept changing their mind about if they were repairing it or not.
The car is a 04 reg Clio top sec, I would say it was worth £2800. I was thinking I could probably offer £1800 for it and basicaly pay off the bodyshop at the same time. The accident damage was substantial but apart from a blown tyre all cosmetic. I know every owner of the car.
Not sure how it would work but if it came to the body shop taking pocession of the car that is obviously a better solution. I don't exactly want a Clio but its a nice car and its been very reliable. Cambelt is over due too, it was booked in for the week after she had the accident.
I know legally she dosn't have much rights, but the bodyshop must surely allow a reasonable time for payment?
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There is no requirement for the body shop to allow anything other than full payment on collection if they where the terms they set when accepting the car for repair. Your friends financial insecurities are of no concern to them. They did the work and if no time penalties where specified in the contract to repair, the 5 weeks is of no consequence.
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We had a £500 excess on the Sirion, which we had to pay on collection of the car from the bodyshop. No credit on that, she signed up for the insurance so she agreed to the terms.
I wouldnt be lending her any money, sounds like she needs to hit rock bottom to give her the motivation to claw her way back. Some people need a sharp shock.
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Its not really been her fault though, she lost her last job and that is where her problems all started. Her fees are quite expensive but in her career its the way it is. It is not like she has spent it all on clothes.
Her family have dragged her into their mess too.
There is a lot more to this as well which I cannot really say on here.
She will get the money to pay them but it may take a few weeks and I am not sure if the garage can wait that long.
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>>She will get the money to pay them but it may take a few weeks and I am not sure if the garage can wait that long. <<
No and they shouldnt have to. As a rule, you should always have the money for paying the excess available, ring-fenced as you could end up in just this position.
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Might have been better to have not bothered repairing the car. She could have sold it as repairable and not claimed on the insurance. Then she'd have cash to buy a cheaper replacement car that she could insure more cheaply. After a fault claim like this her insurance is going to rise a lot anyway.
Easiest way out of it may just to be upfront with the garage and say she can't afford to pay and that they should sell the car in a reputable auction and give her the difference. If she needs to be 25 miles away every day then she would be better moving closer to where she needs to be, especially if that takes her further away from her family.
Dread to think how much she has actually cost the insurance company in repairs and hire charges.
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Even if they had to buy a brand new car the insurance company have made a lot of profit over her. She has a new quote which is only £10 more expensive and that is after declaring the full details of the accident, the old company have put it up by 100% so she is leaving them.
I will see what happens tomorrow and I will suggest if she is finding it really hard I will buy it of her for £1800 with the view to spending another £300 on getting the cambelt and water pump done.
She cannot move away from her family.
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 12:30
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jbif, snip ... I'll email you why
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 12:32
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Quite a few on here have suggested the same - speak to the body shop and ask them what can be done.
But the way insurance companies work, the policy excess is always collected by the body shop - that way you have to pay it and do not need chasing.
An additional £250 excess for being under 25 is also very very common. And in addition to any other excess on the policy.
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And don't forget, if the car was worth about £2800 and it was touch and go about a repair it probably has had about £2000 of repairs. If she owes £680 then the bodyshop will get £1320 from the insurer. And depending on terms with the insurer may have to wait 30 days for that. She may have enough time to get the money together and the worry is over nothing.
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The body shop is not like a garage . It's not as if it will be expecting the customer to choose them again next time. On that basis, I'll be surprised if they let a customer leave with the car until the excess side is paid in full.
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Nobody has suggested the car is taken until the money is paid.
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I wonder if she phoned the insurance company they may be able to suggest something then? This is the first time I've ever known of this happening. My dad has never had any accidents in his 39 years of driving apart from in his punto which he had three. Two where none faults (people went into the back of him) and the final one was very much of his fault. As final time it was written off the excess just went to the insurance company.
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 12:35
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The excess is owed to the bodyshop. When we had two non-fault accidents the excess had to be paid to the bodyshop to get the car. The excess then was repaid by the third party insurance - eventually.
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Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 20:11
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It won't make anyone feel any better, Rattle, but you will need to think hard about 'lending' your friend money for this. You may need to think of it more as a gift. It could be an uncomfortable way to test a friendship.
When I was about your age (I think I am about right) I lent a friend $3000, which I got back before long, because both our circumstances were more settled than yours or your friend's sound. But do think about it.
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I just can't really afford to give away £250 though atm especialy with looking for a car, but I do have a bit of money sat there in the bank making about 00000.1% APR so it solved her problem.
She has taken the car back this morning, they have told her if its not collected within three days they will start charging for storage.
I would like to add although she is not blameless she think she had the money before she took into the garage as her uncle promised to lent it her.
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If car is not collected (and paid for) within a reasonable period the repairer canwrite to the owner giving them a last chance to pay - they can sell the car, take what is owed and give the owner the balance. However, the price may be an auction price and then there are expenses as well.
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The repairers won't be interested - they have her car.
She needs to borrow the money. It sounds as though she can't get a conventional loan - could someone act as a guarantor on the loan ? Or perhaps her employer could offer an advance ? If your offer of 250 is still on the table then can she scrape togther the remaining 430 on debit cards / other friends / pawn shop ?
Even if she has to sell the Clio immediately, she should still be better off than if she waits for the repairer to help her.
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It won't be auctioned off, I will buy the car before that happens, this way I get a car on the cheap, and my friend gets more than she would from auction minus expenses.
She basicaly has three days to pay before they start charging storage fees, so it seems a new credit card is the only answer and even then she may have to pay storage.
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I'm with the others on lending the money... unless you can afford to write it off (ie lose it) then don't lend it. It is not her family who is responsible for her debts, its her as she is the one who chose to take out the credit cards or whatever...
