Collections trouble, please help...

**K9OFSTRIKEX** · 17th November 2009, 20:45

Howdy ladies and gentleman,

Got myself in a bit of a situation here. As mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I am a tourist here in New Zealand who is living in Auckland and have my extended travels on hold due to a junk car I was sold by SuperValue Cars in Christchurch.

I have been dealing with this car's shenanigans and the subsequent Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribune case since July and am really about ready to be done and get on with my life and travels...

As a result of the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribune hearing, I have an order from the Ministry of Justice requiring SuperValue Cars to refund me the full purchase price of the vehicle as well as the expenses I have incurred directly relating to the broken vehicle, however, the dealer is ignoring my contact attempts in order to get this order carried out and it is solely up to me to collect on the debt (making the entire Disputes Tribunal process nearly useless).

This being the case, I have filed the order with the Civil Branch of the Ministry of Justice and it is now eligible for collections by the Bailiff, only issue is, I have to do all the leg work and research on what assets of SuperValue are seizable to collect the debt as well as any other footwork required for the courts collection process. All of this is quite difficult for a bloke who is a private citizen of another country stuck in Auckland with the dealer in Christchurch and each day that passes, I get one day closer to having to leave the country with nothing but an unfilled court order. I have even uncovered a loophole in the system that makes it almost impossible for irreputable dealers to be tracked and punished that is now under review by various agencies within your government, so I have certainly been doing my homework, but still have not figured out exactly how to get the money!

I was hoping that just on some off chance, one of you may have some ideas on how I can obtain the information about the dealer's assets, how to lodge the debt with the credit bureau, or have some other ideas on how I can collect on the debt and finally move on with my travels... I came here to explore and learn about your country, but I must say, I never expected to learn this much about the finer points of your consumer protections systems and your legal system!

Any help at all would be HUGELY appreciated!

Cheers,
Beau

**Oakie** · 18th November 2009, 07:44

Start at the Companies Office. http://www.companies.govt.nz/cms/how...h-the-register

This will tell you a bit about the company and may be a start point for you ... (or not)

**Mully** · 18th November 2009, 11:19

Can you sell the debt to Baycorp?

Cut your losses and let them deal with it??

**Cajun** · 18th November 2009, 11:37

simple look on there website

they have a bunch of cars listed there, you can use those

http://www.supervaluecars.co.nz/OurC...5/Default.aspx

**CookMySock** · 18th November 2009, 11:49

Originally Posted by Cajun

simple look on there website

they have a bunch of cars listed there, you can use those

http://www.supervaluecars.co.nz/OurC...5/Default.aspx

Yer sounds like you need to take one of his cars for a wee spin.

Steve

**Conquiztador** · 18th November 2009, 11:57

Originally Posted by K9OFSTRIKEX

Howdy ladies and gentleman,
Any help at all would be HUGELY appreciated!

Cheers,
Beau

Must be a reason you come on a biker site asking for help...
What did you have in mind?
And what would the commission be...

**Cajun** · 18th November 2009, 12:01

Originally Posted by Cajun

simple look on there website

they have a bunch of cars listed there, you can use those

http://www.supervaluecars.co.nz/OurC...5/Default.aspx

i am sure they should have computers, camera, work fridge etc.

Just list normal every day stuff that should be in office. more items there more items they can recover to pay what is owed.

**K9OFSTRIKEX** · 18th November 2009, 13:39

Thanks for all the feedback thus far! Decided to just put all of my responses in one big old post instead of cluttering the thread with tons of individual posts.

Originally Posted by Oakie

Start at the Companies Office. http://www.companies.govt.nz/cms/how...h-the-register

This will tell you a bit about the company and may be a start point for you ... (or not)

Thanks for the tip, I have found many a site in my search for answers but had yet to stumble upon this one yet and it does have some useful info for sure.

Originally Posted by Mully

Can you sell the debt to Baycorp?

Cut your losses and let them deal with it??

I just started talking with them about options yesterday and may just have to do that if all this goes much longer so that I have no loose ends left hanging when I need to leave New Zealand, I am just trying to avoid this until it is clear there is no other option so that I can recover as much of the money as possible. Being a young traveler who just graduated university this has been a catastrophic economic hit and ever dollar I can get back really means a lot.

Originally Posted by Cajun

simple look on there website

they have a bunch of cars listed there, you can use those

http://www.supervaluecars.co.nz/OurC...5/Default.aspx

Originally Posted by DangerousBastard

Yer sounds like you need to take one of his cars for a wee spin.

