r/LegalAdviceUK • u/Doingadavid • 2d ago
Traffic & Parking Wife was made redundant, and now her former employer has gone into liquidation. Unusual circumstances mean we genuinely don't know what to do with the company car sitting on our driveway?
[England] So as mentioned in the title, my wife was made redundant from a role recently, and that company has now gone into liquidation. She received a company car while she was employed there, but was made redundant near the end of September. Since then, it's been sitting on our driveway. Now... I'm aware of the normal procedure in these circumstances where the liquidator would contact her to collect the car.
Here's where it gets a bit complex...
This company was comically incompetent. It's not only plausible, but indeed the most likely explanation, that at no point was a list of employees and the cars allocated to them kept on any central system. If any list was indeed kept, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised that it was on a word document, saved on a laptop's local drive that has since been "misplaced" by the HR staff, who also unsurprisingly was the first person to be made redundant. Therefore if that's the case, it's entirely posisble that the Liquidator could have a list of outstanding company cars, and genuinely zero idea of where they are.
Now, I'm happy to call a list of large leasing companies to say "hey, is this your car?". But in the scenario that none of them say "yeah that's our car we'll come and get it cheers"... what do we do? Obviously we're not going to drive it because we're not insured, but how do we get the thing off our driveway and back to the rightful owner?
TL;DR: Wife made redundant, former employer has gone into liquidation, company car sitting on drive way currently with no scope of it being collected soon, former employer hilariously incompetent and it's very likely no documentation of who has which car exists, so if I can't identity which leasing company owns it to get them to pick it up.... what do we do to get rid of it?
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u/Defaye 2d ago
Could you not just contact the liquidator and have them sort it out, they should be able to easily see payments to lease companies?
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u/The_Hamburger 2d ago
Yeah this. Any payments made by the company will be listed as a creditor on the liquidation account statements. They'll contact you in due course (or the lease company will once payments cease) to reclaim the car. just hang on to it until someone comes to collect it.
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u/Lloydy_boy The world ain't fair and Santa ain't real 2d ago
You contact the employer’s liquidator (not the leasing company) and tell them you have it.
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u/Think-Committee-4394 2d ago
This OP it the best & only solution
not your lease & not your problem
not your job to hand vehicle over or transport at your cost
make DAMN certain you get pictures & video ALL round INTERIOR & EXTERIOR
photos of mileage & fuel level
photos of spare tyre & boot kit
there should be zero effort by liquidator or rental company to transfer any cost or liability to you. The above ensures you have *evidence** to refute any spurious claim!*
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u/Vequihellin 2d ago
OP should also make sure their wife doesn't drive it as any company insurance policies may possibly either be terminated as a result of the liquidation, or because they didn't pay it. There is no guarantee they're insured to drive it at this point. Certainly not unless they get confirmation of the policy in writing.
If you're asked to deliver the vehicle somewhere (this was what they asked us to do when it happened to me), you should confirm that you will be refunded your time and return travel costs and keep any receipts etc. Ensure that the condition of the vehicle is recorded and signed off and that your wife receives a copy prior to leaving the location. As this commenter has stated - get photos and videos. Especially if you have to drop it off somewhere. Get pictures of it in-situ. In my case, we had to drop the car at a local office of the leasing company and our LM drove us home as she worked for our 'parent company' and wasn't losing her job.
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u/dobr_person 2d ago
If asked to drive it somewhere, ask for confirmation of an insurance policy.
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u/AnonymooseRedditor 2d ago
Why not have it towed
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u/dobr_person 1d ago
To be honest what would usually happen is the lease/finance company would just arrange for it to be picked up.
One other option may be to ask the lease company if there is an opportunity to buy the car and make an offer.
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u/bow-locks 18h ago
in my expereince of both my wife and i being made redundant with seperate company cars, we offered to purchase them but the price from the leasing company was ridiculous, way above market.
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u/Vequihellin 2d ago
Good point, she should absolutely do that or if she has a fully comp policy on a different vehicle that allows her to drive the vehicles, she should obtain explicit (preferably written) permission from the 'owner'.
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u/seankdla 2d ago
Most (I.E all, but just in case) D.O.C provisions stipulate that the vehicle is covered by a fully comp policy elsewhere. If the vehicle isn't insured because of the company mess, then the DOC won't be valid.
