Should I hand over my vehicle?

[donnybrasco]

Morning everyone, I just wanted to get some views about a situation I am in and not sure who or where to go about it. I purchased a vehicle in May 2018 under finance and unfortunately I got involved in an offroad accident in October 2018. I have fought with insurance and felt like they covered all their ground and tried the Obudsman route and didn't get far because of less evidence on my end. Now the vehicle is sitting in storage and has been since that time, and have really been in a difficult situation not knowing what to do. The insurance declared it a write off but this is questionable as it can switch on although it experienced frontal damage, it would need work lifting it up again.

My problem is that I have fallen short by 3 payments due to financial constraints and have received a call from a debt collector requesting for the an immediate payment of those installments which I do not have now or the vehicle will be taken and all legal fees will be required.

I do not know the implications of handing over the vehicle, how I can payback the short fall since it is still a lot of money owing. And with my current situation what it means. Am I able to go back to the bank or have they handed over the whole account?

I really hoped in the future I could have repaired it but seems circumstances will prevent that not to mention it depreciating while in storage.

 

[Lupus]

If the car was a write off the insurance would've paid you the book value of the car at the time. Switching on has got nothing to do with it being declared a write off, it's if it's economically viable to bring it back to standards.
Which as you've had it standing for almost 3 years waiting for money to fix it, means this sounds like they were right.
At this stage you Kak and betaal, not sure what made you think you could just not pay for 3 months of your debt. Make a plan

 

[marbro]

Dont hand it back , Pay it off rather.

If you hand it back, you are liable for the remaining balance, after they sell it on
so if they auction off your 100k car, and only get 20k for it because its scrap, you still owe 80k and dont have a car


Why didnt the insurance pay you out?
Remember, they write off a vehicle if its damages exceed a certain amount , i think its 65% of the book value?
so on your 100k car, if a new bonnet, lights, radiator, paint etc all come to 66k, its a write off.... Doesnt mean it cant be fixed, just means its not really worth it