Selling a Vehicle to Pay Its Garage. The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
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[3746] Sir,—Could you, please, advise me on the following? My case seems to be different from the answer you gave in a recent issue of The Commercial Motor. I have been storing a car since July, 1929, when the owner went away. He was sent to France and is now in Finland. I have obtained his address from his firm. Last year I wrote to him requesting payment of the rent. I received no reply. I wrote again a month ago, asking him to give me permission to sell the car. I have received no reply to this letter either.
Can I sell the ear to recover what is due to me and send him the balance; and how should I proceed in this matter? How can I transfer the registration book which was left in the car. Since he left here he has
never written to me. DISTRAINT. Southampton.
[Except for the point that you both want your rent, the facts of your case are the reverse of those which gave rise to our answer in our issue of February 23rd, as in that case the garage proprietor wanted to retain the vehicle, whilst in your case you want to get rid of it.
The law, however, is the same in each case. The vehicle is not your property, and consequently you are not entitled to sell it without the owner's authority, although you would have been able to have done so if you had definitely provided in your terms of garaging that you should be entitled to sell the vehicle if the rent remained unpaid for a definite period.
In many of these cases the best method of proceeding is to sue the owner for the rent in the local County Court, and in the event of the judgment not being satisfied, to instruct the bailiffs to distrain upon the vehicle, in which case they would be able to offer it for sale, and to pay the debt out of the proceeds.
In your case there is the added difficulty of the owner being abroad. We suggest that you should ascertain from the Registrar of your County Court whether the Court would make an order giving you leave to serve the summons upon the owner by sending it to his firm by registered post. If you could get an order to that effect you could proceed as suggested above, with a view to distraining upon the machine.—En.]