Handing over £16000 to a private seller

[CopperBolt]

Hi all
Ive found a good car which I could see myself buying. Its 50 miles away so not been to see it or anything yet.
Whats the best plan for going to see it, making sure its straight independent inspection maybe, handing over the money and leaving with a car?

Reason I ask is that last car I bought privately I did a bank transfer, got a message form the bank saying "we cant transfer this amount straight away as its so large there will be a 24 hour delay", so obviously seller wouldnt part with car as money wasnt there. So I had to leave and wait 24 hours and hope he wasn't a wide boy and had scarpered by then with my money. That was for £6000. He wasnt. But £16000 a bit more risky.
Grateful for any thoughts on how best to approach it.

[Muzzer79]

Talk to your bank, find out your options.

Safest way for the seller and you is to both travel to a bank and do the money transaction there.

Simplest way once there is to withdraw cash from said bank there and then and give it to the seller - that way he knows it's not fake. At the same time, he gives you the keys to the car.

However, the bank will likely need notification that you're coming to withdraw that amount of money beforehand. Plus, physical branches of banks are not prolific nowadays

However, to paraphrase Ed Bolian, there are two elements to a car transaction - the keys to the car and the money. Make sure you have either one of those elements in your possession at all times.

[Giles_L]

Not sure what bank you are with but HSBC lets you do 25K per day, I've tested this as had to pay my tax last year and that's the most I could do in one day

[joropug]

Second go to the bank on a weekday, check opening hours first.

I sold a car and the guy didn't have online banking, it was only £6000 but we went to Nationwide, took the documents with us, he went to the counter, showed his ID etc, did the transfer to my account, appeared instantly.

Filled the documents in at a table in the bank, literally the safest transaction you can do.

[ChocolateFrog]

I don't really understand banks sometimes.

Nationwide let me transfer £14000 in two transactions no problem, they went straight through.

A year later and I couldn't transfer £4500 until they'd rang me and gone through a load of checks, and then once authorised they tell you there's no comebacks on the bank if it turns out to be fraudulent.

[plenty]

Ask your bank what is the daily payment limit. And if it's lower than £16k open a Starling account which lets you transfer £25k per day, or a Revolut account which has a £250k daily limit.

As an aside, it always puzzles me why folks have such an aversion to travel. 50 miles to view a car is...nothing

[ninjag]

There's also sometimes a default transfer limit set for safety which you should be able to log into your online banking and change. Happened to me with NatWest when buying my last car, but it wasn't something which could be changed via the phone banking app - only if you log in via the website, thankfully I had also brought my laptop with the wee security code reader thingy just in case.

Mind some banks require extra security processes (such as the code reader) to setup a new beneficiary and the first payment to such usually has to be done via the same security.

[ninjag]

There's also sometimes a default transfer limit set for safety which you should be able to log into your online banking and change. Happened to me with NatWest when buying my last car, but it wasn't something which could be changed via the phone banking app - only if you log in via the website, thankfully I had also brought my laptop with the wee security code reader thingy just in case.

Mind some banks require extra security processes (such as the code reader) to setup a new beneficiary and the first payment to such usually has to be done via the same security.

[CopperBolt]

Thanks all, visiting a bank seems a good way to do it. according to Barclays my limit on a current account is £10,000 and £2,000 for a new payeee first payment, so not enough.

Any advice on ensuring the cars mechanically sound etc? Independent local garage near the seller and ask him to let them have a look at it?

Its a 2016 Merc 2.0 SLK AMG sport 9 speed auto.

Thanks

[georgefreeman918]

CopperBolt said:

Thanks all, visiting a bank seems a good way to do it. according to Barclays my limit on a current account is £10,000 and £2,000 for a new payeee first payment, so not enough.

Any advice on ensuring the cars mechanically sound etc? Independent local garage near the seller and ask him to let them have a look at it?

Its a 2016 Merc 2.0 SLK AMG sport 9 speed auto.

