We Buy Any Car

[DKZ5745]

This month has been a very difficult one for me so far.

My Brother died after a very short illness on the 1st of June. It has been a very sad time for me after losing both my parents and my sister over the last 3 years.

I am the executor of his estate, and he had a 66 plate BMW 420D Sport Coupe. 4K on the clock, pristine condition except for a couple of alloy curbs.

I was quite shocked to find that he had taken a pcp finance deal on the car with BMW finance, and that he still owed £32k on the car. The finance company told me I could hand it back to them, along with £11.5k which after I stopped laughing, I realised I was actually quite deep in the brown stuff.

I was unable to sell privately until after the probate has gone through which is going to be at least another 6 weeks, but they agreed I could use a trader if we paid off the redemption figure which was only valid until 6the July of £26.5k. The trouble was all the traders also wanted the probate docs, so I was stuffed.

It seemed like my only solution was to sell my Z and use the funds to take on the payments for the BMW & keep it.

We Buy Any Car said they could buy it now without the probate docs as I was the only next of kin, but their offer was awful £21.6k, but sadly, this seemed like the best worst solution.

When I took the car in, the guy (who had said over the phone he would wave the £75 admin fee & overlook two tiny scuffs on the offside alloys) went round the car as if he had a microscope. He found a virtually non existent "stone chip" on the front bumper which was literally the size of a pin head (I am very particular about cars & I had polished it that morning and not even seen it), he also included the damage to all 4 wheels despite the offside having very minor scuffs (the rear was almost invisible), and he stuck on the £75 admin. His quote of £21615 suddenly became £21040 after his inspection. (He was charging £194 to "repair" the bumper "damage").

Unfortunately, I knew if I kept the car until I got the probate docs through, the redemption figure was going up by nearly £1300 as the bank had stopped the payments, so I literally had no real choice but to accept his ridiculous offer. The car was 6 months old and cost over £35k new.

The moral of this story is, treat We Buy Any Car as you would a pay day loan company. Use them if you have literally no other choice, but expect to be ripped off big time, and realise it's going to cost you a lot of money in the long run.

I had to put in over £5k of my own money just to get rid of the car! Maybe "We steal Any Car" would be a more appropriate name.

 

[2retro]

What a sad tale. I'm sorry for you loss, mate. Maybe things will take a turn for the better now.

And yeah, We Buy Any Car should wear masks, the robbing b*stards!

 

[TAC]

Very sorry to hear of your bad news mate
I never realise being the executor of his estate would make you liable for his debt.
I thought that any debt would not be passed on is there any property to cover your 5k

 

[DKZ5745]

It is actually the estate that is liable for the debts, but ultimately, as executor, the money will come out of whatever is left as my inheritance, so it is in my interest to try to minimise any costs involved. In the case of the car, leaving it until after everything is sorted was going to cost a lot extra, so it was in my interest to pay off the loan from my own funds.

Yes, I will eventually recover this, and all the other expenses I've had to shell out so far. It's like my wife said though, how would people manage if they didn't have the money? I assume all would have to be held until probate was granted, but that would then incur a lot of additional costs, interest, missed payments etc.

All at a time when all I wanted to do was grieve for my loss, I was very close to my Brother, I was by his side when he died, so it has hit me hard, I didn't really want to spend my last two weeks on the phone almost every day trying to resolve this direct debit payment, or that unpaid bill.
I can't believe that we can't have a system where in Cases of this nature, everything is just held in a frozen state until all the probate/administration is sorted out. This would give relatives time to grieve & not have to worry about time limited redemption figures or frozen bank accounts.

I still have a dining table full of paperwork, trying to sort through things one by one, but at least the car is now resolved, which was weighing me down a lot.

Thanks for your kind words.

I must have been in a bit of a state, I haven't even cleaned my Z for over a week :shock:

 

[DKZ5745]

We used to eat here

 

[neilgsxr69]

Sorry to hear of your loss Pete hope you get everything sorted soon mate.
Best wishes.

 

[RCZIain]

Sorry for your loss

Sent from my Vodafone Smart ultra 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Cuore Sportivo]

Sounds most unfortunate.

Used WBAC in Barnsley when I got rid of my last Alfa before the Z. It was mint, but that didnt stop the bloke spending an hour trying to find any flaws. He gave up in the end, and I got the original online offered price. I suspect this happens rarely though.

