How do I settle private seller's finance?

[Hants PHer]

I am intending to buy a car from a private seller on Saturday. He informs me that the car is on finance, and that I should settle with the finance company (using the settlement figure that they will supply) and then pay him the balance using a bank transfer.

I've never done this before, hence my questions: is the above procedure correct? How do I pay the finance company (using my debit card I presume)? How can I be sure that the liability to the finance company has been settled in full? Will it be OK to do this late on a Saturday afternoon?

Background: the transaction is below £25k, the seller lives a long way from me, I've spoken to him and have done the necessary checks via V-check.
TIA for any advice.

[davek_964]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Hammy98]

Beware doing it at the weekend if you are travelling a long way.

I had my last car on finance which I agreed to sell privately, spoke to the finance company who advised they cannot settle at the weekend.

Buyer agreed to come on the Friday, flew up from London, paid the settlement only to be told the funds would take the weekend to clear since it was past 12pm on a Friday... no mention of this when I asked previously!

Get the process in writing from the finance company if possible along with any restrictions.

[KTMsm]

I've done it before - as others said Finance Co. can be slow and a pain to deal with

How are you transferring the funds as most won't allow you to transfer over £5k (or £10k) per day

[Pilotguy]

I did it a few years ago, paying the balance on the account to VW Finance. Final settlement figure was provided by the seller in the form of a letter from VWF which I paid by BT payment, or Debit Card, can’t remember which. No problems and it was clear in short order that the finance was clear.

[KTMsm]

Pilotguy said:

I did it a few years ago, paying the balance on the account to VW Finance. Final settlement figure was provided by the seller in the form of a letter from VWF which I paid by BT payment, or Debit Card, can’t remember which. No problems and it was clear in short order that the finance was clear.

I wouldn't trust a letter - anyone could print one off

I dealt with VW finance recently - it took them 2 days after paying by transfer, to confirm it was paid off

[Hants PHer]

Thanks for the comments folks. The finance company is BMW Financial Services, and I'm a little concerned that I'd be calling them at 4 pm on Saturday afternoon. I can't get there before then.

Every time I've called any organisation recently I've been stuck in a lengthy "your call is important to us" queue, and their website says they close at 5 pm Saturday. Anyone dealt with BMW FS recently? Are they efficient?

[duckson]

Hants PHer said:

Thanks for the comments folks. The finance company is BMW Financial Services, and I'm a little concerned that I'd be calling them at 4 pm on Saturday afternoon. I can't get there before then.

Every time I've called any organisation recently I've been stuck in a lengthy "your call is important to us" queue, and their website says they close at 5 pm Saturday. Anyone dealt with BMW FS recently? Are they efficient?

Sold my M2 to a garage in June 2020 which had outstanding finance with BMWFS on it.

It probably took about an hour for BMW FS to state the money had cleared with them and they had no financial interest in the car, this was a morning mid week though.

Personally thinking at 4pm on a Saturday with them closing at 5pm could be a bit tight......

[village24]

I would not advise settling on a weekend especially if the value is what you would consider high.

I bought a car around 6 months ago that had finance on it at the weekend and although we called the finance company on the day and paid the finance they couldn't tell us there and then that no further payments were required. All I ended up getting was a receipt from the finance company stating the balance was zero. It actually took until the Tuesday after before I had official notice they had no further interest in the car. Luckily it was only 4k that I transferred but what I did to cover myself was get a receipt printed out showing what we agreed on the day etc balance cleared via finance
I also took a picture of any finance letter along with the owners photo ID and then we proceeded with the sale and completed the deal.

If the car was in excess of 10k I would not feel comfortable doing any of the above on a weekend. It is way too risky as they could easily extend the finance the day you leave etc

[Hants PHer]

village24 said:

I would not advise settling on a weekend especially if the value is what you would consider high.
.............<snip>.......

If the car was in excess of 10k I would not feel comfortable doing any of the above on a weekend. It is way too risky as they could easily extend the finance the day you leave etc

Just to bring this little thread to a close, the seller and I rearranged the sale to a weekday. I checked out the car; everything was fine with it. I transferred the money to him by bank transfer and he then showed me the 'final settlement amount' email from the finance company (which was a little over £20k), called them and settled the total amount with a bank transfer. He passed me the phone and the nice young lady at the finance company confirmed to me that it was now paid off in full. All very straightforward.