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Hi - I have my eye on a car being sold privately. Would some kind expert tell me how I should pay - say Bankers Draft - do I then have to wait for this to clear the vendors bank? Advice would be very much appreciated.
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Banker's Drafts have a nasty habit of being forged.
If you get yours from a bank then yours obviously won't be, but your seller should have the opportunity to satisfy himself that the draft is genuine. Hence this would meen doing the transaction during banking hours, so he can contact the bank.
Provided he is happy to accept the draft then this can be treated as cash and he should release the car to you straight away.
Another option is cash. Depending on the value of the car and where you're going to pick it up, you may not want to pay this way, and the seller may be unhappy to accept cash, for the same reasons.
I hae heard of both buyer and seller going into the buyers bank. Buyer drawers cash out, hands it to seller who gives him the keys, Seller then pays it into his account via the same branch. This may work better if both buyer and seller bank with the same bank.
Speak to the seller.
Hugo
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Last para works best. Teller can also check notes to ensure none forged, and seller can leave bank without any money in his hand just in case buyer has set him up with a couple of "helpers" waiting to relieve him of it.
Always my recommended method where I live.
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If practical, doing it in the bank seems the best all round method.
When buying a car recently, I offered to pay by bankers draft but the vendor (company accounts dept rather than an individual) wanted it to clear first. That would be a pointless exercise since, as Hugo says, it is good as cash because a bank's cheque won't bounce in the usual clearing cycle. If it turns out the draft was stolen, it could take a few weeks to materialise.
I bank with Barclays and they will not verify bankers drafts over the phone. Your vendor could go into the branch where you got the draft from to verify it, but then if you both have to go in, it seems worthwhile to just swap cash in there.
The vendor could bank with the same bank as you. In which case, your bank may be able to do an immediate transfer electronically via a personal banker, or possibly online.
Cheques and the quicker BACS will mean the vendor will want the money to clear before letting the car go. You then have the issue that the car could still be in use or on the street, where it could get damaged etc.
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Cash can be inconvenient and may be forged notes anyhow.
Bankers drafts are expensive (around £20 I think) plus can be forged so need to be cleared like a cheque so no real benefit.
Best way I find is to determine whether the car can stay where it is for a few days, eg garage, drive, street.
If so pay by cheque, drawn on a UK bank, in exchange for logbook. Pick up car when cheque clears usually 3 days. Sorted.
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If you can't do the bank thing then I would hand over a cheque and take the V5C but not the car. Keys and car get handed over when the cheque clears. Both parties then have to trust each other.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Is it possible these days to do a Switch payment from one individual to another?
I've paid for a couple of cars with Switch in the last few weeks with traders and that seemed to be just fine. Can a private individual do it too?
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I certainly don't accept Switch. I neither have the swipey machine thingy nor the subscription to whatever network is required.
It's possible to do a bank-transfer over the Internet, but that would have to clear too. Messy though... you don't want to pay remotely because you at least want to have the V5 in your hand when you pay them.
In the past I've used cash and driven the car away the same day. It's always fun whipping out a big wad of 50s. Less fun handing them over though.
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You could use a CHAPS payment (as opposed to BACS) which should only take an hour or so if the Bank is on the ball. I prefer Bank-to-Bank rather than cash or cheques as there is an electronic record of the transaction and the payment has to be to an account. Put the car registration number as the payment reference so in the event of a dispute there is no doubt what it is for.
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Thank you for all your input it is much appreciated.
I end up with the feeling that the whole situation is based on trust and when (for me anyway) it seems like a whole lot of money is out of your control while the banks pretend they cannot process under 5 days (my bank!) an ordinary cheque. It's enough to make you padlock yourself to the bumper.
I think it is time the banks got their act together - whose money is it anyway? Well in this instance it's mine and I am not a happy bunny.
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I've been sent a draft by a "Nigerian" scammer - drawn on the National Irish Bank, for £4,250 more than the item! Expecting them to ask for it to be sent via Western Union any moment!
Draft is here: tinyurl.com/8adjk
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We have gone over this a few times but always worth a repeat.
As I stressed above a cheque drawn on a UK bank. I should perhaps have added that is part of the UK bank clearing system (all the major ones are).
A cheque from a UK bank in the clearing system, will clear in 3 days.
Any other cheque will not and if its a foreign bank they are posted to the bank concerned. Receipt of cash by your bank can take up to 2 months. They will allow you to draw on the cheque amount after 3 days but the cheque is not cleared and they are effectively loaning you money which they will demand back if the cheque is not honoured.
Payments by Western Union are all in cleared funds and not refundedable. Hence the scam.
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Use cash I paid for my current vehicle in cash £8000 (all twentys) To ensure a smoth transaction make sure that you have witneses (buyer plus witnes, seller plus witnes).
Paul
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A cheque from a UK bank in the clearing system, will clear in 3 days.
Need to be careful about that as they can take longer than three days to bounce. Some time since I did cashier work, but saw lots of RD cheques. We used to hold non guaranteed cheques on suspense for 10 working days before treating them as fully cleared.
Special clearance?
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Sorry, but as any seller there is no possibility of the V5 being handed over. That doc goes only one way - into the post box, addressed to Swansea, after completing it using the licence of the buyer to complete the details.
You can have the appropriate tear-off tho'.
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And don't forget to take a picture of the seller - if they won't have a pic taken, why not?
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As "pd" said, use the CHAPS transfer, it costs £20 (at the royal bank of scotland) and is an INSTANT trasnfer of funds, they do the transaction there and then in front of you, and give you full reciept of the exchange of funds. I've used CHAPS many times and never had any problem.
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