 

[DKZ5745]

In actual fact they did help me out of a sticky situation, without them It would have cost me a lot more, but that doesn't alter the fact that they took advantage of my situation, knowing I had very little choice than to accept their offer.
The original offer was pants, so knocking nearly £600 off a pristine car was just kicking someone when they were down.

 

[Cuore Sportivo]

In actual fact they did help me out of a sticky situation, without them It would have cost me a lot more, but that doesn't alter the fact that they took advantage of my situation, knowing I had very little choice than to accept their offer.
The original offer was pants, so knocking nearly £600 off a pristine car was just kicking someone when they were down.

Definately.

Been trying to come with a different way you could have got out of the situation, and I'm stumped.

I guess sometimes we just have to write things off to experience, remember the important things, and just get on with enjoying the life we have.

Still searching for a new Alfa myself, and the more I come into contact with car dealers, and buyers, the more I realise lots of the trade doesn't cover itself in ethical glory.

 

[Anonymous]

Very sad news.
About those car buying company, avoid. All of them will charge a inspection fee, find non existent faults and knock even lower the initial already low estimate. Unless you're desperate, avoid. Heartless crooks. Used we buy any car and sell your car. Never again. Will raise the money from the credit cards if I need to.

 

[Plecodoras]

DKZ5745

I share your anguish and your sorrow.

We have just come out of a very dark tunnel ourselves after my wife lost her father a year ago and we were executors of the Will also, and it has taken the best part of that year sorting accounts, land registry this and bills that, you sadly know the score. I remember reading the posts you put up about your brothers Merc and the rip of he got when he traded it for the BMW.
I used Evans Halshaw to buy our car, they guarantee to beat WBAC and they did and like you keep your Z in tip top condition - so did I, it was immaculate - so I thought because the guy still managed to find a flaw in the paintwork and knock £200 off... incredible, I even challenged him about their cars and he said I have to high standards !! But I did get £700 more overall and I know this won't help you but for anyone reading this and Like DKZ5745 if you have no alternative, they are worth a try and better than the robbing B'strds @ WBAC.
You do highlight a very good point and like yourself it took an age for probate to come through, they should freeze payments like this until probate has been granted and the estate is in a position to deal with them. We executed the estate ourselves and just got a solicitor to grant probate in our name. This way it kept the fees small, since we had contacted all the relevant bodies anyway and done most of the footwork first. As long as everything is documented and we set up an executors account at the bank and everything in and out went through this account, so it could be documented for future reference if queried.
Anyway, sorry to hear your sad loss, keep strong and plough on eventually the sun does shine....

 

[RCZash]

Hi Pete,
Really sorry to hear of your loss.
The smiles will eventually return.
Best wishes Jeff and Frances.

 

[DKZ5745]

Thanks for the kind comments, I will keep remembering happier times....

 

[braveheart]

Horrible situation and sorry for your loss...They should be wearing a mask those bastards !!

 

[howardf]

Thanks for the kind comments, I will keep remembering happier times....

I remember reading your post about your brothers Mercedes.

Sorry to hear about your loss...look after yourself mate....H

 

[Cuore Sportivo]

That merc looked awesome.

 

[DKZ5745]

It sounded & drove as good as it looked, if he had kept that, I would have been sooooooo tempted to keep it, even though that would have meant letting the Z go. That Merc was something else.

Almost glad he chopped it for the Beamer, it made the decision much easier.

 

[DKZ5745]

Thanks for the kind comments, I will keep remembering happier times....

I remember reading your post about your brothers Mercedes.

Sorry to hear about your loss...look after yourself mate....H

Thanks Howard, it is getting easier, probably as I have so much to sort out, so it is taking up all my time. It looks like we are going to be able to put his house in the market soon, so if we sell that, we can start sorting the debts out and get some cash back that we have had to pay out.

I know that eventually we will be financially better off, but that doesn't really help with the way I'm feeling, in fact if anything, it sort of makes me feel guilty, which is worse.

 

[renegade79]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Sounds like a very stressful situation! I loved your brothers AMG. It was a fantastic motor.
That was a disgraceful behaviour from WBAC. They will make some money on that car when it eventually gets sold on....b,&£&-&@s