This strikes me as a classic case of someone who can't afford to run a car... its a hard lesson, but perhaps she needs to do without a car for a while and concentrate on paying off her debts... ar contact one of those firms who advertise on the baox about bankruptcy?
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They won't get a credit card sorted in 3 days and the storage fees could soon mount up... check what the cost per day will be for storage before making any decisions. In fact they might not get a credit card.
You can't blame the repair business for doing this - they are there to make money out of fixing cars not storing them. So the storage fee could be high.
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 15:47
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If you did lend money you should draw up some legal document so you take ownership of the car. Okay it's a friend so maybe you'd write in something about paying them. But lending money to a friend is not always a good idea - it is difficult to ask for it back. And what if they cannot pay? They have other debtors.
... in fact if they are in this much trouble the car could be seized anyway. So thinking about it they might be advised to sell it, stop the insurance, and pay off some of that debt.
But getting to their place of work could become tricky. Perhaps you can car share ;-)
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FWIW, I would think carefully about buying a car that you knew had been in a smash. Can lead to all sorts of probs further down the line. I knew of one instance where a car looked OK, but was essentially b*gg*red: water leaks, corrosion due to cracked battery causing metal fatigue, etc. - such problems may not be immediately apparent.
I hope it works out for your friend.
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Forgot the car rolled - if it did I am surprised it was repaired at all. She'd have been better off if it had been written off - she'd have got market value minus the excess.
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 17:13
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It wasn;t a complete roll over more of an overturn. It landed on its side. It just passed the MOT last week without any extra work.
She would have been better of if it was written off but then she would be carless and the same problem I am in now.
Bristol that is a point about the repair, my dads Punto was always fine after accident repairs but this accident was more severe.
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She's currently car-less until she pays. So how is she managing? She has been managing for over a month now too. Could she manage longer? Does she really need the car?
No car and no insurance = chance to repay debts???
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 18:22
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a massive cash flow problem trying to pay for a £3500 car loan with no income other than job seekers.
With financial experience like this I'd be marching her into the citizen's advice bureau asap, and nailing her feet to the floor until she listens.
Running a car is never as cheap as you'd hope. Good luck!
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You pay the excess to the bodyshop, and I'm surprised they've given her the extra time to pay - I wasn't allowed the keys to mine until I'd handed over my card.
Sorry to be blunt, Rattle, but this really isn't your problem. I'm worried that if you buy this car you will fret about it for the whole time you own it about what sort of damage might have been done to it in the crash. It's just not worth the hassle.
Can she put the car up for sale now, and be honest about the reason she's selling it? There must be other people in that position. I don't know what else to suggest really, other than her getting a second job (or actually, a first one from the sound of it) somewhere (anywhere) to sort her money out.
I'd stick to emotional support, I think any form of practical support here is going to end badly.
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ok I will forget about buying the car.
She does not have the car yet as you say it will not be handed over until she has paid she fully understood that from day one.
I just find it a bit bad that they took a month to repair it then suddenly we need the car back now, £650 please. Hopefully there will be away round this.
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So how long in your estimation should the repair have taken ?
Is the cost of the repair related in any way to the time they had it ?
Was she informed of the likely cost of repairs ?
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I just find it a bit bad that they took a month to repair it then suddenly we need the car back now, £650 please. Hopefully there will be away round this.
So if they fixed it in two weeks max... could she pay £650 then? You need to pay before you get a car back. As PG says it is not your problem. Apart from the "surprise" extra excess for being under 25, how could she pay what she thought was £400?
Don't buy it and talk to the bodyshop. I suspect they will not budge and will rack up storage costs.
If she couldn't pay for the excess why get it fixed?
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Yep the money would have been their last week but a crisis with her uncle means that now its not. Also they tried to refuse a courtesy car at first even though she is paying extra for it in the end they gave her one.
I think the under 25 excess was £25, on top of that there si the MOT and a bit of extra work which was not related to the accident (e.g spraying a replacement wing mirror).
As I said before she thought she had the money, if she had known her uncle could not lend her the money she would have applied for a loan or got credit from other means, but her uncle suddenly said no last minute.
She is now hoping she will be able to find the money before they start adding storage charges.
Edited by Rattle on 19/03/2009 at 19:43
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she had the money,.... could not lend her the money ..... applied for a loan or got credit .... find the money .... storage charges >>
;-) Does thread is seem more IHAQ than Motoring to anyone else?
Does the site seem to have been taken over by rattle.co.uk or Citizen's Advice?
Perhaps the site name should be changed to rattle.co.uk and then he design it to suit him and all its resources to his heart's content. ;-)
Rattle, give us a rest and let the girl friend sort out her own problems [or ask her to join and let her post her own views first hand]. I think you are giving out too much personal information about a friend and I should hope you are doing it with their knowledge and permission.
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She unfortunately sounds like a victim of this easy credit and wanted a car that was probably beyond her means. Our carpark at work is full of little clios, 206's etc that are on hp/easy credit (easycarcredit etc etc) that are owned by people not earning very much money but want an 05 or 06 plate because its newer than their mates.
If I were her I would be going to the bank and asking for a temporary overdraft extension with a deadline to pay back, sell the Clio and buy something that she can afford to buy outright and have some money left to pay off some debt. A £500 car will get her to work and back for 6 months whilst she sorts things out and gets steady in her job.
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OK I think enough has been said now. It seems there really isn't any clear or obvious answer to this, I thought there might have been something I have been missing with the insurance company but it seems not.
She basicaly has to pay or no car.
Maybe its best to close this thread now? It is already causing the mods a bit of bother as I asked for some of the info to be removed.
Thanks.
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Now locked as seemed the obvious thing to do.
Rob, Moderator
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