Best way to get paid for private car sale

Stubod

Hi all, looking to sell my car and have had an offer from a chap. The last few cars I have part ex'd or received cash, so not really familiar with best / most secure way to sell, (will be over 10k).

If the buyer arrives and likes the car and then does a BACS transfer, and the money then appears in my account can I assume that "it is there" and can't be withdrawn or cancelled by some method?

Many thanks for any clarification....

fred369

The safest way for you is to get paid at the bank and pay it straight into your account.

AdrianC

No, bank transfers can't be revoked. Just think about how many companies accept payment that way for FAR larger amounts...

lesalanos

Bank transfers are safe

Be aware though that some banks have a 10k limit per transaction so may take 2 transactions 

neilmcl

Bank transfers are pretty much safe and once the money is in your account, as mentioned, cannot be revoked. If the sum is over £10K then there may be a chance that the buyer will have to make more than one transaction as every bank has it's own transaction limits as well as daily limits, they will need to check. Also, do the transfer during the week as it may not appear in your account over the weekend.

neilmcl

fred369 said:

The safest way for you is to get paid at the bank and pay it straight into your account.

Bank transfer/faster payments are just as safe.

facade

neilmcl said:

Bank transfers are pretty much safe and once the money is in your account, as mentioned, cannot be revoked.

That isn't 100% true.   They can't be reversed by the sender, but your bank can and will block access to the money if the payment is disputed whilst investigating, and will then withdraw it without your consent and return it to the issuing bank if the payment is proven to be made by mistake, or fraud is involved.

Marvel1

Bank transfer, the reference can be "car *reg mark*"

mark55man

you have to be prepared to wait for the money to show up in your account.  could be instant, could be 30 minutes - could be all day.  I would suggest you ask the purchaser to get pre-approval for the transaction and/or warning his bank.  I also suggest you do the same.  Just switching money between my account and my OH account (quite a regular thing with varying amounts) the money sometimes gets held up.

Also doing a small transaction (ie to check the details) and then a large transaction can trigger an alert a lot of the time.  I'm not an expert in this, but the above are real experiences

neilmcl

facade said:

neilmcl said:

Bank transfers are pretty much safe and once the money is in your account, as mentioned, cannot be revoked.

That isn't 100% true.   They can't be reversed by the sender, but your bank can and will block access to the money if the payment is disputed whilst investigating, and will then withdraw it without your consent and return it to the issuing bank if the payment is proven to be made by mistake, or fraud is involved.

I should've qualified that it can't be arbitrarily revoked by the sender.

Stubod

Hi all and many thanks for the replies. I did do a sale of something else a couple of years ago, (less value), and it did appear in my account virtually straight away, but thanks for the tip on the potential pitfalls of doing it over a weekend!