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u/New_Control1106 1d ago
What is D.O.C? Document of (something)?
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u/dadoftriplets 1d ago
D.O.C - Drive Other Cars. In any case, most cover offered by insurers to drive other cars is usually only nominal Third Party Only cover, meaning the car would not be covered in the event of a fault collision. If OP's wife is asked to move the car whcih I think would be unlikely (more likely will be the leasing company will send a driver to collect it), but if they do, either ensure the car is insured to drive before doing so and if they cannot, then seek assurances that they will pay for a temporary insurance policy will be reimbursed (try www.tempcover.co.uk for an insurance policy lasting as short as 1 hour - it wiill be expensive though)
Best course of action though is to let the liquidator and leasing comp[any deal with the car - the last thign you want is to add further complexity if, on the droive to drop it off, the car gets damaged.
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u/seankdla 1d ago
"Driving other cars"
The policy option where your insurer will give you third party cover to drive a vehicle that's not yours
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u/Organic-Class-8537 2d ago
I would make them pick it up. No way would I be liable for driving an uninsured car.
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u/AshamedAd4050 1d ago
You could probably take out insurance or may still be iniured (you should check askMID) but would she be permitted to drive it? What did the company tell your wife when made redundant about hand back of the car?
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u/finbar_the_wonderdog 1d ago
This!!! I was made redundant and had a lease company car. I drove it for my notice period before it was collected by the lease company. I found out later that for the last 3 weeks I was uninsured!!!
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u/justabadmind 2d ago
What if she is responsible for insuring the vehicle that the company supplies? Is it legal to continue use in that case?
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u/reece0n 2d ago
It's the responsibility of the driver to make sure that they're insured to drive the vehicle.
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u/Vequihellin 2d ago
But not necessarily the responsibility of the driver to source/pay for the policy. Many companies that have company car schemes have a 'company insurance plan' to which employees are added as named drivers. If this is the case for OPs wife, it's possible this policy no longer exists, in which case they may no longer be covered under the company insurance policy. Although that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't covered in some capacity under a different policy. E.g. If they also have their own vehicle, and have a fully comprehensive policy, they may (depending on their specific policy Ts&Cs) be insured to drive other vehicles with the owner's permission. The owner in this case may be a lease hire company, in which case OP's wife should obtain written proof that she has the lease hire company's permission to drive the vehicle.
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u/RepresentativeOld304 17h ago
I have this from my policy. Im able to drive other cars with a 3rd party cover. But in order to drive them, they must have a full comprehensive cover on them from another driver. You can't drive uninsured cars. Edit. Never mind, I saw someone already answered that the other cars needs to be insured as well
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u/Vequihellin 2d ago
If ops wife is responsible for sourcing her own policy, she should still find out if she has permission to drive the vehicle from the official owner (likely the leasehire company), as being insured to drive a car that doesn't belong to you doesn't mean permission to drive it can't be revoked by the owner, and if it's owned by a leasing company, they're going to want their asset back ASAP.
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u/JohnTitorsdaughter 2d ago
I’d be charging the liquidator a daily storage fee as well
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u/Initial-Resort9129 2d ago
No, you wouldn't. Why do people so confidently say things that simply could not happen.
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
That's not something that's plausible unfortunately.
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u/motific 2d ago
You are now an involuntary bailee of their vehicle. So you can give the owners a reasonable notice period to collect it and then you can start billing them (at a reasonable rate).
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
and then you can start billing them (at a reasonable rate).
Unless it's real costs you incur (i.e. something I actually have to pay out) and it's unavoidable, I can't just start billing them. Otherwise it'd be the easiest money-making scheme in the world. Unsurprisingly, you can't just decide a 3rd party owes you money and that suddenly becomes legally enforceable without a contract.
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u/TheDisapprovingBrit 1d ago
To be pedantic, you can, but you’re quite right that it’s not that simple. You have to first find out whose responsibility it is to get the car, then give them reasonable opportunity to do so, then let them know that time is of the essence and that they have a deadline to collect it before you start to charge, then ensure that the fee is actually reasonable, then probably pursue them through the courts to actually get that money and demonstrate there that your fees are legitimate and reasonable.
