Buying a car privately from someone with an intermediary

[suigeneris]

So I’ve agreed a deal in principle with someone on a rare car (not crazy expensive but still reasonable money by most standards)

The car is owned by a minor celebrity/personality who has a personal assistant and someone else who works for him has advertised the car and selling it for him (so I’ve been told) I’ve done all the usual checks HPI etc and while I know V5 isn’t full proof of ownership it has no finance and no change of keeper so for as much as I can check he owns the car.

I’m confident this isn’t a scammer etc. However the person working for him says he’s too busy to be there for collection and I’m meeting her at the storage unit and paying her directly. It’s still a private sale - this person isn’t registered as a trader.

My question in this scenario is - if it’s his name on the V5, surely I need to pay the funds into a bank account in his name as this is proof of a proper purchase from him. Otherwise for all I know they could have fallen out, or it’s sold without permission and legally he could have a claim to the car etc?! any advice would be appreciated

[Macneil]

Is it Rylan?

[Panamax]

Collect the car from the address on the V5 and pay the money to the person whose name is on the V5.

Or walk away.

[105.4]

Panamax said:

Collect the car from the address on the V5 and pay the money to the person whose name is on the V5.

Or walk away.

Yep. This.

Even if this ‘celeb’ only shows their face for two minutes.

I’d be making it clear that I wasn’t wanting to do this to gawp at someone from the telly, more that you want to know that you are buying the car with the full permission of the (alleged) owner. It’s for their protection as well as yours.

[Dr Interceptor]

Either the above, or I want a signed letter from the ‘celeb’ saying that they authorise the person to act on their behalf. Of course this can also be falsified, so in todays age there’s no reason they can’t FaceTime for 20 seconds to confirm it’s legit and they approve the sale.

[CarlosSainz100]

Yep. A quick facetime or WhatsApp video would take this minor celeb about 30 seconds. They could even pre record it on the woman's phone?

I wouldn't buy it otherwise; there's too much scope for it to blow up in your face. Just imagine how bad you're gonna feel if you pay over the money and end up with no money and no car.

[suigeneris]

Thanks for replies good advice. Just had confirmation though the v5 is in company name they use for his work and she works for company which changes things somewhat. I presume really in this scenario as long as I pay the company and they give me a receipt from the company it’s no different than buying anything from a company when you don’t necessarily have the company owner present but you’re dealing with someone who works there? Not a car trader but totally different scenario surely as they’re purely selling something on bought by the company previously?

Edited by suigeneris on Monday 1st May 22:33

[Dr Interceptor]

suigeneris said:

Thanks for replies good advice. Just had confirmation though the v5 is in company name they use for his work and she works for company which changes things somewhat. I presume really in this scenario as long as I pay the company and they give me a receipt from the company it’s no different than buying anything from a company when you don’t necessarily have the company owner present but you’re dealing with someone who works there? Not a car trader so I’m presume we won’t fill out the trade section on the v5 (?) but totally different scenario surely as they’re purely selling something on bought by the company previously

Edited by suigeneris on Monday 1st May 22:09

Yep that’s fine, you’re buying off a company, although I’d still
Appreciate a confirmation from the company owner that the person you see is authorised to sell goods on the company’s behalf.

You’d do the V5 or owner change online totally as normal with you retaining the green part of the V5 to tax it.

[105.4]

suigeneris said:

Thanks for replies good advice. Just had confirmation though the v5 is in company name they use for his work and she works for company which changes things somewhat. I presume really in this scenario as long as I pay the company and they give me a receipt from the company it’s no different than buying anything from a company when you don’t necessarily have the company owner present but you’re dealing with someone who works there? Not a car trader so I’m presume we won’t fill out the trade section on the v5 (?) but totally different scenario surely as they’re purely selling something on bought by the company previously

Edited by suigeneris on Monday 1st May 22:09

This is sounding like the sort of situation that I’d be walking away from tbh.

[Caddyshack]

Do the best hpi you can get and I’d do the deal. The celeb won’t want bad press. Maybe contact them on twitter to confirm it’s their car…or see if they have used it in pics on instagram.

[Noyzboy]

I bought a car that was sitting at a marque specialist site. The owner was in hospital having a major operation.. The marque specialist acted as an intermediary with the owner’s partner. I did not know the owner or his partner.

However when it came to paying for it, I was quite unwilling to send a large bunch if money off to an “unknown to me” bank account.

So I drove three hours to the address on the V5 with a cheque and a bill of sale.
I got the owners partner to sign the bill of sale “on behalf of” and then took a photo of her holding the cheque, and then drove home.

It worked out OK and I have still not met the previous owner

The owner needs to sign a bill of sale and receive the money.

[CSLM3CSL]

HMRC is cracking down on alot of tax evasion from minor celebrities so I'd be wary of paying the wrong person in case the celeb goes bankrupt shortly after the sale taking place.

[Caddyshack]

CSLM3CSL said:

HMRC is cracking down on alot of tax evasion from minor celebrities so I'd be wary of paying the wrong person in case the celeb goes bankrupt shortly after the sale taking place.

Surely if you bought directly from the celeb you run the same risk? (If there is a risk - yes, I know things can be unwound)

[Niguy]

Run a mile