Buying a car by bank transfer - good or bad idea?

SiliconChip

castle96 said:

Personally I think you have to be a little daft to buy  a car sight unseen !

I'd agree for a used car, but it's what happens for pretty much every brand new car that isn't bought off the forecourt. Of course, if it turns up and you don't like it then you might be able to walk away with only the loss of deposit, but given the time and emotion invested so far I'd imagine very few people would do that.

jimjames

RogerBareford said:

Herzlos said:

RogerBareford said:

Herzlos said:

RogerBareford said:

Even with an RAC inspection i wouldn't be buying a car without seeing it myself and test driving it first. There are many horror stories online explaining why this is a bad idea.

That's because no-one really comments on the times it goes well, so you only see the horror stories.

Most cars these days seem to be bough remotely and delivered - it made sense with covid and it's just easier to do.

Obviously, some due diligence is required before buying blind though.

That's true you only see the Horror stories but your far less likely to buy a car with an obvious issue when buying in person than buy remotely.

I would be surprised if most cars are bought remotely and delivered. If i'm comitting to buying a car i will want to test drive it first atleast to see if it feels right for me because some cars are nicer to drive than others simply due to their design and not because of any issues.

Plenty of people buy lemons in person too.

Most sales being remote may be hyperbole, but most dealers seem to offer delivery and contact free collection, you can order a new car from any manufacturer completely obline and from talking to dealers pre-covid most sales are already decided from the ad before seeing the car. The reality is that the vast majority of people just don't care about cars.

I can't find any up to date figures, but this article from before Covid reckons 27% of people would buy online sight unseen, growing to 46% of younglings. https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/27-uk-consumers-buy-car-online-without-viewing-13-06-2019

Throw Covid in the mix and I wouldn't be surprised if the figure was much higher, though I don't know if it'd pass 50%.

Even people who don't care about cars surely want to see if they are nice to drive. I'm quite surprised by how high those figures are.

Bear in mind the survey asked if they would not if they had. The answers people might give are not necessarily reality and might be done by someone like Cazoo with an incentive to get the right answer. The data in that survey also says 1 in 5 are predicted to be sold online in the next decade so substantially below the numbers above. All from pre-Covid times though.