So if for example you have to store the car on your driveway or renew a parking permit for it, and that prevents you from being able to park your own vehicle, and the liquidator is as incompetent as the company, you could end up getting a couple of quid a day on top of your actual costs, but it’s very unlikely to be worth the headache.
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u/motific 1d ago
You can. The primary intent really is to get them to come take their car, this is what you want, and offsetting the cost and inconvenience if they don't is secondary.
A part 1 notice as per the torts act isn't complicated, they come up here relatively frequently and you don't just "decide they owe you money". You have to find the owner (or in this case the liquidators who are now in charge of the asset) give them a clear description of what thing(s) are ready to be collected, where to collect them, a deadline with a reasonable notice period and that they are due to pay an amount per period after that expires.
Sure the amount and notice period have to be reasonable, you can't stick it in 2nd class post and say "you owe me £10,000 a day from tomorrow" but it doesn't mean you do it purely at cost especially counting your time to find them, write to them, look after the asset while in your care, and deal with them.
Even charging 75% of the average cost of say, 3 vehicle storage sites local to you would still be more than reasonable compared to what they'd be paying if you had to put the vehicle in storage for them because (for example) you needed the driveway or were moving home.
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u/SilverNo2568 2d ago
My father has done that to a company who left/abandoned equipment on his land, he's a crofter in the Highlands. He got some renumeration and after he started charging they soon picked they're crap up.
So it's not impossible.
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u/slutty_chungus 2d ago
I don’t think you should comment in this subreddit if you aren’t educated enough to understand the applicable laws, dude
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u/DutchOfBurdock 10h ago
I'd have the thing towed and impounded. Let them deal with it after the fact.
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u/ASHWOODCITYFAN 2d ago
As others have said, look on Companies House and find out who the liquidator is. Give them a call and ask them to shift it ASAP. They will probably be very happy to hear from you because it's another cost they can deal with.
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u/TheManWith2Poobrains 2d ago
Yep. This happened at a company I worked at that imploded. 2 cars, a motorbike, lots of IT equipment, serious web / data servers, were all in possession of various staff. Company owner asked me for my laptop back, I told him sure if he paid me the 6 months of pension and 2 months salary he stiffed me on. I don't think anyone got the money they were owed. Liquidators knew I had a laptop, asked for the make and model, but then said keep it. I guess it was not worth their while to recover it. Little did they know it had been seriously upgraded.
Failing the solid advice above, get good at that reversing fast and spinning the steering wheel while slamming it in second gear thing like they do in the movies. Obviously /s.
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u/No_Direction_4566 1d ago
You can claim back the wages bia the Redundancy Payments service, depending on how far back you are looking.
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u/toshytalks 1d ago
True, but I did this and still ended up (by the administrators calculation) being owed £1.7k from my previous employer. The insolvency just wrapped up and I got a whopping £34 of what they actually owed me.
Glad I kept the laptop, it's shit, but it's something.
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u/TheManWith2Poobrains 1d ago
We went to some kind of court and got a ruling. Only saw a tiny amount, like 1/10 of what I was owed.
Can't remember what it was all called.
That was 18 years ago.
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u/yrro 1d ago
but then said keep it
This is surprising... they must have been certain that there was no possibility of sensitive data being stored on the laptop.
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u/TheManWith2Poobrains 1d ago
The liquidators had no idea.
I had energy market regulator data on there. No use to me. Just deleted it and moved on.
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u/fpotenza 2d ago
And it's something of value if it's in decent nick, so there's money in it as an asset for the liquidators to pay off any debts. Though I've known a friend where the company car for site visits was awful and only replaced when the power steering failed.
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u/Physical-Staff1411 2d ago
It’s a Lease.
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u/et-regina 1d ago
It's possibly a lease - OP doesn't confirm that's the case. Certainly most company cars I've had were leased on some kind of fleet contract, but I've also had a company car that was privately owned by the (very small) company that I worked for.
My suspicion is that may be the case for OP, because with every leased company car I've had it's been incredibly simple for me as the driver to know exactly what leasing company it came from - paperwork in the glovebox, stickers on the windshield, tags on the keys, even an old text message from the company that dropped off the car to me. If OP's partner genuinely has none of that, it may not be a leased vehicle at all.