Steve

Right now that is the best case scenario (i.e. finding one of them that the dealer actually owns), only problem is, he has hidden his finance and ownership details well and they are not coming up in the standard searches and until I know that any given car is actually owned by the dealer and not a finance company (as most dealer cars are) I cannot seize the vehicle.

Originally Posted by Conquiztador

Must be a reason you come on a biker site asking for help...
What did you have in mind?
And what would the commission be...

Yup, came on a biker forum since they are the only types of forum I am an active member of being an avid biker myself. These forums tend to have sections such as “Rant or Rave” where you can post just about anything and since bikers are such a diverse group of people, these forums are generally a fantastic wealth of knowledge to tap into as well as a very supportive network (far beyond the level of support and camaraderie you find in non-biker forums). All that said, I was just hoping that I may be able to stumble upon some good advice from this community from people who may have some experience or expertise in the area or even just some advice from some folks who may have thought of something that I haven't in all my research and efforts.

As far as commissions go, for a full collections service it seems that they run anywhere from 10-30% depending on the risk of the debt with some assistance programs going as low as $100 if and only if the full debt is collected.

Originally Posted by Cajun

i am sure they should have computers, camera, work fridge etc.

Just list normal every day stuff that should be in office. more items there more items they can recover to pay what is owed.

That's true, heck, I know they have an EFTPos machine and if I'm not mistaken, those are worth a few grand themselves... I know I cannot seize furnishings and tools of the trade to a certain monitary limit, so I will just have to possibly book a trip to Christchurch to do some spy work if it comes to that...

Thanks again for all your replys folks, if you think of anything else, I will certainly be open to hear! In the mean time I will keep plugging down the trail I'm on as well as looking a bit further into some of your suggestions!

Cheers,
Beau

**gunrunner** · 18th November 2009, 13:54

Dont the Mob do repossession work ?

**wickle** · 18th November 2009, 14:58

Originally Posted by gunrunner

Dont the Mob do repossession work ?

And renovations!

**CookMySock** · 18th November 2009, 15:45

Originally Posted by K9OFSTRIKEX

Right now that is the best case scenario (i.e. finding one of them that the dealer actually owns), only problem is, he has hidden his finance and ownership details well and they are not coming up in the standard searches and until I know that any given car is actually owned by the dealer and not a finance company (as most dealer cars are) I cannot seize the vehicle.

Well you probably can, and should he call the police and you have lots and lots of paperwork available the fuzz might hesitate to lay charges at you. What is the worst that can happen?

This will fuck off his finance company enormously too. I think what would benefit you most, is a group of like-minded individuals to try and take advantage of him at every turn.

Steve

aliciak · 18th November 2009, 16:08

Hi there

Fancy that you mention this. In August this year I took the same trader to the MVDT and I ended up winning the case which required me to return the car and he had to take over my finance contract (if you want to see this case go to http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZMVDT/2009/87.html) but anyway he took the car back no worries, changed it into his name, was even trying to sell it on the lot (which I have photo evidence of) and he decided he was going to appeal this even though he had the car and refused to put the finance in his name. I went and got a lawyer and in my case because he has appealed I cannot enforce the matter until it is heard in court AGAIN on the 30 November, almost 4 months later, but in your case you have the choice; you can enforce the matter with a bailiff OR if you want it done fast, there is something that you can do to demand the money off him. If you would like to know more information about this, private message me in regards to this(and don't worry it is legal

). Hope this helps you in anyway possible. Any other questions feel free to ask. Justice needs to be served.

Alicia

aliciak · 18th November 2009, 16:16

Also reading an earlier post, I have done a lot of research on this guy, I even know his address and everything. Also, he is the CEO of Supervalue Cars and one thing that I found out is that you can repossess any vehicle, even if it is owned by the finance company. All the cars on his lot I have done checks on (including the one that I gave back to him due to the court order) and they are all owned by Supervalue Cars. The finance company holds it as security as I have found out. So my car that I gave back is now owned by Supervalue Cars but the security for finance is still under my name. So if I was to stop paying (which I have but I have spoken with the finance company and they have put it on hold as I do not want bad credit) and they can't change it into his name without him doing it himself, they can choose to repo it at anytime, and so could I, but I don't want to because I just want to be rid of it and the finance with it

So yes you can repo anything if it is owned by finance

**imdying** · 20th November 2009, 13:16

Any luck so far?

If not, you need to ring collections (they have an 0800 number) to get the payment order enforced. You'll need to file for a distress warrant to allow the bailiffs down here to seize goods, and you'll need to indeminfy them, should be about $60 all up. Then they'll trot on down to this place and start taking things, fantastic fun

/edit: I think the tools of the trade seizure is only up to $500, so go nuts.