Can i repossess my own car

three years ago a friend of mine agreed to take over repayments on my car.there was no contract just a verbal agreement that he could have the car once finance was settled.the finance term ended in may and he has stopped payments without informing me.there is stll an outatanding balance remaining made up of arrears and interest.he says hes not paying anymore and the car is his.he has the logbook and both keys.i want the car back if he dosent pay ,he says he will hide it.legally the car is mine and he has just been renting it from me until cleared at which time i would transfer ownership over.the finance company says i should not have given the logbook to him and the car should be registered to me although they are not concerened so long as the finance is settled.if he pays the finance he can keep the car i have no problem with that,but if he dosent i will just go and take it back.police say its civil ,can i just take it back?

If it is registered to you, and legally your's, report him for theft maybe?

the police said i cant.but yes its legally my car

I had the same thing happen a few years ago.

Let a work mate have my spare car, on the condition he paid me for it on the next pay day, a week later, he left the company.

Tried to get either the money, or the car off of him, but no go - according to the police it was a civil matter so I would have to take him to court.

Never saw him or the car again....

Some of these people described dont sound like very good friends

the police said i cant.but yes its legally my car

If you had a verbal agreement that he can have the car and you get X amount of money (in order to pay off the credit), and he hasn't given you X amount of money, that's a civil suit which would have to be pursued in the courts.

If you just report the car stolen because it's not where it should be, in his driveway, when you go to collect it ... they will have to treat it as stolen.

Sadly the car is his and the debt is yours, you may be able to sue your so called mate if you can prove that you had this agreement - contracts can be verbal in law but can also be difficult to prove.

Who needs enemies when you got mates like that.

Sadly the car is his and the debt is yours, you may be able to sue your so called mate if you can prove that you had this agreement - contracts can be verbal in law but can also be difficult to prove.

If the contract can't be proved to exist, both the car and the debt belong to the OP.

If it can be proved to exist, both belong to his so-called friend.

If the contract can't be proved to exist, both the car and the debt belong to the OP.

 

If it can be proved to exist, both belong to his so-called friend.

Not if the 'friend' has the logbook and keys it doesn't.

Not if the 'friend' has the logbook and keys it doesn't.

The hire purchase has not been paid off, so the OP cannot legally pass the logbook on to anybody. It still belongs to him.

The logbook proves who the keeper is, not the owner.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/motoring/buyingandsellingavehicle/registeringavehicle/dg_189329

To add -

This is a civil matter. You made a valid contract with the finance company. Any breach of that, they will enforce against you.

You then made a further contract with your friend. There will be a question as to whether that contract is enforceable.

Basically, for a valid contract you need three things - agreement (offer and acceptance of terms), consideration (exchange of some value, such as paying), and intent to create legal relations.

The difficulty for you, I suspect, is that I don't think you can use someone else's property (the finance company's) in a sub-contract, so I don't think the contract between you and your friend is valid. The bonus of that is that I don't think he can legally claim ownership of it. He certainly has an equitable interest in the car though which he could enforce through the Court.

Depends what you want to happen now. If the finance company want their money, either pay them, and then sue him for breach of the subcontract (or the equitable agreement), or don't pay them, let them sue you, and then bring him in as a second Defendant.

Or see a lawyer!

Further addition - it's not theft. He will no doubt say he believes he has a right to possess the property, and therefore has a defence. It's definitely civil.

Knock him out,take the car back and dont be so stupid in future.