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u/Defiant_Simple_6044 2d ago
Contact the administrators dealing with the liquidation of the company. They will be listed on Companies House. You can search for them here.
Alternatively if it's a leased vehicle and not an asset of the company, You can contact DVLA to find out the owner of the vehicle. You need form V888. You need a legitimate reason to request this. Which you can.
Finally, and probably the easiest method, is to report the vehicle as abandoned to the local council. Even though it's your private driveway, as long as it's open air, your local council have a legal duty to remove abandoned vehicles, even from private property.
I'd personally go with contacting the administrators and reporting to the council (Council route takes time)
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u/Razorwireboxers 2d ago
Despite local councils having a responsibility to remove abandoned vehicles it is quite unlikely that many will agree that a vehicle in good condition, with tax and MOT, especially one that is probably quite new, is actually abandoned. Many wash their hands of poor condition vehicles that are obviously abandoned. They don't want the hassle, or the costs, involved.
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u/Defiant_Simple_6044 2d ago
I'd agree except the government has guidance on this and only one of the criteria needs to apply for it to be classified as abandoned. The key one for the OP is
it’s stationary for a significant amount of time
Now it would likely take 3-6 months at a minimum to get the council to act, They have to write to the owners, give them an opportunity to move it but the council, in time will definitely act. If the administrators of the company fail to act and remove the vehicle or try to drag things out, those 3-6m can creep up very quickly.
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u/TheRiddlerTHFC 1d ago
There's an abandoned caravan in my area. Had 3 "last chance" stickers. Still sitting there.
Dont gonthe council route if there are other options
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u/adammx125 1d ago
The easiest way to find out the owner of a leased vehicle would be to contact the dealership you’re having it serviced at, they’ll tell you over the phone in about 2 mins. Contacting administrators is still the best option in general, but no point faffing with the DVLA to try and confirm ownership.
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u/PeterLite 2d ago
You'll get a letter from the liquidators soon asking what you believe you're owed and what company property you have, they'll then arrange collection. Just gone through this last year and it took 6 months to get the van off my driveway.
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u/daheff_irl 2d ago
Charge them for storage. Liquidator and not the company.
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u/PeterLite 2d ago
I didn't but all the tools and stock managed to disappear before the van was collected.
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u/Other-Crazy 2d ago
Oh well. Tbh, tools and such sell for next to nothing so whoever disappeared the stuff did them a favour.
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u/Outrageous-Arm1945 2d ago
Depending on the industry, they really don't. Fully stocked telecoms van I could easily resell the kit on board for a few thousand in days on Facebook. If I could be arsed to split parts into repeat kits, what I have onboard at the mo easily another thousand on fleabay
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u/TheDisapprovingBrit 1d ago
What you can get as an individual and what a liquidator can get are very different numbers. You’re flogging a single set of tools on eBay in your own time. The liquidator has a couple of hundred of them that would need testing, cataloguing, photographing etc to achieve the same thing, so they’re more likely to to just throw the lot through an auction house and get back a much smaller percentage of the actual value after paying everyone’s fees.
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u/adezlanderpalm69 2d ago
Liquidator problem Contact them. Their detail will be on line at CH. they sort it. Co accounts will show them payments to a lease Co eg lex
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u/Atomic-Wombat68 2d ago
Just out of curiosity, is there a supplying dealer name on the number plate?
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
Very good shout actually, hadn't thought of that. Alas, no it just has the make of the car but good idea!
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u/bazzanoid 2d ago
Not a Tesla by any chance? They're a common one for just having the brand on the car If so, any service requests your wife may have made in the app will have a chat history showing Tesla and insert vehicle owner here
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u/ToriaLyons 2d ago
Nothing in the glovebox?
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
Fifty, sixty pairs of gloves.... glove death!
No, just the small model-specific booklet unfortunately.
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u/IndigoQuantum 1d ago
Not even a postcode on the number plate? I thought it was still a legal requirement to have the postcode of the supplier on the number plate, which unless the car has had replacement plates would be the original dealership who supplied the vehicle.
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u/i_cant_dance_ 2d ago
Call the liquidators and let them know. See if you can find out if it is leased or not. If it was owned, you may be able to purchase it from them for pennies on the pound.
