Hello mandymoo and welcome.

I'm not sure that this will be any reassurance or comfort, but it's normal for cars over a certain value to result in some extra payment being required to a trust deed. Does your partner agree that the trustee's valuation of the vehicle is reasonable?

If there was an agreement about overtime, and your partner hasn't paid over some of his extra earnings yet, it doesn't seem unreasonable for the trustee to ensure that happens now. In terms of providing evidence, it's really just a question of what the trustee needs to see. Your partner will need to ask his trustee to confirm this.

I do appreciate that trust deeds and debt can seem a bit overwhelming and confusing - not least because some of the language used doesn't fall within most people's everyday usage. Hopefully your partner can quickly work towards putting any final obligations behind him now - it seems like most of the hard work has already been done over the past three years.

Hi there, thanks for reply.
His car is a 6 years old and his final hp payment for the car was made in November 14. I am not sure how they valued the car but at the time of commencing the trust deed the car would have 3 years old with HP of 3 years remaining - judging by the £3K rule, I think they must have valued the car at £5220 hence the £2220 payment required - would they not have looked at what was outstanding on the finance at the start of the TD? I would have imagined that the balance of the HP was worth more than the car at the start of the trust deed.

Hi mandymoo.

While finance was outstanding on the car your partner will not have owned it. It will have been owned by the finance provider. It therefore wasn't an asset at that time.

It looks as though it is being viewed as an asset acquired by your partner at the time that the finance was paid off. So the valuation used might, I suppose, be either at the time the car came into the ownership of your partner or the valuation of the car now.

so if the value is £2200 then would this not mean that is under the £3K ruling? Or does that only apply at the outset of the TD?

Sorry for all the questions - this really is a minefield of an area and I really appreciate your help.

Hi again.

If the car were sold today, how much do you think it might sell for?

By the way... I'm sure your partner's trustee will be happy to explain to him on what basis the valuation was done and how the £2200 was calculated.

Hi mandymoo,

What do you think the value of the vehicle is at today's date?

It all really depends on what was agreed with your partner and the Trustee at the outset of the Trust Deed.

Does your partner have a copy of this that you can have a look at? If not, they can always request a copy of it. This should show what the position was with the car and how this would be treated.