really unsure if legal

gisbert56

New to the site so please forgive if in the wrong place

I have recently seen a vehicle that I would like to buy, however the seller still owes finance on it and wishes to sell for the amount outstanding, is it safe for me to pay the balance to the loan company and get the log book.

Fiddlestick

gisbert56 wrote: »

New to the site so please forgive if in the wrong place

I have recently seen a vehicle that I would like to buy, however the seller still owes finance on it and wishes to sell for the amount outstanding, is it safe for me to pay the balance to the loan company and get the log book.

The log book does NOT prove ownership, so don't rely on that being in your name to assert title to the vehicle.

You and the seller should contact the finance company and let them know what you plan on doing and obtain their agreement in WRITING, along with a settlement figure.

Once you have that, you should be ok to proceed.

Do not - and I repeat - do not give the money to the seller and presume that they will do the right thing and pay off the finance company; make sure you have written evidence of everything from the finance company before you hand over money otherwise you may not obtain title to the vehicle and the finance company could still own it.

clairbear1000

Also, have you checked that this is a good price for the car? Quite often people want to get out of these finance arrangements as the total payable is more than the car.

gisbert56

Thank you Fiddlestick & Clairbear for your replies, I really appreciate your help.

I will contact the seller to see if we can get the ball rolling with the finance company ( Black Horse) I shall post the outcome on here when I get the information, in the hopes that it may help others in the same position.

regards

Gisbert

DizzleUK

Personally I would walk away from it.

You only have to read through posts on here and other forums of people who thought they had settled their finance agreement with a car company only to find there was a little bit left over which they didn't realise and get a shock when they come to repossess the car.

If such a thing were to happen, they would still be able to take the car away from you and leave you out of pocket.

Either way, I would not entertain buying a car that had any sort of finance hanging over it. Better safe than sorry.