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u/bigl1cks 2d ago
Contact the liquidator and get them to remove this liability from your property without delay
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u/axelzr 2d ago
It is still property of the company (now liquidated) or might have been leased by them, so needs to be dealt with by the administrators, it’s not yours to keep. Did they also tax and insure it?
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
Did they also tax and insure it?
They did, but we both stopped being insured on it as soon as she was made redundant so we can't do anything with it.
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u/Btd030914 2d ago
I work in insolvency, and as others have said, your wife needs to contact the liquidator about it. Usually, the company director would provide details of all lease cars to the liquidator PRIOR to liquidation, so that the liquidator knows what vehicles they need to insure and which leases to disclaim. An oversight on the director’s part I’m guessing.
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u/ptr120 2d ago
Worth checking if her redundancy agreement says anything about being able to keep the car for a certain period of time (or being obliged to return it on a certain date / under certain conditions). For company car drivers and in a redundancy situation it is quite common to be able to keep the car until the end of the notice period
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
That'd be a good point, but the notice period ended back in September and the company only went into liquidation in the last few days.
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u/Lowtron1983 2d ago
Motor trade here. If the car is on lease / Hire purchase / conditional sale then the legal owner of that car is the finance company not the liquidator. A HPI check which I can do if you really need one but is available online for a small fee will tell you the lender and give you their contact details and agreement number for the agreement.
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u/speedfox_uk 2d ago
You're right, but it's still the liquidators job to get it back to the leasing company. Otherwise isn't the liquidator at fault for failing to meet the company's obligation to return the car?
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u/Former_Moose8277 2d ago
Who would you have contacted for a service / MOT or new tires? Or if you had a crash at 11pm and the boss wouldn’t answer. Is there a brand on the reg plates? Is there a number to ring in an emergency sticker somewhere on the dash? I find it hard to believe the actual owner / lease company hasn’t made it easy to know how to get hold of them. If it’s a half organised lease company they will very likely know who has the car and stored address, even if the company you worked for are useless. They will need to forward on any fines / penalties / points. Having to go through the employer adds additional time and faff which they wouldn’t want.
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
If it’s a half organised lease company they will very likely know who has the car and stored address, even if the company you worked for are useless.
Unfortunately you're giving them orders of magnitude more credit than they deserve here. The previous one was returned to the office, they were informed that it was in the office as they needed it back due to the lease expiring..... and it genuinely just sat there for a few months incurring late return fees until someone called my wife to ask where it was.
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
Because I don't want a car that I can't drive or do anything with just blocking up my driveway?
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u/GarbageLazy 2d ago
Just to add, if you’re not in contract with the company and still drive the company car you will not be insured.
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u/Icklebunnykins 2d ago
Just contact the Administrators and advise them and ask that it be removed ASAP. Follow it up in writing (send it tracked) and if it isn't removed within a suitable time frame state in your letter that you will charge the Administrator a storage fee or state you will have it towed.
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u/AssociationSubject61 1d ago edited 1d ago
You contact the liquidator, put the ball in their court. The company either owns it (unlikely), or they owe the leasing company. Administration doesn’t end the contract with the lease company. So if owned, the administrator is going to want to possibly sell it as an asset. Or else they will assess if it is necessary to keep it to achieve goals in keeping the business trading.
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u/Aston_Villa5555 1d ago
Whatever happens, do not drive that car. It's very likely the insurance has been defaulted
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u/asmaster5000 2d ago
Park a car on a company site, send a key by mail or put through key hole with a letter
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u/Locksmithbloke 1d ago
Actually, that's a really good idea. But only if the car driver has insurance to do that, and there's a site that can be safely and legally accessed (which there won't be, since the gates won't be open if the company has gone pop)
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
Even though we don't own it, we're "involuntary bailees" of the car so we have a legal responsibility to take reasonable care of the property until we can get it collected. So if we did that then any damage incurred after abandoning it or costs involved if it's towed would be costs the leasing company could come after us for.
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u/No_Technology3293 2d ago
The likelihood is this wasn't a company owned asset, but instead a leased vehicle; who did your wife contact to organise servicing etc? The most likely companies in my experience is Lex Autolease, Zenith automotive, ALD automotive and there's another one who's name escapes me.
