Taking over car finance from another person

rumz

Hi,

Well I was thinking of buying a car from a private seller, however the car has finance against it (not sure which one) but the guy goes I can take over his finance and pay him the difference, or pay him the asking price and he will pay off the finance.


Is there anything I should ask/look out for. Is this common practice


thanks

Eric_Pisch

alot of trust involved in this

if you pay him the money and he does not clear the debt the hp company will come after the car

The only way I would contemplate this if I could pay the HP company and him at the same time. TBH thou to much hassle, uncertainty and risk for me.

rumz

thanks for this.

Can i simply take over the finance at the same rate as the seller?

Eric_Pisch

rumz wrote: »

thanks for this.

Can i simply take over the finance at the same rate as the seller?

I would assume that this is a contract and they wont transfer it over

Trying ringing them, they probably wont talk about an individual policy (data protection and all that) but they may be able to advise you on principles

iolanthe07

I would walk away - too risky.

rumz

i really want this car and the guy seems genuine. He wants to sell the car but it has finance on it.

He has given me these options

I just want to know whats the safest bet other than walking away

CLAPTON

rumz wrote: »

i really want this car and the guy seems genuine. He wants to sell the car but it has finance on it.

He has given me these options

I just want to know whats the safest bet other than walking away

find out what sort of finance he has
if it's HP then he doesn't own the car.. the finance company does

phone the finance company yourself and see what options they offer you.

he may well believe what he is saying but its simply wrong
and sadly all con men seem genuine

In no circumstances give him the money on the understanding he will pay off the HP.

rumz

CLAPTON wrote: »

find out what sort of finance he has
if it's HP then he doesn't own the car.. the finance company does

phone the finance company yourself and see what options they offer you.

he may well believe what he is saying but its simply wrong
and sadly all con men seem genuine

In no circumstances give him the money on the understanding he will pay off the HP.

thanks mate,

i will speak to the finance company to make sure it is legit. I think it is HP. Now, i just wanted to know, if it was common practice in this scenario to take the finance off the seller and then pay the remainder to him in cash.

eg.

Car value = £10,000
Finance = £5,000

Cash to seller £5,000

CLAPTON

No it's not common practice and I doubt if the finance company will allow it. To get credit they will want to credit check you and provide a 'new' loan.

10k is an awful lot of money if anything goes wrong so unless you are absolutely sure after speaking to the finance company then walk away.

In your example what do you mean finance 5000? do you mean that the sum of the monthly payments still left to make?

ILW

Unless this car really is something special, I would walk away. There are thousands of cars out there without the risk of unsettled finance and possiible disputes over ownership. Only buy if the finance is settlef and it passes an HPI check.

katsu

Please be careful.

I worked with someone a few years ago who purchased a car and didn't realise it was still on HP. He paid the seller, took the car home and a little while later he ended up having the car taken away from him and facing chasing the seller for his money.

I don't know if he ever got the money back, he certainly never saw the car again.