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buying a car

zaax
zaax Posts: 1,914 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
in Budgeting & bank accounts
What is the best way to pay the private seller of a car?
BACS is out of the question as there are 100's of scare stories about getting one digit wrong and loosing the lot.
Do you want your money back, and a bit more, search for 'money claim online' - They don't like it up 'em Captain Mainwaring
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Comments

  • Voiren
    Voiren Posts: 41 Forumite
    Well, it doesn't have to be if the seller is amenable to confirming that £5 has arrived first before you send the whole lot.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You'd have to find someone to sell you a time machine first if you wanted to use BACS.
  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,350 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Cash.

    some more letters.
  • thebritishbloke
    thebritishbloke Posts: 1,472 Forumite
    Cash is pretty much your only realistic option. There's so many cheque/BACS scams going around that cash is the only thing people trust.
    Credit 'Score' - Don't buy the credit 'score' that Experian, Equifax and Noddle want to sell you. It's an arbitrary number that means nothing when it comes to applying for credit.

    ALWAYS HAVE A DIRECT DEBIT SET UP FOR THE MINIMUM PAYMENT ON YOUR CREDIT CARDS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU PLAN TO LOGIN AND PAY EACH MONTH.
  • noh
    noh Posts: 5,827 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Faster payments with a small test payment first.
    The rest transferred when you pick up the car.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,596 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Bankers Draft.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,596 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    thebritishbloke wrote: »
    Cash is pretty much your only realistic option.
    Why would the buyer accept your used £20s and £50s? For all they know, it could be fake bank notes.
  • thebritishbloke
    thebritishbloke Posts: 1,472 Forumite
    colsten wrote: »
    Why would the buyer accept your used £20s and £50s? For all they know, it could be fake bank notes.
    There's fraud in every option, but try and find a seller that's going to accept a BACS payment and you'll struggle. People think you can reclaim them too easily.
    Credit 'Score' - Don't buy the credit 'score' that Experian, Equifax and Noddle want to sell you. It's an arbitrary number that means nothing when it comes to applying for credit.

    ALWAYS HAVE A DIRECT DEBIT SET UP FOR THE MINIMUM PAYMENT ON YOUR CREDIT CARDS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU PLAN TO LOGIN AND PAY EACH MONTH.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,596 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    thebritishbloke wrote: »
    try and find a seller that's going to accept a BACS payment and you'll struggle. People think you can reclaim them too easily.

    You have totally lost me.

    There's no way any private individual can make a BACS payment.
    So therefore reclaiming it is also impossible.

    But you probably mean a Faster Payment? If so, that's also impossible to reclaim without the recipient's agreement.

    It is for that reason that, as a private buyer, I would be most reluctant to pay by FP. As the owner may never hand over the car but my money is gone. As a seller, I would never hand over the keys and car documents to someone paying me by bank transfer.

    But then, I'd only ever buy or sell a car through a dealer.
  • noh
    noh Posts: 5,827 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I sold my last two cars privately accepting payment via faster payment.
    The first one the buyer banked with HSBC and I had a First Direct account. Before he came to view I asked him to transfer 10p to my account which was successful.
    He decided to buy when he viewed and transferred the money to my account there and then. I checked that my account had been credited gave him the keys and a receipt. He then drove the car away.
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