Car purchase problem

Being "in administration" does not mean the company stops all activities. Often, coninued business is preferred by the debtors.
In your case, the car is yours and should not be affected by the insolvency. But of course there is a danger that it could be confiscated by mistake, creating buerocratic hazzles for you. Therefore I'd recommend you to collect the car as soon as possible and store it elsewhere.

I'm no expert on this subject but have to question „what paper work?“ It's no problem to take a car from Germany to France. One needs to get a temporary license plate and insurance that the car is for export and simply drive it to France. There one has to register it and do any paper work. There is nothing special that has to be done to export a car from Germany, so the delay from the car dealer sounds like fraud to me.  The car legally belongs to you if you paid for it but the problem will be to get possession of it under the circumstances. And the German judicial system is very slow. I had a company not pay as contracted and then declare bankruptcy. Even with legal representation I only  got a small partial payment after waiting around 5 or 6 years.

Thanks for both your replies.

You have at least both confirmed what I suspected, that I am indeed the owner of the vehicle, given I paid for it in full months before they went into administration. At least, and no disrespect, your non-legal background perspectives.

I agree, the problem now is going to be physically getting my hands on the car... especially as I seem to be getting no response from the company itself or the receivers.

As far as I am concerned both my money and the car are being used as company assets, which is a double boon for them, which tends to make me agree with you, Tom, that they delayed on purpose with fraudulent intentions, knowing they were in trouble financially.

I am one step away from making the trip to Germany in person and turning up at the dealerships to demand to at least know where my car physically is...

Do either of you know, or anybody else out there, how long the temporary registration (red marked number plates I believe) takes? Can it be done in a matter of hours/days or is it a weeks timeframe?

RogerRedford wrote:

Do either of you know, or anybody else out there, how long the temporary registration (red marked number plates I believe) takes? Can it be done in a matter of hours/days or is it a weeks timeframe?

Usually registering a car shouldn't take more than 30 to 60 minutes. But I have always done it where I live and immediately got the permanent plates. I'm a bit uncertain about the exact procedure of getting red temporary plates, which I believe entails getting a short term insurance policy included. In Stuttgart anyway there are numerous shops right by the main registration office where one can get the needed plates. Usually one has a form from the insurance company that is going to provide one's ongoing coverage but I assume this is not needed for export but I would assume upon registering it in France. Be sure to have proper ID and driver's license along. But maybe someone else here knows the exact details better.