put a deposit on a car that has pcp

hawkwind

Hi, my son has put a deposit and taken a loan for half the cars price on a year old car with a main dealer, he has been saving so he still has the other half ready to pay.
He went to a main dealer for peace of mind, they have said that the car has PCP and they have sent him an email confirmation that they can guarantee that the PCP will be paid in full and they will handle the settlement and it will not affect any arrangements that we have made moving forward.

Is this good enough to ensure that he will not have a nasty surprise
in years to come before he pays the rest of the money and collects the car.

AnotherJoe

He should be able to call up the finance company and confirm the loan has been paid. This is standard though I'm surprised the dealer hasn't already done it..

Ectophile

It helps the dealer's cash flow if they don't pay off the finance until someone pays them for the car.

AnotherJoe

OK I can see that makes sense.

Mike967angus

Agree with both above answers. If it's a main dealer i.e manufacturers they should have enough credit to settle before you take delivery surely?
I've done something similar and got dealer to show me letter of settlement before taking delivery just to be sure as it flagged up on a vehicle check.
Will section 75 of the consumer credit act be an additional safeguard if you were to say pay £100 on a credit card?
I'm sure someone on here will confirm.

hawkwind

Thanks for the replies, that was my initial thought that they don't pay off the finance until someone pays them for the car to save them using their own credit.
So i should have no worries then with them being a main dealer and sending an email confirmation that the PCP will be cleared by them.

System

Correct. Even if the dealer didn't pay it off the way the law is written the finance company couldn't take the car off your son.

If either you or your son have a credit card pay some or all of the remaining balance on that to get Section 75 protection and use your son's savings to pay that card off.

AdrianC

Ectophile wrote: »

It helps the dealer's cash flow if they don't pay off the finance until someone pays them for the car.

That would show on an HPI check as stocking finance, though, rather than "PCP". I wonder if it's more a case of effectively being on sale-or-return on behalf of the previous keeper, who originally acquired it via PCP. They may have found the settlement figure unpalatable, so are continuing the payments until it's sold, then will address any shortfall directly - better for their cashflow...

hawkwind

Thank you for all of the replies, it is reassuring to know that there can be no comeback for either the finance or taking the car from my son and has put my mind at ease

With regards to the above post yes, i think that is the reason that the car is being sold on is for a customer, so it sounds perfectly reasonable that it is on sale for the points you have made thanks.

hawkwind

Hi again, just to update, I have paid £400 off the balance with a credit card for section 75 protection and the dealer confirmed that it is being sold as sale or return for a customer and the money from the sale is used too pay off the finance on the car.

hawkwind

Sorry to come late with an update, I could not find the post then remembered I could find it from my forum statistics.
Everything was OK and the pcp finance was cleared by the main dealer once payment was completed.
He loves the car so thanks for all of the advice from everyone, I have learned a lot from this and how to take extra precautions when making a large purchase.