HPI Check - outstanding finance - dealer unit stocking type
Discussion
I've see a car in an AutoTrader ad (dealership ad) that has caught my eye, the advert says HPI Clear, however I ran my own HPI check on it this morning and it came up as "Has Outstanding Finance". Intially I was really annoyed that it had been advertised as HPI Clear when it wasn't. The HPI Check says it has unit stocking type finance on it so a bit of googling and I've found out that its the type of finance that dealers have to fund the cars on their forecourt. Everything else on the HPI Check was fine, there was a plate change, but this a change from a private plate to its existing one and the check said there was no alerts in relation to this. So my question is this....should the dealer have said in their advert that it the car was HPI Clear, or should they have been more explicit in their description? Initally I was ready to walk away, thinking the dealer was dodgy, but I really like this car, so I'd just like to know if this is just normal practice. I'd like to progress and go see it, but as it's far away, I'm trying to find out as much as possible before I go the expense of travelling all day. I intend the call the finance company tomorrow.
It's very much normal practise and nothing to worry about. To be safe it is worth asking the dealer for a clearance letter before you complete the deal but even if you didn't do that and the stocking finance wasn't cleared, when the finance company who hold an interest see there has been a change of ownership they would likely debit the dealer for the money anyway (thus removing the stocking finance).
Thank you both. That's helpful to know for the future. Unfortunately a couple of other things are making me feel uneasy about the dealer, so I've decided to walk away from that particular car, shame as it was exactly what I was after. Dealer has refused to allow either the AA or RAC do a vehicle inspection, that with lots of bad reviews online and dubious company activity recorded at Companies House. The car is also priced about £500 lower than others, so it all feels a bit too good to be true. I'm a 5hr drive away from the dealer, so I can't ask around for local recommendations about them. I was prepared to fly down from Scotland to collect car, but only if I could get it checked over in advance by someone who knows what they are doing mechanically (as that's not me). The search continues!
The dealer would have to clear the stocking finance with the stock funder either within 48 hours if paid over a weekend or ideally before the car is collected. Every stock funder is different, most usually want it clearing before and some finance companies won't fund a car thats on stocking until its clear.
Where in the UK is the car ? Perhaps someone local can take a look for you.
Where in the UK is the car ? Perhaps someone local can take a look for you.
I spent the last 18 months traveling the UK buying cars for a dealer (it was 2 of us and we purchased from the private market) I've been to Scotland a number of times, Belfast pretty much everywhere. Unless it was a main dealer I would never buy a car from the Birmingham area. The better quality cars were always up North, they were usually the pride and joy of there owners, many worked offshore. It was the prestige market we were buying from.
steve-5snwi said:
I spent the last 18 months traveling the UK buying cars for a dealer (it was 2 of us and we purchased from the private market) I've been to Scotland a number of times, Belfast pretty much everywhere. Unless it was a main dealer I would never buy a car from the Birmingham area. The better quality cars were always up North, they were usually the pride and joy of there owners, many worked offshore. It was the prestige market we were buying from.
What a wired thing to say! I guess all us car fanatics that live around Brum must drive piles of s
t, so this guy says 
BUG4LIFE said:
What a wired thing to say! I guess all us car fanatics that live around Brum must drive piles of st, so this guy says
No i'm sure there are some nice cars around there, but I would say 80 % of the cars i viewed around the Birmingham area that were private sales were absolute rubbish, dodgy histories, couldn't prove ownership, fake documents, crash damaged and full of filler. It got to the stage where we wouldn't bother viewing any cars in that area. t, so this guy says So for someone who is in Scotland looking at a car in the midlands unless its a well respected dealer I would be very cautious. Dealer stocking itself isn't a cause for concern, I would just do my homework on the dealer, get a walk around video of the car etc.
steve-5snwi said:
I spent the last 18 months traveling the UK buying cars for a dealer (it was 2 of us and we purchased from the private market) I've been to Scotland a number of times, Belfast pretty much everywhere. Unless it was a main dealer I would never buy a car from the Birmingham area. The better quality cars were always up North, they were usually the pride and joy of there owners, many worked offshore. It was the prestige market we were buying from.
Which particular area of Brum did you have in mind?In my experience you're wasting your money with either AA or RAC inspections. We have no problem with customers having them done but of the last three that have been done they have been an absolute joke. The most memorable of which was a guy who wasn't a mechanic at all, he was a farmer who does AA inspections on the side to earn a bit of extra money in his spare time. He inspected an Audi S8 we had in and said there was no tool kit, no locking wheel nut key, no service history and only one key. The lock nut key and tool kit were in the boot which I checked for the customer after the guy left and we showed him the service history etc after his inspection which he carried out, with both the keys on the same tag funnily enough.
You'd be much better off getting a local PHer to take a look for you if somebody is local to a car you want to see.
You'd be much better off getting a local PHer to take a look for you if somebody is local to a car you want to see.
We also use a stocking facility and as Steve mentioned above the dealer will have to clear it within 48 hours of collection of vehicle. This particular car being on stocking should be of no real concern as it is in the dealers interest to clear it within the time frame. We have regular audits to make sure everything we do with the stocking facility is done to their liking and would get fined accordingly or have any extra stocking put on hold if we weren't up to scratch. I'm sure other lenders will be very similar.
Thanks for all the responses. I saw another nice looking car (its a Mini Cooper S I'm after) at another Birmingham dealer, phoned them middle of a Sunday afternoon and even the way they answered the phone put me off. So I've decided to go with my gut feeling about these dealers and walk away. Must be getting old and sensible in my old age and possibly a bit picky, as I've bought my previous 4 cars all from down south.
Even tho, I won't be going ahead with the purchase on this occassion, it's really good information to know for the future, if I ever see it again on an HPI Check. And maybe this thread will help somelse too, when they find themselves in the postion that I found myself in and has to turn to Google for the answer.
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