Is bank transfer a safe way of selling my car?

Weird_Nev

Fact is, you're selling a car and some money has to change hands SOMEHOW.

You could accept a wad of 50's and find that most of them are fake.

You could accept a bankers draft and find it is forged.

You could accept paypal and then enter into a long and painful dispute.

You'd not doing a drug deal, you don't need to hold their first-born until the funds are cleared, but it makes sense to take basic precautions commensurate with the amount of cash involved.

Identify THEM: Get name, address, details of the car they turned up in (on the sly). Make sure it all tallies.

Take sensible precautions: If a bank transfer can be arranged, then don't hand over the keys until the money is in your account. Don't accept large sums of cash unless you can bank it immediately (and beware reporting limits). If they want to get a bankers draft, can it be arranged so that they get it drawn up in front of you at the bank, then you cross the road and pay it into yours?

Trust your instincts - if it all feels a bit dodgy, or gets one step too complex (The words 'buying on behalf of.... Western Union.... Ship car to.... I'll pay more and you just..... or Google wallet are all big red flags!) then just back out.

Fact is, most people buying run of the mill cars just want to buy a car, and you want to sell it, so you'll have to meet in the middle somehow.

maxheadroom

Last time I bought a car we both went into the branch and did a transfer at the counter via the cashier who checked other id and instant transfer as we were both with same bank

Imagine could do payment to differing bank accounts in the same way

I would think a scammer would give this a miss or make excuses as to why they couldn't do this

arcon5

Except spotting fake notes is much easier and cheaper than other methods. There's plenty of articles around detailing what to look for and plenty of inexpensive devices that can spot duds.

If it's stolen cash then it would most likely be from lower level crimes - it's highly unlikely the serial number is going to be on a DB ready to be flagged up and op arrested. And if the car transaction was legitimate it would be likely the police wouldn't get involved seizing it!

Cold hard cash is king. I wouldn't risk anything unknown or fancy happening by accepting BACS - unless it was sent days before and I could phone my bank to verify it's completed.

Nodding_Donkey

The OP didn't ask about BACS, he asked about Faster Payments

arcon5

I suspect op, like many, doesn't understand the distinction between the two

saveallmymoney

Sold my car a month ago and the buyer paid by faster payments whilst sat at a laptop on my dining room table, very convenient and gave us both confidence in the transaction.

The money had arrived by the time i'd hit refresh on my web browser.

Up to 10k i'd always do it this way in the future.

peterx666

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

There have been many cases of forged and/or stolen Bankers Drafts (it's just a piece of paper, and not especially difficult to forge).

Bank Transfer is much safer for the seller, especially if you check that the funds are showing in your account before handing over the car keys.

Has anybody thought.... with bank transfer you are giving an unknown party ALL your bank details

They could then pass them on or hack your account later

Just a thought .......

I was going to use this for sales on ebay but decided against giving my bank details out

?????????????????

pete

robatwork

It's been a while since I sold a car, but I recall only accepting a draft and only doing the transaction during banking hours.

That way I could phone up the bank it was drawn on and verify it was real.

matttye

Ask to see photo ID and a recent utility bill which could at least confirm address. Then do it by way of a faster payment which clears almost instantly.

If the payment reverses, you have an address that is somehow connected to the buyer - unless they forged photo ID and a utility bill!

Joe_Horner

peterx666 wrote: »

Has anybody thought.... with bank transfer you are giving an unknown party ALL your bank details

They could then pass them on or hack your account later

Just a thought .......

I was going to use this for sales on ebay but decided against giving my bank details out

?????????????????

pete

All they need is account number and sort code - they don't even need the account holder's name (which may be different to the styling on the V5). That's not enough to hack an account or build a false identity from, even if they also have your address from viewing / collecting the car!

I use bank transfers a LOT for postal customers because it's cheap (ie: free - paying cash in costs me 1.5%), fast and as secure as anything else. Once they're received they won't be reversed unless there's provable fraud and that's nowhere near as prevalent as people worry about.

Incidentally, spotting fake bank notes isn't always easy, especially when you have a wad of a hundred or more of them to go through. Say 15 seconds per note to check watermark, "feel" and reaction to UV / pen means you (and the buyer) will be sitting there for almost half an hour.

If I was buying I'd be long gone by then. As said on many "buyer" threads on here - there are plenty more cars out there