Whose car is it?

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 650, 20 August 1996, Page 8

Whose car is it?

"A word of Advice" from the mlnistry of consumer Affairs. The other week we had a call from a young woman who was in quite a panic. She had just received a letter from a finance company who was threatening to repossess her car. She didn't know that money was owing on it. The woman had bought the car from a flatmate before he moved. He had conveniently forgotten to tell her that money was still owed on hire purchase. The finance company was still the legal owner and now they wanted the car back unless the outstanding amount was paid. There was little we could do, other than suggest to the woman that if she wanted to keep the vehicle that she came to some agreement with the . finance company. This she did. But nevertheless, the 'bargain car' ended up costing her-$2000 more than she anticipated. If she had bought from a licensed motor vehicle dealer, the problem would not have happened. The Motor Vehicle Dealers Act guarantees that the vehicle is the legal property of the dealer to sell, and the Motor Vehicle Securities Act ends the owner' s rights to take the car back. Consumers do not have that same protection in a private sale. In this young woman' scase, the person selling the car still owed money to a finance company under a hire purchase agreement. Equally he could have owed money to a loan company with the car listed as security. In any event, until the loan is paid off, the company making the loan is able to take the vehicle and sell it to get their money back.

Fortunately there is a way for people buying vehicles in a private sale to check whether the seller has the right to sell. The system is called Autocheck. This is a motor vehicles securities register set up by the Justice Department. Autocheck lists all vehicles which are registered as having money owed on them or are security for a debt. Autocheck can be contacted on the toll-free number 0800-658-934, Monday and Tuesday between 9am and 5pm, Wednesday to Friday 9am to 7pm, and Saturday and Sunday between 9am and 4pm. Y ou will need to gi ve the operators the registration and chassis numbers of the vehicle, and they will tell you if there is an interest registered against it. If there is an interest registered against it, we advise you not to buy. Y ou could however arrange with the seller to pay off the third party interest. We then suggest you ring Autocheck again to check that the seller has done this before you finalise the sale. If there is no interest registered against the car on the day you ring Autocheck, and you buy the vehicle before 9am the following day, you will be guaranteed to get full ownership of the vehicle. If you want proof of your call to Autocheck, you can get a Certificate of Entry for $5 which prints off the entry on the register. We certainly advise consumers to do this important check before buying a car privately. It's a shame that the young woman had not known this when she bought her bargain car. It would have saved her both money and disappointment.