Buying private / protecting yourself / bank transfers
Discussion
Morning all
Shortly be looking to purchase a car up to about 20K, which for me is a lot of money, the most I've ever spent on a car.
Buying from a dealer i have no issues, as there is come backs etc.
My question is buying private and bank transfers for payment, what do people do?
If its 20K that's a lot of money and the banks can take up to 24hours to transfer, which means you have now essentially transferred someone you don't know, but cannot take the car as it hasn't landed in their account yet. The next day you just hope they and the car as still there.
We were lucky last year, we travelled 4 hours to buy a scirocco (to get the right spec) and we bank transferred 6K, to our horror even though we jumped through every loop the bank put in place, inc phoning them on the day before hand, and during when it still tried to stop it for fraud.
It still did not land in the guys account. He was very good in that he had seen it leave our account and allowed us to take the car.
2 days later he phoned to say he still had not seen it, the bank was still holding it even though we had confirmed twice it was not fraud, eventually they let it go through.
The question is still, how do you protect yourself, transferring privately a lot of money, but taking 24hours of money to transfer. Walking away to collect the car the next day? Trust doesn't go far now days when you are spending a lot of money, especially when you do a bank transfer the bank says this is done at your own risk
Pete
Shortly be looking to purchase a car up to about 20K, which for me is a lot of money, the most I've ever spent on a car.
Buying from a dealer i have no issues, as there is come backs etc.
My question is buying private and bank transfers for payment, what do people do?
If its 20K that's a lot of money and the banks can take up to 24hours to transfer, which means you have now essentially transferred someone you don't know, but cannot take the car as it hasn't landed in their account yet. The next day you just hope they and the car as still there.
We were lucky last year, we travelled 4 hours to buy a scirocco (to get the right spec) and we bank transferred 6K, to our horror even though we jumped through every loop the bank put in place, inc phoning them on the day before hand, and during when it still tried to stop it for fraud.
It still did not land in the guys account. He was very good in that he had seen it leave our account and allowed us to take the car.
2 days later he phoned to say he still had not seen it, the bank was still holding it even though we had confirmed twice it was not fraud, eventually they let it go through.
The question is still, how do you protect yourself, transferring privately a lot of money, but taking 24hours of money to transfer. Walking away to collect the car the next day? Trust doesn't go far now days when you are spending a lot of money, especially when you do a bank transfer the bank says this is done at your own risk
Pete
Bought privately for c. £8k from a fairly cautious seller - we went into a nearby branch of my bank (Barclays), I did the transfer there in front of him, and drove away in the car.
Sold privately for c. £9k - (distance) buyer transferred money online into my account, arranged collection via Shipley, a nice Polish guy came with a truck a few days later and collected the car.
Bought privately for c. £15k - sent the money from the app on my phone in one go, appeared in seller's account 5 mins later, drove away in the car.
Sold privately for a bit over £20k - seller transferred the money from app on his phone in two lots, appeared in 5 mins in my account, he drove away in the car.
I guess (as in many things in life) I've been lucky.
One useful thing when buying privately is to visit the seller at their home address, that way it's hard for them to just disappear with your money, i.e. if you do get into the situation where the payment has left your account and hasn't reached theirs, and you need to come back for the car later.
Like has already been mentioned, FASTER payments between regular high street banks are almost instantaneous. The amount may have to be split into two smaller £10k amounts but it will go through straight away (subject to any fraud checks) at the payees end.
I wouldn’t be transferring anyone money and walking away fro 24hrs.
I know cash is going out of fashion but recently sold something (£16k) and the buyer paid in cash on the understanding we went to the Post Office and he paid it in directly to my account. That way it had to go through their counting machine which would also spit out any counterfeit notes.
Very little risk/delay involved these days, don’t forget to do the V5 online too - it’s much quicker and you get an email receipt/V5C2 straight to your email account.
Si
I wouldn’t be transferring anyone money and walking away fro 24hrs.
I know cash is going out of fashion but recently sold something (£16k) and the buyer paid in cash on the understanding we went to the Post Office and he paid it in directly to my account. That way it had to go through their counting machine which would also spit out any counterfeit notes.
Very little risk/delay involved these days, don’t forget to do the V5 online too - it’s much quicker and you get an email receipt/V5C2 straight to your email account.
Si
I bought a Clio RS when I was a bit younger. Transferred the money and it never reached the guys account. Ended up having to sleep in the rent a car and wait till the morning for the bank to open. The owner drove home in the car for the night with the money in cyberspace somewhere.
Yeah... luckily I was a little more chill about the scenario than I would be nowadays. Oh to be young again
Yeah... luckily I was a little more chill about the scenario than I would be nowadays. Oh to be young again
I've done this by bank transfer at least 5 times in the last 4 years, cars and bikes. Only the first time I sold to a bank transfer was an issue (2018 ish) when I sold a car, Santander (both the buyer and I were using them at the time) blocked the payment for some reason, it was under £3k! I thought for several hours I'd been scammed but after the buyer called them, the money arrived. I'd stood and watched them do the transfer from their smart phone, but was still nervous all afternoon!
Now, I always request a small deposit (say £100 ish), or I send one, so that the payment pathway is established. A sudden request to send many thousands of £ to a new payee sometimes raises a flag, especially if it's something you rarely do!
Now, I always request a small deposit (say £100 ish), or I send one, so that the payment pathway is established. A sudden request to send many thousands of £ to a new payee sometimes raises a flag, especially if it's something you rarely do!
J40NYR said:
I bought a Clio RS when I was a bit younger. Transferred the money and it never reached the guys account. Ended up having to sleep in the rent a car and wait till the morning for the bank to open. The owner drove home in the car for the night with the money in cyberspace somewhere.
Yeah... luckily I was a little more chill about the scenario than I would be nowadays. Oh to be young again
This happened to me last month.Yeah... luckily I was a little more chill about the scenario than I would be nowadays. Oh to be young again
Had paid the deposit with cash, but seller preferred bacs for the balance as it would save him a trip to the bank. No problem.
Got there about 7pm, transferred the balance (only £1700) and waited.
And waited.
Didn't appear in the sellers app. Seller rang his bank, nothing there.
I rang my bank, they were closed.
Tried again, this time tried the emergency fraud option and got through.
They confirmed the payment had been stopped for fraud checks, but were unable to do anything until 9am the next day!
I was two hours from home.
Ended up spending the night in a Premier inn which cost me £70, with a £1700 hole showing in my account and nothing to show for it, then went back in the morning.
After an hour on the phone to the fraud team where they asked me all kinds of inane questions the sellers phone finally bonged and he dropped the keys into my hand.
I don't blame the seller for not letting me take it without the money.
Next time it is cash, or during business hours!!
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff