Mercedes Benz S-Class W220 (1999 - 2005) - Removing Car from Finance Register Nightmare

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Mon 17 Mar 2008 15:42
Removing Car from Finance Register Nightmare - hatman
I bought a Mercedes from BCA Blackbushe and it came up as owing finance as its previous cherished plate now sits on another car which was bought on finance. I thought nothing of it as the HPi check clearly states the car on finance is a different one to mine. Unfortunately the Merc is too big for my girlfriend and I've had literally no calls from Auto Trader ads or eBay so I decided to enter the car into my local Manheim auction. After taking a day off work to go there I was told I couldn't enter the car as it showed outstanding finance. I explained that this finance related to a previous plate not the actual car and showed them the HPi print out but they wouldn't allow the car to be entered until it was removed from Experian. I managed to contact Experian and they've agreed my car has no finance but now they tell me they are awaiting a fax confirmation from the finance house before they can remove it from the register and I've already been waiting a week!

Is there any easy way of resolving this? I've tried to phone and emailed the finance company to get them to send on this confirmation fax.

In the past though I've had admin problems with cars I've bought from auction - in fact 2 out of 2 I bought last year were showing outstanding finance and a mileage discrepancy on a warranted mileage car. I eventually managed to get the cars removed from the register (the 1st was a slow finance firm that didnt remove it fast enough and the 2nd a blatantly incorrect entry into the mileage database) but the bottom line is when buying at auction and paying massive private buyers fees surely all cars should be 100% clear before being offered for sale. I'm told part of the problem is that the most people use HPi whereas the penny pinching auctions use Experian which is cheaper but doesnt give full details so if a car is showing finance because of an old plate these details wont be shown, it will simply show up as finance!

This has really put me off buying at auction but has anyone else experienced this? Surely I cant be the only one! In future I'm thinking I might try and do a cheap HPi check on any car I'm interested in before buying because once you buy even when it's guaranteed mileage and supposedly all clear from HPi you seem very much on your own in trying to get the car removed from the register. Greatly appreciate any advice and thoughts on this, I'm sure I can't be the only one who's bought at auction to find late the car incorrectly shows up on finance or incorrectly showing a mileage discrepancy.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 17 Mar 2008 15:58
Removing Car from Finance Register Nightmare - Falkirk Bairn
You are lucky getting the car off an Experian system so quickly as a few days.

I was black listed on Experian database for debts that were not mine and never were mine - similar name and somewhere along the line a bank mixed the 2 entries - mine and the same name and initial. My son was refused a mortgage because of our close association yet neither of us have or had any debts far less outstanding debts.

It took 3-4 months and lots of aggro - eventually the Bank paid money to a Cancer Charity in my name for the inconvenience and denial for 3 months that they had caused the problem.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 17 Mar 2008 19:08
Removing Car from Finance Register Nightmare - zm
You are lucky getting the car off an Experian system so quickly as a few days.

sq

We are talking about two totally different Experian products here!!

Getting a car removed from their finance register is much simpler matter than resolving your above issue. Usually with a car issue like finance I have had the database changed within 24 hrs. I would imagine for the type of black list that you were on it would take considerably longer because of all the detection work involved.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 17/03/2008 at 19:20

Reply | Report as offensive | Link