Private sale payment

[Hippea]

I’m about to buy a car, a private sale (car is a couple of grand), the guy is older and owns an antiques shop. He’s asked if I minded paying for it through his chip and pin machine in his shop. What are your thoughts on this, is this ok?

[Panamax]

All you care about it is,
1. Does he actually own the car? (His name and address on the V5, car picked up from that address.)
2. If the car is owned by a business, does he have authority to sell the car? (Is he a director, etc)
3. Is the price right? (Or is it so cheap that it looks like a remarkable bargain?)
4. Is there any outstanding finance on the car? (Do the usual data searches.)
4. Are you going to receive two sets of keys and an appropriately completed V5?

Or to put it another way, how you pay is pretty much irrelevant. Just make sure you get ownership of a car in exchange for your money.

[Somebody]

I would prefer to pay by card, definitely, To my mind at least chargeback/credit card protection in case anything goes wrong?

[Countdown]

Seems odd that he doesn’t want a bank transfer. Chip/Pin will cost him a minimum of 1.5%

[paul_c123]

Its actually to your advantage (and his disadvantage) to pay by card. If you were going to do a bank transfer, I'll assume that was from a current account with a debit card, so you could use that debit card. If it were from a savings account you might need to do it in 2 stages via your current account. But there is also the option to pay by credit card and get the "up to 56 days" free credit.

Obviously, do the normal checks you would with a normal private purchase of a car - V5 in his name and address where you are at, keys work, as described, try get a decent test drive, thoroughly check condition including cosmetic, check spare wheel, tools, locking wheel nut is present and correct, etc etc

[Mr Tidy]

I'd much rather pay by card, subject to all the checks already mentioned.

I don't want to use my phone for banking and wouldn't want to transfer money on my laptop before I got the car and keys! Cash used to be the best option, but nobody seems keen any more and banks give you a hard time making sizable withdrawals or deposits.

[Macneil]

Countdown said:

Seems odd that he doesn’t want a bank transfer. Chip/Pin will cost him a minimum of 1.5%

This...but perhaps he doesn't want you to have his bank details, understandable, you are a complete stranger after all.

[Hippea]

Thanks for all of the replies, everything is how it seems. The seller is elderly, doesn’t use the internet. Glad there doesn’t seem to be any issue paying this way, like others have said it actually makes it easier for me.

V5 will be completed and he said a full receipt will be written up