I had a car on finance with welcome car finance.?

i had a car with welcome finance in march 2003 the original price of the loan was 4600 and after insurance policies which i was litterally forced to have and apr charges the total was over 12000.i paid 5500 before losing my job and have not paid anything since they failed to repposes it and now it has been past over to lewis debt collecters.my question is do i actually legally own the car as i have paid over the amount off the original loan price and if iwanted to sell it could i any help please.

Well your best bet is to renegotiate with the debt company. You have paid 5500 so far this is greater than the value of the car. I suggest that you use the citizens advice bureau to help with negotiating ( free service )

Try and sell it and any HPI check will show problems.

I ve had dodgy dealings with this company too. First of all if you took out all the insurances like you said you should have one to cover loss of work. Also if you talk to welcome ( from past experience) they will try to sort any problems out that you have. Also i think you have to pay over half the full amount before the car is more yours than it is theres
you could not sell it because it is still under the h/p contract, but you could get in touch with Lewis d/c and come to an agreed payment that you can afford, or they have the right to send the bailiffs to you and they can take your car and any thing else you own to make up the difference of what you owe them
You only own the vehicle when the last payment is made.

If you have insurance that covers you if you are not working then it should be making your payments for you. But if the account has been turned over to collections? It sounds like you do not have this insurance.

If you attempt to sell the car, you will have to produce a lien release. The only way you are going to be able to get that is to actually pay the vehicle off.
Finance Manager for over 7-years.
You own the car if you have paid the complete price of the car and have your HP (hypothetication) "deleted" through the financiers, and registration office (RTO - Road Transport Office)
He who holds the title has the car. Watch out for the repo. man.