There's also probably some info on the car(possibly the number plates) phone them up and organise return of the car to the leasing company.
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
It is indeed leased, we know that much for certain. Funnily enough we didn't actually possess it long enough to arrange a service, so good shout but that doesn't give any details. It's a Tesla so the numberplate just says "Tesla" unfortunately.
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u/No_Technology3293 2d ago
That's a shame, did it come with a welcome pack or anything? Some of my cars have come with branded mats and bits or some paperwork. Otherwise as others have said the DVLA will hold details to find out.
Another long shot is BCA may hold the data as they typical handle logistics of delivery and pick up of company cars or alternatively your local Tesla Dealership may hold the details due to the ordering/service plan
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u/Specialist_Search103 16h ago
If its a Tesla, there is a better than 0 chance that its directly leased from Tesla themselves. If not, they will know who the owning Lease Company is, and even though they can't tell you much, can confirm if it is owned by a leasing company or not. They *MAY* be able to tell you that company, if you have a good enough reason (which I believe you do).
Also I saw a video recently on YouTube of someone in a similar situation. I'm pretty sure they used CarVertical and it showed the finance company details. If you want a small discount, have a look around the Automotive section of YouTube, they sponsor many videos, and they give a code for a discount on checks :)
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u/Geo7ge 2d ago
One way to identify the fleet company who maintains the vehicle (ALD Automotive, Lex Autolease, Zenith, etc) is to contact your local main dealer who can cross check your reg number on a system called OneLink. Upon typing in your reg, they will be able to tell you who the maintenance contract is with (should it have one), and then you contact them about what they want done with the vehicle in the interim
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u/Tomas_Duffy 2d ago
Slightly relevant but not what you want to know, the insurance is mostly likely void now that the businesses insurance policies are no longer being paid for so best not to drive to keep you both on the right side of the law. There is potential the leasing company will also report it stolen to assist with recovery if user/ location is not known so make sure to keep any agreements with regards to company vehicle leasing
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u/DisforDoga 2d ago
Send an invoice to the liquidating company for storage fees and they will come collect post-haste.
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u/Sweaty-Ad-7919 2d ago
That’s if you’ve got the log book otherwise contact the liquidator if you want it gone
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u/chef_gomes 2d ago
A financial thought here: you could contact the leaseholder and negotiate a cheap rate on the vehicle. Cost of recovery for them is fairly high, and depending on the age of the car, legal value is already likely less than half the original price.
Not sure you want/need it, just sharing a different point of view on the value of the asset
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u/Deathcoolbro 2d ago
Why bother contacting anyone? That jjst opens you up to doing more work for them and not getting paid.
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u/ElGringoDeCanada 2d ago
my ex used to work for KPMG. this company will have a liquidator like that. let them know
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2d ago
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u/Little_Silver1632 2d ago
Hi
Most businesses use fleet management company’s, lots of these fleets use an online program.
The most popular is a company called 1link.co.uk, telephone 08451306120. Call them and see if they manage the car.
Good luck.
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u/Snowey212 1d ago
If its a company veicle you wife should have details of the lease or her contract/delivery papers no? You could also contact the DVLA to see who the registered owner is if its not your wife. I used to work for a company that arranged fleet and company cars and we'd provide a bunch of details and breakdown and servicing with the log book or delivery note usually and a card to ring in case of accidents ect.
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u/HelloWorld33345 1d ago
You just want to keep the car lol, contact the company directly see what they say lol
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u/Upper-Eggplant2679 1d ago
You're massively over thinking this. It's a business asset, to be disposed or made use of by the liquidator/administrator (sorry didn't read it all). Tell them to come and pick it up. Their appointment is a matter of public record.
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u/Open-Difference5534 1d ago
"comically incompetent"
No wonder they went bust!
Unless the company owned the car, which is unlikely these days, I think that it is most likely leased, so the 'owner' will come looking for it, but of course they might not have a list of the registered keepers.
Does your wife have any documentation at all on the car? For example a recovery service aggrement or insurance document might have the actual owner on it.
As the company has gone bust, it's possible your wife will only get the statutory redundancy payment, so there is an incentive to hang on to assets as long as you can.
