We're about to sell the car and considering accepting an instant bank transfer...

livetoclimb

I recently (last month) sold my car for £7100 and accepted bank transfer. I took it to the buyers house after he'd viewed it and he transferred me a tenner to check the speed of the transfer. He then transferred me £7090 and... his bank blocked it. He called the bank (this was at 10pm ish) who said they could only authorise it the following day.

He seemed decent and I'd been in his house And had a coffee etc so I took the risk, left it with him and trusted he'd pay me the next day when the bank authorised his account.

It was a risk, but i did get paid...

For my previous car I took £8500 cash and trusted the buyer that it was real.

Bank transfer is (I think) the safest bet, but be aware that it isn't free of complications.

ThemeOne

I've found most bank transfers seem to be smoothly enough, but it's probably wise to be ready for a slight hitch too.

For example I had to transfer about £3500 quite urgently to a friend a few months back and somehow the Co-op Bank screwed the whole thing up and he was waiting for it for about 3 days in the end.