Buying a car privately that is on finance

[alistair1234]

Never bought or sold a car that is on finance before, what is the done thing to do in terms of paying it off?

The seller has a shortfall, so he will be making a small payment and I will be making a payment of around £20k. The seller called BMW finance and was advised to do a bank transfer, I would have thought a card payment would have been quicker and better for both?

He pays his small amount, passes the phone to me and I pay my amount, finance is then settled and I can drive away?

Thanks

[Bunfighter]

You need to pay BMW finance whilst you are both together. No other way IMO.

That way there's no gap, misunderstanding or mistrust.

[steve-5snwi]

They won't take a 20k card payment, vwfs restrict debit card payments to 3k, not sure what BMW do.

The best thing to do is if the owner pays the shortfall and you pay the balance. Set them up as a faster payment using the agreement number and BMW fs account details, ask to see the agreement or settlement letter or call BMW fs and ask for it.

If the seller wants you to pay them then do that but you need to watch them make the payment, then both call BMW fs put the phone on loud speaker and ask them to confirm receipt, they will call accounts who will check for the money. They won't give clearance until the next working day.

[TJC46]

alistair1234 said:

Never bought or sold a car that is on finance before, what is the done thing to do in terms of paying it off?

The seller has a shortfall, so he will be making a small payment and I will be making a payment of around £20k. The seller called BMW finance and was advised to do a bank transfer, I would have thought a card payment would have been quicker and better for both?

He pays his small amount, passes the phone to me and I pay my amount, finance is then settled and I can drive away?

Thanks

Excuse my ignorance but i do not understand this.

I was under the impression that you could not legally sell a car that has outstanding finance, because it is not your car to sell. It belongs to the finance company.

Will the finance company deal with a third party as the contract is with, in this case the so called "seller" ?

I would want to speak with the finance company [BMW in this instance] directly to clarify exactly what can and cannot be done.

[DUMBO100]

After the payment has been made and processed the finance company should issue a clearance letter, which says they have no further interest in the vehicle, they should also have the outstanding finance marker removed from the HPI report

[steve-5snwi]

Most won't issue the clearance letter until the next day, while that are happy to confirm the money is in the account they don't allocate it to the debt until the next day. Vwfs are the worst for updating hpi.

[MockingJay]

We bought our current car privately from somebody who had finance on the car. We called the company beforehand to confirm we could pay it, met the seller at their house and we paid the finance from our bank, called the finanace to confirm payment and then he signed the car over. Simple

[zedstar]

I did this a couple of years ago.

Seller transferred me the entire amount, I then transferred the financed amount to VWFS. By the time I rang them up to see whether it had been received they confirmed it had and emailed me a confirmation that they held no further interest in the car.

[snorkel sucker]

I've done this before. If it is with BMW finance then both of you head to a dealership and make the payment over the phone.

It need not be any more complicated than that. Anyone who says otherwise is just scaremongering.

[jjr1]

snorkel sucker said:

I've done this before. If it is with BMW finance then both of you head to a dealership and make the payment over the phone.

It need not be any more complicated than that. Anyone who says otherwise is just scaremongering.

You have overcomplicated by suggesting you need to go to a dealership. What relevance that has, I have no idea.

You just phone up BMW financial services pay the outstanding sum and sort any other sums out with the owner.

Simples.

[Andy OH]

I did this with a Mini Cooper S Convertible I was buying for the wife about 12 years ago. We settled on a price of £17,500 for the car and the finance outstanding was £17,150. I settled the finance with Mini/BMW Finance over the phone and gave the balance of £350 in cash to the seller. It was a simple as that.