Anyone ever paid finance off on a potential purchase ?

[Bluedot]

I'm interested in this Cayman advertised on PH:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

I'm concerned though by the comment at the bottom about the buyer paying off the finance directly to the finance company. To be honest, that puts me right off, just wondering if anyone has come across similar ?

[cowboyengineer]

Thats how I sold my last car, the buyer paid the finance company off and I pocketed the balance. At you know it's been paid off.

If you buy it off him, and pay him, then he doesn't pay off the finance company, goes bankrupt, then you will have all sorts of bother

[GT3cs]

Nothing to worry about . You just pay finance company rather than seller . If anything it's safer as you know the finance has been cleared ....

[Bluedot]

Ah ok, thanks for the replies.
Never realised it was that common.

[Mike Brown]

Same when I bought my boxster, paid the finance direct to finance company, but I received a bacs payment from the seller because his car was worth less than the outstanding finance, just make sure you deal directly with the finance company

[Mike Brown]

Same when I bought my boxster, paid the finance direct to finance company, but I received a bacs payment from the seller because his car was worth less than the outstanding finance, just make sure you deal directly with the finance company

[DJMC]

You need to pay the finance company direct WHILST you are collecting the car.

It helps to pre-arrange this with the company AND to get the seller to provide you with a settlement statement from the finance company up to the day of purchase. This will have their contact details and account number on. You need to get the seller to authorise them to speak to you too.

It may take a few hours for the finance company to confirm they have the payment, so let the seller know you'll be hanging around on the day of purchase until they do. He won't let the car go until HE has this confirmation too.

Don't pre-pay. In other words don't pay his finance off the day before, or before you are with the car and seller. He could just do a bunk and you have lost your money to his finance company.

Do an HPI check when you are with the car. You can do one before at £19.99 and then update or re-check for free within 30 days.

[mollytherocker]

Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons.

Many do of course so its up to you.

[dave123456]

not sure why there are 'lots' of reasons why you wouldn't do it...

I did, as someone else above, worryingly I paid less for the car than the finance, so we had to each pay. just make sure you corroborate the finance companies bank details are correct.

[TheBMWDriver]

I did this on my last couple of cars. One I paid off 30k to Porsche finance and the seller had to pay off the rest and hand me the car.

Felt sorry that he actually paid me to take the car

[Beedub]

too much hassle imo.... but ver common now-days.

[jimmy p]

When i have done it i have hpi'd the car. This in the past has told me if the car is on finance, who it is with and the agreement number. Sometimes it provides the phone number. If not i have researched the phone number myself. When it comes to collecting the car i have phoned the finance company so that i know who im speaking to, then pay the finance off and wait for confirmation e mail comfirming the finance company no longer has any interest in the car.

[BSRS]

mollytherocker said:

Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons.

Many do of course so its up to you.

'Lots of reasons' Just give us 3 of them then...

[JeffC]

as above all safe to do so.
as a dealer I do this daily, nothing to fear, Hpi the car that will give you the name of the finance company and the agreement number, the chap will also have a settlement letter details should match those from Hpi , go and view the car and you may be able to pay debit card over the phone some will some wont, if not just pop to the bank and do a transfer, if the settlement is higher owner needs to do the same, if lower you give the buyer the balance job done, you can then request a letter from the finance company that they no longer have an interest in the car and it will be removed from the Hpi register.

[Bluedot]

Once again, thanks for all the replies.

[tyrrell]

I have done this with selling my last 2 BMW's both times took the purchaser down the pub for a bite to eat whilst the payment went through to BMW financial services. Once the money was in their account V5 and keys given to the new owner jobs a goodun.

[goodhand]

This is my car. The balance owing to the finance company is a few thousand less than the asking price, so the transaction should hopefully be fairly straight forward.

I did worry that mentioning it in the ad may put off potential buyers, but thought it only fair. However, it does seem fairly common place these days so imagine other sellers bring it up later.

It's a fantastic car and I will be very sad to see it go.

[mollytherocker]

BSRS said:

mollytherocker said:

Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons.

Many do of course so its up to you.

'Lots of reasons' Just give us 3 of them then...

1 - leap of faith
2 - trust in a stranger
3 - risk

I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever.

[DJMC]

mollytherocker said:

1 - leap of faith
2 - trust in a stranger
3 - risk

I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever.

You may miss out on a lot of nice used cars. Most of the expensive ones are on finance.

Having said that, my 981 seller owned it outright and it was his third new Porsche, at age 26! Well done!

[mollytherocker]

DJMC said:

mollytherocker said:

1 - leap of faith
2 - trust in a stranger
3 - risk

I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever.

You may miss out on a lot of nice used cars. Most of the expensive ones are on finance.

Having said that, my 981 seller owned it outright and it was his third new Porsche, at age 26! Well done!

Maybe. Thats fine with me.