[Closed] PCP - Change of Name on Finance

It might be easier to invoke voluntary termination and just hand the car back, depending on how far through the term you are.

The finance company won’t allow it - depends how happy you are with keeping your head down on that. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable, the T&Cs of your loan will expressly forbid it.

Hand car back. Only way.

In the event of any non-payment you will be responsible as your name is on the contract....yes its a signed agreement between you and the finance company.

Best thing will be to terminate the contract early, take the pain now and not through courts, debt collectors, bad credit rating later.

Maybe just pay her back the 100% repayments she made and you keep the car.

It's your car....it will be registered in your name too... Most insurance co's won't insure a cat where the registered keeper isn't a driver, nor where it's kept at a different address.

Might be better than taking the hit.

She can then go buy a buy a new car if she wants. Or not if she has bad credit-not your problem anymore.

Yeah, you can't do that - change the owner of the financial contract as they have based the risk on you not her. They might not have given her the loan.

The only way to sort this out is to speak to the company and see what your options are but I doubt they'll be many other than hand it back and suck up any associated costs, voluntarily termination if you can (depends on where you're at in the contract) or keeping the car yourself.

Most insurance co’s won’t insure a [s]cat[/s] car? where the registered keeper isn’t a driver, nor where it’s kept at a different address.

I'm not the registered keeper of the car I insured and it's kept at a different address of the registered keeper.

I had the opposite. My car was in my ex wife’s name and I was making the payments to her. I tried to transfer it to my name but it was a no.

I’m not the registered keeper of the car I insured and it’s kept at a different address of the registered keeper.

Owned or PCP/finance of some sort? All to do I believe with whether you or the finance co own it.

Great, thanks all - apparently my options are the following from the finance company:

1. Pay upto 50% of the terms (another 3 months) and hand the car back
2. Transfer the finance agreement to a Ltd Company name (not an individual)
3. Have the remaining balance paid on the finance agreement
4. Other option is I take the car back as it's registered to me and keep the car (will be volatile).

Things to ponder at moment...

I'd take the car back and then do option 1 and then let her buy her own car.

Who wants to be financially tied to their ex. fiance?

Who wants to be financially tied to their ex. fiance?

.....with a shit credit rating

Option 1 all the way. Unless you’ve done so already I wouldn’t even mention the other options to at least try and avoid some of the heat

Option 1, BUT check what the market value is. If it’s greater than the settlement fee then there could be a small profit.

It’s unlikely, but depending on how much deposit you put down and how many miles under contract it’s done and how popular a model
is, it might be possible.

Great, thanks all – apparently my options are the following from the finance company:

1. Pay upto 50% of the terms (another 3 months) and hand the car back
2. Transfer the finance agreement to a Ltd Company name (not an individual)
3. Have the remaining balance paid on the finance agreement
4. Other option is I take the car back as it’s registered to me and keep the car (will be volatile).

That's pretty much it, in theory they could write a new finance deal for your ex and transfer it, but it's a hassle they probably don't want and it's a bit tricky legally as they been supplying your ex with a Car and technically liable if it's not fit for purpose, even though she'd had it. As you did it because of her poor creditworthiness, they REALLY won't do it.

Firstly, you're very likely in breach of your contract by taking on a finance agreement for a vehicle which is, for all intents and purposes your ex-GFs, it's called an Accommodation Deal, it's not illegal but its strictly forbidden with financial deals.

You're in a difficult position really and probably the least-palatable option now, taking the car back, will far easier down the road. Don't gamble on her always paying the car payments, or paying you to pay them if things turn sour.

Personally, I'd take possession of the car now as painlessly as possible, I'd explain you spoke to the finance Co, they "went mad" about the accommodation deal, if it's worth more than is owned (reasonably likely) sweeten the pill by offering to sell it and give her the equity, which seems fair. I wouldn't keep it, just because it will cause you problems the second the idea "it's worth way more than is owed and I paid for all of it" enters her mind, which is likely true.

Be entirely honest about the sale price, finance settlement and pay her any equity, in full, promptly and apologise for her losing her car etc.

As long as she keeps paying I'd let her keep it.

Don't forget, this is someone you clearly once felt something for

As long as she keeps paying I’d let her keep it.

Don’t forget, this is someone you clearly once felt something for

Only the OP is able to really guess how this will go, or how amicable the split will be. It's not a bad plan as long as he understands the risks. I was a Credit Underwriter for years, I think the risks are:

A "legal contract" between them is useless, unless he's willing to enforce it in court and it's unlikely to be legally binding enough it wouldn't be a fight.

