Buying a car with outstanding finance

leamspaceman

I'm thinking that this is one of those situations where the OP had already decided what to do but asked for advice in the hope everybody would say it's fine.

However, most have warned the OP off but he's continuing to provide what he feels is justification that it's all genuine.

Classic case of confirmation bias. Hoping something is true and looking for any confirmation that it is and ignoring the majority that say it isn't or potentially isn't.

Even if everything went seemingly smoothly with this deal I'd still be nervous that months later somebody is going to turn up and repossess the car.

If the lad who is selling is getting another car then I'm guessing that'll be on finance too? So if he qualifies for finance he should qualify for a loan to pay off the current finance arrangement on the car you want to buy?

ChuckMountain

@Shooter1 the more you write in justification of this deal the worse it sounds for the rest of us with no vested interest in the deal.  

Yes he might be legit and he might well be his first car sale but too many alarm bells are ringing.

Very good price - ding - you would expect some haggling on the price when you get there in person, he might not budge but as others have said its only £200 for the difference on what the dealer is offered.  If somebody knocks him down a bit then its no different and with a dealer you hand the keys over and walk away.

Check which Barclays finance product he has as of the 4 they offer only 2 are secured against the vehicle.  If it is a regular PCP then he would surely be better off VT depending on where it is in the agreement.

What is the car and what new one is he getting?

If it's new then its going to presumably quite a bit more than what this one is ?

Greg Hook

Spot on. You can only warn people so many times, you then just have to let them carry on with their chosen course of action, whatever the outcome may be.

I truly hope the op when he goes through with this has everything work out all ok.

I’m sure the world is mostly full of decent people, but when large sums of money are involved the scum crawl out of their holes more often than not.

safcalibur

Is the seller not getting an extra grand not £200? I thought OP was giving £7k and seller was paying £800 so getting a grand more?

Edit: in post 11 OP says there is an outstanding balance of £7800, in a post 45 he mentions the seller has been offered £6800 from dealers so £1k short of the full outstanding balance. Selling the car privately would mean he gets the full balance paid I assume.

Edit 2: ignore this post I've realised what a tool I've been

shoestring25

i dont think its a scam people have been doing this for years. doesnt mean its right though selling something you dont own.

but thinking about it its always been done with houses though the difference there is you pay a lawyer to arrange and sort it all out so you know its legal

hippo99

Problem is that scammers have also been doing this for years.

ChuckMountain

Yes and they get more sophisticated with time

Of course he will a legitimate seller and a scammer always answer the initial emails.  That's part of the process of putting you at ease with parting with your money.

Unfortunately come deal\scam closure then scammers vanish.

shoestring25

usually the scammers dont tell you its got finance on it then pocket the cash its which why HPI checks were vital. now days times have changed and its become common place to sell a car with finance on it

me personally i would never buy a car with finance on it.

961

Buy from a dealer via maker's online site

Get a warranty, probably couple of years free service

End up with a car

No brainer

DPinBucks

I don't think it's said anywhere that the vendor doesn't own it.  There are credit deals where ownership passes to the borrower: it's basically a secured or non-secured loan, and in either case the purchaser owns the car.  Anyway, that's by-the-way.

Car dealers are always happy to take trade-ins where there is finance outstanding: it's quite common.  The dealer gets a settlement figure from the bank, and deducts it from the trade-in.  I'm pretty sure it can all be done very quickly these days as part of a single transaction.

It does puzzle me, though, as others have pointed out, what the seller in this case gets out the deal.  He owes £7,800; he'll sell for £7,000 and so needs to find £800 of his own cash as that part of the deal.  He's buying another car, details not given though to be dated 1st September.  That makes me think it might be a new car; but anyway it will probably cost rather more than £7,000.  Let's say £10,000.

So on that part of the deal he'll have to find the full 10 grand, making his total outlay £10,800.  On the other hand, if he sold to the dealer instead, he'd have to find £11,000, which is £10,000 new car - £6,800 trade-in   £7,800 settlement.  And it's quite possible that the dealer has enough pull to get a better settlement figure than the OP could do by himself, or at least offer some more flexibility on trade-in.

So for £200 on an outlay of £11k or so, he wants to go through all that hassle.  It does not compute.  Barge and pole spring to mind.