Selling Car with PCP

danny_cc

Hi all, I’m hoping that someone might be able to give me a definitive answer on this one as my internet searches have gotten a variety of answers. I’m looking to sell my car and I obviously want the best price possible for it, clearly I will likely get much more for it by selling it privately rather than to a dealership or car purchasing company.

The only issue is that the car is currently still on PCP finance, now I am of course aware that the car is still owned by the finance company and I therefore officially have no legal right to sell the car without paying the finance off. 

My question is, if I was to find a private buyer, can the payment essentially be made in 2 payments? The buyer pays the finance off using the details held on the redemption statement that I would obtain, this would then clear the finance and the car would then belong to me, the buyer would then pay me the outstanding difference to get to the full purchase price? 

I can’t foresee any reasons why a sale couldn’t be done this way really apart from buyers not willing to do it that way but I’m hoping that someone here might be able to advise me on whether or not this is possible and more importantly, legal. I will of course clearly state in the advertisement that the sale will be completed in this way to avoid any nasty surprises for people and I will be verbally mentioning it to people when discussing the sale also.

Thank you for any help, it’s greatly appreciated.

SaverRate

Is it not easier for the buyer to pay you all the money then you pay off the finance and provide the buyer with a copy of the confirmation the finance is settled?

DrEskimo

No, this would be fine. It's essentially what happens if a garage or dealer were to buy it from you.

You may find that the buyer can't settle the finance though, so will need to send you the entire amount, which you then settle and keep the difference. I had to do this with a indie dealer.

Of course the buyer is then putting a lot of trust in you....

Might be worth seeing what local garages and dealers will offer you as a straight sale. It might be close to what you want privately, that the extra hassle of doing it privately isn't worth the difference.

danny_cc

Brilliant, thanks for the advise guys. I think it would be easier for the buyer to send me the full amount and I pay the finance off but as you’ve alluded to, quite a bit of trust in me there. I know I wouldn’t be too comfortable doing that but I suppose I’ll give them the option when I get to that point.

Thanks again for your help

[Deleted User]

danny_cc said:

Brilliant, thanks for the advise guys. I think it would be easier for the buyer to send me the full amount and I pay the finance off but as you’ve alluded to, quite a bit of trust in me there. I know I wouldn’t be too comfortable doing that but I suppose I’ll give them the option when I get to that point.

Thanks again for your help

That's what I did. Called the finance company to get a settlement figure. Then while the buyer was with me he transferred the money via his bank. We waited about 30 minutes for it to arrive (max 2 hours so plan for that, and make sure it's during normal banking hours as he had to speak to his bank to authorise such a large transaction). I then transferred the settlement amount to the finance company and showed him the transaction on my phone's mobile banking app.

Remember to inform the DVLA of the transfer and to cancel your insurance before they drive off.

born_again

Or just get the buyer to pay the finance company..

As a aside on faster payments, while 2 hours are quoted, they  have until the end of the next working day to go through. And may be subject to a security check which would require the bank being contacted. 👍