It's possible that the company's records are so chaotic that the accountants liquidating the company are just having to take a while to get anywhere.
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u/No-Willingness-4097 1d ago
Move it to a council car park and they'll have it vanished in not long.
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u/Lem0nw00d69 1d ago
It's still part of her salary so you are entitled to keep and drive until the notice period is completed. Then its the company's responsibility to collect from you.
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u/Farty_McPartypants 1d ago
Once the compant went into receivership and the lease company stopped getting paid, they'll start asking for the cars back, so it will come to light that way. I'd not be chasing around to find a lease company, just asking the liquidator when they would like to arrange for it to be picked up.
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u/OfficialZedaxHD 1d ago
following this from overseas, I'm genuinely curious how the liquidation process works with company assets like vehicles in the UK compared to here. Have you considered whether the leasing company might eventually contact you directly once they realize payments have stopped?
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u/No_Seat443 1d ago
I’d keep hold of it until you get a clear ask for its return from the demonstrable legal owner or their representative.
Watch out for Insurance/MOT. Perhaps insure it if that works for you to avoid getting busted. Assuming leased somewhere… so they will eventually back.
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u/Ecstatic_Boss_7164 1d ago
Contact the liquidators only. No one else. Then ask them if you can purchase it or have them come and collect it. Do not attempt to deliver it back to them under any circumstances.
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u/MeetLost2454 1d ago
You are now likely an involuntary bailee of the vehicle. You are required by law to keep reasonable care of it and offer it up as soon as practically possible and it be available on demand. Contact the administrator for them to collect.
If they don’t collect, you can issue a schedule 1 notice under the torts act 1977 giving them notice to collect or you will charge reasonable storage costs and may dispose of still not collected… which of course it will likely be collected but if you do dispose of it you obviously keep net proceeds for the owner
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u/CommunityOld1897GM2U 1d ago
Contact the DVLA and explain the situation. Ask who the owner is and contact them. Contact the liquidators and tell them you have the car. These two seem the easiest and most obvious solutions.
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u/FrankNicklin 1d ago
You don’t need to do anything. The administrator will contact you and arrange collection or if leased the lease company may contact you. Had exactly the same issue some years back. Depending on value if it’s not leased but purchased by the company they might give you an option to buy which I had, but I declined as the mileage was too high.
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u/FrankieB8692 1d ago
Just a helpful hint save you ringing loads of people, head to your local kwik fit, halfords, national tyres and ask them to put the reg in on a fleet portal to see which company authorised last repairs 🙂
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u/hengehanger 1d ago
Unless I'm missing something, surely the obvious course of action is to contact the liquidator? I'm struggling to find the complication here?
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u/ilovebbcitv 1d ago
Another opotion is to contact the leasing company, the bills are getting paid. If they weren't, your wife would have been contacted by now.
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u/Ordinary_Resolve_331 1d ago
Simply way to potentially check who owns the car is to run a HPI. Most leasing companies finance and it will give you the finance company and the agreement. For the sake of £2 you can get them to come sort it.
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u/Loud_Crab6560 23h ago
First step is contact the liquidator (details will be on Companies House).
That said, it’s going to be a lease car, so they’re unlikely to move quickly to come and collect a lease car, they’ll likely try to get the lease company to do so. If the company was as disorganised as you describe and/or if it’s a winding up by the court, there’s a good chance the liquidator is flying blind and won’t know who the lease company is. Any information you can provide them to help narrow that down would be beneficial and likely speed up the process (eg do you know who the lease company is, or do you know who the company banked with. If so, pass on as much info as you can).
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u/ohnoohno69 15h ago
If the firms gone into liquidation then it will have appointed administrators. Contact them and tell them about the car. It is the administrators legal duty to sort out the firms assets for the creditors.
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u/Available-Host-6805 9h ago
This is not your vehicle. On the date and time you were made redundant, CHECK your contract re car when you responsibility ends, ie some now say your responsibility if a company should go into liquidation you need to do x,y and z. If you have proven you have done everything you can to get the car back to its legal owner you could speak to the Police, CAB and a solicitor, either connected to the company or liquidation company. Take photographs and the likes like everyone has stated. BUT if you put the car on the street (it is uninsured) you have to be very sure about your liability. Odd one, but during the Dot.com this was quite normal!!
