Needing to sell car

General Discussion
1

Hi does any know if you can sell a car in France if there is credit owed on it.
As I said before my husband died at the end of July and he had bought the car with a deposit and credit, he had taken out insurance for death but they refuse to cancel the loan because he had a blood clot 3.5 years ago and he died with that being part of the cause of his death.

2

Doubtful.
One of the documents in the sale process is the certificat de non gage that the seller applies for, to prove to the buyer that the vehicle is clear of any kind of debt.
Before the system went online it was up to the buyer to insist on this if the seller didn’t provide it voluntarily, and for a cheap car not everyone bothered. Not sure how it works with ANTS but it may be that this certificate is one of the documents that automatically has to be provided.
I think you would need to explain the situation to a prospective buyer and see if they will come to an arrangement to pay the outstanding finance off, in exchange for taking ownership.

3

Is this English or French finance?
Either way, if your insurance doesn’t cover it, you have little alternative in my view other than to discuss disposal arrangements with the finance house.

4

Margaret, can you let us know the make and model of the car, mileage etc., and desired price? I have a few friends looking for cars at the moment so could spread the word.

5

Hi Sandy it is a Peugeot 2008 suv, first registered August 2016, 20000kms, cost In June was 13000 euros will accept 11000euros. Guarantee remaining until December.

Thanks,

Margaret

6

The colour is white.

7

It is French Insurance, what do you mean by disposal arrangements with the finance house?

Thanks

8

If I understood your post correctly, you want to dispose of the car.
The finance company presumably own the car or have significant interest in it so will be concerned with how the disposal of the car is dealt with.
Or at least with repayment of the loan during the disposal process.

9

This is an informative article… Margaret…

I think, how you proceed will depend on how the loan contract was worded.

I would not want you to be left still owing the Loan company, after you have sold the car… :roll_eyes:

10

I don’t think you speak a lot of French Margaret? The article Stella posted basically says that you need to check the detail of the credit agreement as in some cases you cannot sell the car freely.

11

Thanks Joan… I was presuming that someone who speaks French is helping Margaret through the maze of things to be done…

Certainly Margaret needs to understand exactly what the Loan is all about and how she can proceed… our Mairie often helps out our Brits who get themselves in difficulties… perhaps her Mairie could help… just a thought…

12

My Marie is French and he does not speak English. It is my French neighbour who is helping me, he reads the letters phones the necessary people and makes and comes to appointments with me, how we understand each other I don’t know. All the people we new who speak French fluently have all been to busy to help me.

13

I will be getting an appointment with a juridique who speaks some English and let her deal with it. I don’t think notaires deal with this type of thing do they.

14

Hi Margaret. Yes you can sell a car with outstanding finance on it, however you have to ensure the finance is cleared completely at the point of sale. In effect you have to sell at the same or more than is outstanding on the finance. For example if there is €10,000 outstanding and you get €11,000 for the car, your purchaser will need to pay €10,000 to the finance company to gain clear title and then the balance of €1000 is payable to you. It is in the purchasers interest to ensure the finance is cleared.
It is very normal for cars to be sold before finance agreements come to an end, there are just some formalities to cover. First port of call is with the finance company to find out what the outstanding balance is on the car. If there is more finance than the car is worth then it may be a case of handing the car back to the finance company. Get some legal advice if you take this option though to ensure there is no outstanding liability to you.

3 Likes
15

I am going to the Notaire this morning for advise and then tomorrow I am going to garage he bought it from to see what they can do, he only had the car for 5 weeks before his death.
Thanks

1 Like
16

Hi Tim I have been told that I cannot sell the car without paying off the finance company. I am trying to fight them on this because I have researched that a emboli pulmonaire is not considered a recurring illness and the last one he had was 4 years ago, he was not on any medication, he saw the heart specialist in March and his own doctor in June and there were no problems found, he died 5 weeks later.

17

Does it say anything in the insurance about pre-existing conditions? Did they ask about pre-existing conditions when he took the insurance out, and if so did he declare it? It should be black and white in the policy.
Good luck with it and stay strong, this must be a terrible time for you.

18

No it does not and they asked no health problems, even if they had I don’t think Gordon would have said anything about it because there was no mention from the specialist he could get another one and he had not been ill before his death. This is no life it’s an existance.