Personally, I don't know of anyone who's broken up and it hasn't ended in a bitter battle of words and back-stabbing at least for a period of time. Only OP will know how likley this is.

As someone who previously had very poor credit, there's usually a reason for it. To be clear, there are no circumstance in which OP isn't personally liable for the debt associated with the car until it's paid for, in full, or returned to the lease co.

If the Ex can't or won't pay the the repayments, OP is still liable for them, if he doesn't pay, he will hurt his creditworthiness and potentially end up in court for non-payment, it doesn't go away if the car gets repo'd either. Repossession almost never results in a settlement, OP is still liable for the short-fall

That's before you get to the tricky business of end-of-lease. Will she be willing to return the car at the end of the term if she's not able to finance a new one, will it be over the mileage allowance, will it be damaged etc? Will OP even be able to contact her, it sounds like it's 2 years off, most people who don't share children want a clean break.

It's a whole lot of risk, thousands of pounds potentially, based on trusting an ex-partner.

I work for a car finance company and my advice would be to listen to P-Jay. On top of what he said, should she write the car off somehow and there's a shortfall from the insurance pay out, they'll be coming to you not her for the bill.
If she has a history of bad credit, I wouldn't risk the possibility of her not keeping up payments and trashing your credit score as well as her own.

Get settlement figure. She takes out a loan (entirely hers, or at least guarantee by someone not you) and pays it off. Car is hers.

If she can’t / won’t, keep it for 3 months and VT it.

Look closely at voluntary termination (VT) and how the 50% figure is calculated. It does not mean 50% of the monthly payments, it means 50% of the financed amount. With a PCP, you have financed the monthly payments and the balloon payment. Therefore, the 50% point is likely to be quite close to the end of the finance term.

What is the car worth? If VT isn't possible in the near-term, can it be sold to clear the outstanding finance?

Thanks all again - Option 1 looks like best offer on the table. Looking at the VT, 50% mark is confirmed as 3 months away, also there's 10k of excess mileage on there (pro-rata) so that will be another hit i'll have to take. The ltd company option would be ideal but that looks a long shot - Lesson learnt, focus a bit more on long-term risk management.

On the VT, you don’t have to wait the three months either. You can just pay the sum now. I did this late last year to get shot of a car before a new one came. This would also mitigate the mileage going up even more.

Oh alarm bells everywhere.

A car bought on very low mileage to reduce the monthly payment.

An ex partner wanting to keep a car with a very poor credit history.

Unfortunately as you appear to be doing, option 1 is the best option

You cant even sell it to her for the amount of the outstanding finance, but that I imagine would be above market value, and by the sounds of it she won’t get a loan anyhow

Thanks all again – Option 1 looks like best offer on the table. Looking at the VT, 50% mark is confirmed as 3 months away, also there’s 10k of excess mileage on there (pro-rata) so that will be another hit i’ll have to take. The ltd company option would be ideal but that looks a long shot – Lesson learnt, focus a bit more on long-term risk management.

There's a decent chance you'll avoid the excess mileage charge if you settle via VT.

It's still the best option in my view, but a word of warning. Voluntary Termination is "right and proper" (one of those daft banking terms) aka there's nothing wrong with it, however that agreement will be marked "settled via VT" on your credit history. Creditors aren't supposed to discriminate against anyone for doing it, but at the same time that don't have to disclose their underwriting rules.

Doing in once will probably not have an effect on you, but it's not an easy-out every time.

@P-Jay - Good to know regarding the Voluntary Termination is “right and proper” needs to be considered, wasn't aware of that - seems very granular for a credit search to go to that level and impact scoring however could be a possibility, all criteria based I imagine.

There's huge negative equity on the car because of mileage and general market conditions so VT looks to be the option - I have little appetite to keep it as have another vehicle and would be burning money during lockdown.

Good to know regarding the Voluntary Termination is “right and proper” needs to be considered, wasn’t aware of that – seems very granular for a credit search to go to that level and impact scoring however could be a possibility, all criteria based I imagine.

There’s huge negative equity on the car because of mileage and general market conditions so VT looks to be the option – I have little appetite to keep it as have another vehicle and would be burning money during lockdown.

Yeah, when Finance Cos underwrite they're not logging into Experience et al and looking at any 'score' they get raw data on everything get's decided via algorithm, everything is considered, but it's by far the lessor of two evils for you.

Good luck telling the Ex 😉

Voluntary Termination is “right and proper” (one of those daft banking terms) aka there’s nothing wrong with it, however that agreement will be marked “settled via VT” on your credit history.

Hmm. I've just looked at my credit report, and my VT from last year just reads 'Paid and closed' as its status. This is the same as a couple of others that were settled by paying the settlement figure.