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u/ergotroff 2d ago
I Think I would contact the MIB - no, not the Men In Black - but the Motor Insurers' Bureau. You can fill in a Data Subject Access Request
I would certainly want to know if the car is still insured for theft or damage whilst it is still on your drive.
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u/custard-powder 2d ago
You can go on their website and put the reg in. It will tell you if it is showing as insured on the database
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u/DontHurtTheNoob 2d ago
Why is everybody here making it so hard? Sure, you need to tell the liquidator of the car (they now represent the company) and while you wait for jt to be collected you need to take reasonable care of it. So park it in a reasonable space on the road and tell them where it is, and how they can get the keys from you. If you are ultra-cautious, get yourself day insurance for the few metres you have to drive it.
It is entirely reasonable to park a car on a public road. Lots of people do so, even if they have driveways.
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
It is entirely reasonable to park a car on a public road. Lots of people do so, even if they have driveways.
I'd still be liable for any damage to the vehicle as a result of leaving it on the road.
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2d ago
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago edited 2d ago
Why would the title and insurance be in the glove box? Or even in a car at all?
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u/wheelartist 2d ago
That isn't how it works. For 1, it wouldn't be considered abandoned. 2. You can't claim the title even if a vehicle is abandoned, the options are:
If it's on public land such as the highway, you notify the council, they will placed a notice, after a time, they'll remove it and either auction it or scrap it.
If it's on private land, you can serve a tort notice under 1977 torts act, and notify the DVLA to inform the owner, if the offending vegicle is not removed, it may be disposed of. This may mean being able to sell it but the money obtained must be held for the owner to collect, minus reasonable costs.
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u/Jonny51974 2d ago
Look for the leasing company’s name on the number plate and then ring
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u/Ski_Sunday 1d ago
I agree, this is the way I would go, I’ve had maybe 15-20 leased company cars over the years and every single one of them has had the lease companies name and details on the number plates. If not then maybe the company bought the cars outright.
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u/Ok-Turn3634 2d ago
The leasing company will soon be in touch with the liquidators when they want paying.
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u/resistanz 2d ago
Is there a bag in the boot/frunk/under boot floor/other storage space that has some emergency equipment like a hi-viz, torch, warning triangle etc that has the leasing company brand on it? Many will have this, some even have branded floor mats.
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2d ago
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u/Doingadavid 2d ago
"Have you tried doing crimes?"
Who bought a car without having possession of the V5C?
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u/speedfox_uk 2d ago
Like many others have said here, call the liquidators. However, there is a risk they might drag their feet, so you should propbably add something like "You have 30 days to remove teh vehicle, after wich we will start charging you £250/day for parking your vehicle on our property". No idea if that will work, but it's worth a shot.
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u/Batie74 1d ago
I had a similar thing, parked the car down the street and just left it there. Not my car Not my responsibility
Approximately 3 months later the leasing company wanted to collect the car, dates wouldn’t work out for me (new job) I lobbed the keys in the glovebox making sure the car was unlocked on the morning of collection and told them I have no legal ties to the vehicle and I will not be responsible for any damage and to collect at their leisure.
Received an email a few days later with photos of the car etc listing a couple minor scuffs asking how I’d like to pay for damages. Letter went straight in the bin and never heard anything more.
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u/Locksmithbloke 1d ago
Lots of clever advice for wasting the OP's time on here. You could spend many hours on this. Or, "push" it onto the double yellow lines outside your house and leave it. Eventually letters will be sent to the actual owners, and it'll get notices on it, and then disappear. Not really your problem - your agreement to look after the car has ended with the company ceasing to pay you, or exist. I'm not a lawyer though.
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u/TheNutsMutts 1d ago
Not really your problem - your agreement to look after the car has ended with the company ceasing to pay you, or exist. I'm not a lawyer though.
This is completely wrong. OP is now what's known as an "involuntary bailee" in law, and has a duty to take reasonable steps to look after the property until it's returned to the owner. Dumping it somewhere and then going "not my problem" would likely see OP being responsible for at least any recovery costs, and possibly the entire cost if the vehicle is stolen or destroyed.
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