Outstanding Finance
Outstanding Finance
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TSCfree

Original Poster:

1,681 posts

247 months

Sunday 14th May 2017
quotequote all
Just HPI'd a used car and it's showing as having outstanding finance against it. I'm buying from a motor trader and it shows as Partner Finance - unit stocking.

What's the best way to proceed?

Written guarantee from the dealer stating that they will clear the finance on purchasing?. If they go bust or decide not to pay it, is that enough?

Butter Face

32,982 posts

176 months

Sunday 14th May 2017
quotequote all
If you really want to ask for that then yes.

Stocking finance is very normal and part of the agreement with the lender (normally) is that the finance must be cleared as soon as the car is sold/before ownership is transferred.

You can ask for a letter to confirm this though, I don't see why any dealer wouldn't be happy to write it down.

confused_buyer

6,843 posts

197 months

Sunday 14th May 2017
quotequote all
It is quite normal. As long as you buy it properly with an invoice even in the highly unlikely event they don't clear it the finance company will come after the seller, not you. In many cases the owners of the company will have had to give indemnities as well so they'd take their house before your car.

In reality, I don't think I've ever heard of a single case of someone being chased for outstanding finance on car with stocking finance even if the dealer didn't clear it. If you think about it the whole system would collapse if they did.

Most dealers use it to some degree - all those shiny BMWs and Mercedes at your local dealer are not owned by them.

The finance companies also audit dealers - they turn up randomly about once a month and do a stock check to ensure all the cars they say they haven't sold are still there and then go through their books to confirm they are settling them when they should.

It can take a little while to clear after purchase - dealers are usually allowed a few days to clear it (to allow the money to hit their account) then it can take another couple or so before HPI updates so do not panic if it still shows a week after purchase.

steve-5snwi

9,537 posts

109 months

Sunday 14th May 2017
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We have 48 hours to clear the stocking finance, so if something sells on a Saturday we would clear it on Monday, if it sold on a Sunday we would also clear it on Monday.

TSCfree

Original Poster:

1,681 posts

247 months

Sunday 14th May 2017
quotequote all
All sorted. Many thanks chaps.