Thanks

You can't expect a private seller to go out of their way to demonstrate that the car is in good condition - its up to you as the buyer to establish this.

The risks of buying privately!

[fido]

I paid a tad less for a car during lockdown over Whatsapp (seller was 200 miles away and I didn't fancy testing my eyesight). I sent a quid to the seller prior to transaction to test it was working. Once the car was on the transporter I sent the balance. TBF they were nice people to deal with. In person this shouldn't be a problem - the bank limit will be way higher (20 or 30k depending on type of account). Just let the bank know beforehand.

[zedx19]

I bank transferred 16.5k for a car purchase to a private seller last year. The bank held the payment, then their fraud team rang me, asked me a lot of questions such as, "Are you happy with the car condition", "Have you physically seen and drove the car", etc etc, then they released the funds which went into the sellers bank straight away. Took about an hour or so in total, from transfer, to having fraud ring, getting through to a human, answering questions.

Bank told me they'd seen a big rise in people buying cars remotely, without even seeing them then the car never being delivered, hence all the questions. This was with Natwest.

[CopperBolt]

georgefreeman918 said:

You can't expect a private seller to go out of their way to demonstrate that the car is in good condition - its up to you as the buyer to establish this.

The risks of buying privately!

I wasnt clear, yes, I would pay a garage near to him to have a look at it for me. As it happens theres an independent Mercedes specialist very near to him so would be perfect if they would do it for me.

[Muzzer79]

CopperBolt said:

georgefreeman918 said:

You can't expect a private seller to go out of their way to demonstrate that the car is in good condition - its up to you as the buyer to establish this.

The risks of buying privately!

I wasnt clear, yes, I would pay a garage near to him to have a look at it for me. As it happens theres an independent Mercedes specialist very near to him so would be perfect if they would do it for me.

Go and view the car. Meet the specialist there who will look over it.

It's 16 grand, don't trust that amount of money entirely to other people.

[Keepersball]

Sorry for hijacking the thread but what would peoples advice be on buying a car privately for a larger amount - say £30k - this is above the limit banks will allow you to transfer even in person

[plenty]

Keepersball said:

Sorry for hijacking the thread but what would peoples advice be on buying a car privately for a larger amount - say £30k - this is above the limit banks will allow you to transfer even in person

Not with a Revolut account.

[ninjag]

CopperBolt said:

Thanks all, visiting a bank seems a good way to do it. according to Barclays my limit on a current account is £10,000 and £2,000 for a new payeee first payment, so not enough.

Any advice on ensuring the cars mechanically sound etc? Independent local garage near the seller and ask him to let them have a look at it?

Its a 2016 Merc 2.0 SLK AMG sport 9 speed auto.

Thanks

Have you checked your online banking to see if this can be increased? Mine was set at £5,000 with NatWest, but I logged in (via website not phone app) and changed it to £20k.

[Shrimpvende]

Keepersball said:

Sorry for hijacking the thread but what would peoples advice be on buying a car privately for a larger amount - say £30k - this is above the limit banks will allow you to transfer even in person

I've done it a couple of times on both buy and sell side, we both went to the bank and did a CHAPS payment. It's non reversible, so although it won't show up in your account for a few days, once you've done that in person and the other side has witnessed it then you know you're safe. Normally a £10 or so fee for doing this. I think the most expensive car I sold privately was £32k and that was a CHAPS at the bank.

Having said that, I sold a car for £28k a couple of years ago and the buyer just did a couple of transfers on his phone app which came through fine - I'm not sure if us both being Santander helped with this or not.

[Muzzer79]

Keepersball said:

Sorry for hijacking the thread but what would peoples advice be on buying a car privately for a larger amount - say £30k - this is above the limit banks will allow you to transfer even in person

Speak to the bank

You can use (FPS) Faster Payment Service that will transfer to the recipient within 2 hours.

[vanman1936]

You can pay way more than these amounts by just calling your bank and doing a same day transfer, charge is £25.

Don’t see the problem if you are with the owner.