You are normally allowed to keep your car if you go Bankrupt. However it usually has to be worth £2000 or less.
Included in this article:
- Can you keep your car if you are Bankrupt?
- What if it is worth more than £2000
- Could you sell it before going Bankrupt?
- What happens if it is on finance?
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Can you keep your Car if you go Bankrupt?
Given you need your car (e.g. to get to work, take your children to school or other family commitments) and it is worth £2000 or less, you should be allowed to keep it if you go bankrupt.
The car value allowance was increased from £1000 in October 2021.
The only time such a vehicle might be at risk is if you really do not have a reasonable requirement for it. This could be because you walk or use public transport for your daily travel needs and just own it for pleasure.
If the Official Receiver (OR) believes you do not need it they will ask you to sell it. The money from the sale must be given to them. Also as you no longer have to pay the running costs you may then be able to make payments towards your debts.
Even if your car is worth less than £1000 the OR is likely to ask you to sell it if they believe you do not need it and you cannot justify keeping it.
What if your vehicle is worth more than £2000?
The Official Receiver will need to understand how much your car is worth. If the value is less than £2000 (£3000 in Scotland) you will be allowed to keep it as long as you need it.
However where the value is more than this, the OR must realise the difference. They will normally require you to sell the vehicle and buy an alternative worth £1250 or less. The money left over will then have to be given to them.
Alternatively you will be allowed to keep the vehicle if you know a third party who is able to pay the difference in cash to the OR.
There are some situations where you will be allowed to keep your car if it is worth more than £2000. These include where it is a tool of your trade or you have a particular medical requirement.
Could you sell your Car before going Bankrupt?
If your car is worth more than £2000 one option is to sell it before going Bankrupt. You can then use up to £2000 of the cash you raise to buy something cheaper.
You are allowed to use the remaining money to pay your Bankruptcy fee and reasonable ongoing living expenses. However anything left over will have to be given to OR.
You must ensure that you get market value. Keep any receipt you receive. If you sell the car for less than what it is worth this would be a transaction at undervalue. The OR could then recover it and sell it for a more realistic price.
Do not pay any of your creditors with funds raised from the sale of your car. This would be a preferential payment. Once you are bankrupt the recipient could then be forced to return the money you paid them.
What happens if your car is on finance?
If your vehicle is on finance such as Hire Purchase (HP) or PCP (lease agreement) you must consider its net value. To calculate this take the actual value and deduct the outstanding finance.
If the net value is less than £2000 then you should be allowed to keep it as long as the monthly repayments are reasonable. If they are high the OR could still ask you to hand back the car to the finance company and get a cheaper one.
You must also speak to your finance company and confirm they would be happy to let you carry on with the agreement during your bankruptcy. Most will be fine as long as their payments are maintained. However some may not.
If you receive Mobility benefit and have a car through the Mobility scheme you can keep this. Mobility benefit and an associated vehicle are exempt if you go bankrupt.
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Hello i am likely to be going to go bankrupt next month.
I owe 23k and have a car worth 4k. i would like to sell this to my father for a token amount as i owe them 2k in rent and other expenses. if i sign my car over to my father to pay for what i owe them as its all i have got before i file bankruptcy will the receivers want to take it from him ??
Many thanks
Hi Rwilliams
I am afraid your plan will not work. If you sell your car to your Father for a token amount this is a transaction at under value. The OR will over turn this and demand that your Father hands back the car. They will then proceed to sell it. You also risk getting a BRU (Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking).
If you give the car to your Father in lieu of debts that you owe him this is a preferential payment. Again the OR will demand the return of the car and you risk a BRU. As such neither of these two options will work.
As described in the above article you are best off selling the car for a fair market price before you go bankrupt. You can sell to We Buy Any Car if you wish. Then use the money you make to buy a replacement vehicle for no more than £1000. Then service the vehicle and pay for the insurance.
You can then use the remainder of the money to pay your bankruptcy fee. If there is anything left over you will have to give this to the OR however it is likely to be a fairly minimal amount.
How do I get a fair valuation for my car for bankruptcy purposes and how can I go about keeping it. We buy any car value it at £2500 and Parker’s value it at £3800 which is a huge difference. My children are willing to pay the reciever the difference over £1000 but we need to know how to come to a true valuation fair to both sides that is a realistic value
Hi Neil
Generally speaking Parkers / Auto Trader give a valuation which is top end. Vary rarely are these valuations achieved if you do try to sell, so for the purposes of bankruptcy this is unrealistic. Ultimately if the official receiver had to sell the car the price they would achieve at an auction would be closer to the WBAC.com value.
Remember the quote from WBAC.com is the top end of what they would give you if you actually tried to sell your car to them. The OR would likely achieve less at an auction and incur auction costs. So in my experience the official receiver will normally be happy with the WBAC.com figure. As such if your car is worth £2500 I would say you can be fairly confident the OR will accept c£1500 for you to keep it after you go bankrupt.
Hi
I’m considering bankruptcy as I am unfortunately unable to pay my credit cards and loans and a couple of things I have taken out my question is my wife and I are on our car finance agreement would the car have to be handed back
Hi Dave
The answer to this depends on a number of things. First is the car in negative equity? ie is the total outstanding finance greater than the value of the car. If so and the monthly payments are reasonable the official received will have no interest in it and as far as they are concerned you will be able to keep it.
However you would also have to check with the car finance company to ensure they would still allow you to keep the agreement running (given of course you maintain the payments).
Most car finance companies are happy as long as the payments are made on time. However some simply demand the return of the car. If this is the case then you have the option of handing it back prior to going bankrupt and getting an alternative. Any outstanding finance after the car is returned is included as a debt in the bankruptcy.