Selling a Car on Facebook

moonpenny

My brother is getting his car ready to sell on Facebook. 

As he will be asking approx £4000 what is the safest way of handling this?  He was planning on asking for a Bank Transfer.  Is this a safe method?

secla

facebook is possibly the worst place to be selling a car, So many scams and people messing you about

but yes bank transfer is safe, pretty much instant for most banks these days

cymruchris

Be ready for a million scam messages.

Don't hand over the car until funds are showing in his account on his device. No matter what the other party say - no funds - no car. 

FlorayG

Yes that's the best. I sold one for £6k, took the bank transfer on the spot before he drove it away. Cash is also safe, of course.

Money_Grabber13579

FlorayG said:

Yes that's the best. I sold one for £6k, took the bank transfer on the spot before he drove it away. Cash is also safe, of course.

So long as you have the ability to check you aren’t getting a load of lookalike notes. Possibly harder in the days of plastic notes but I doubt it’s impossible.

Penguin_

Money_Grabber13579 said:

FlorayG said:

Yes that's the best. I sold one for £6k, took the bank transfer on the spot before he drove it away. Cash is also safe, of course.

So long as you have the ability to check you aren’t getting a load of lookalike notes. Possibly harder in the days of plastic notes but I doubt it’s impossible.

So many fake notes around now, especially with King Charles on them!! 

Newbie_John

Well with cash then can possibly break in your house knowing you have £4k there. As well as any other options of giving you less, fake notes etc. 

Bank transfer is the only option, go for a drive with them and don't give them keys until money is in your bank account. Also ask first to pay you a £1 to make sure they're sending it to the right account - once it arrives ask for the rest - to avoid any problems of mistyping account number and any fake stories that could follow..

GadgetGuru

I would actually opt for BT over Cash now. 
Ive been stung on a previous sale for £700 (sold an iPhone) and given all fake £20 notes that the bank later said were the best fakes they had ever seen......
Luckily I managed to track down the buyer, reported to police, and got got my money after a year or so of chasing the police!

Nowadays for any sales I take Bank Transfer and check its actually in my account before releasing anything. 

Create a receipt of sale with all the car details as well as the buyers details. Record not only the date, but also the TIME of sale, then both buyer and seller sign. 
This covers you should he get any speeding offenses or tickets later in the day!

You'll need his details for the log book etc, but take a copy of his drivers license and pin it to the sale receipt too if you like. 

CliveOfIndia

Money_Grabber13579 said:

So long as you have the ability to check you aren’t getting a load of lookalike notes. Possibly harder in the days of plastic notes but I doubt it’s impossible.

I was going to say the same thing - cash is not actually foolproof.

I guess the only safe way of receiving cash is to get the buyer to go to a physical branch with you, pay the cash in over the counter and wait until the staff member has confirmed that it has been credited to your account.  Even then, you've got the risk of walking down the street with a wad of cash in your pocket.

Bank transfer is definitely safest, just wait until you see it sitting in your account.

As others have said, be prepared for a lot of chancers and timewasters on Facebook.  Having said that, I've sold a couple of old cars on FB over the years with no issues, once you've weeded out the dross and found a genuine buyer.

moonpenny

Thank you everyone for all for your help and advice.

He really didn't want to go down the cash route for reasons mentioned so it seems he will be making the right choice with a Bank Transfer.

Going by the comments it seems it's a case of being wary of likely scams and keeping your wits about you!

bluelad1927

Be very wary of BT. They use apps that look like banking apps and they show you the screen displaying the transfer has been made to your account. 

Make sure the funds are in YOUR account before handing any goods.

Obviously  the people who use these scams are very good with their pressure tactics and deceiving and its often not as simple as  seeing through the scam