Anyone ever paid finance off on a potential purchase ? - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm interested in this Cayman advertised on PH: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p... I'm concerned though by the comment at the bottom about the buyer paying off the finance directly to the finance company. To be honest, that puts me right off, just wondering if anyone has come across similar ?

Thats how I sold my last car, the buyer paid the finance company off and I pocketed the balance. At you know it's been paid off. If you buy it off him, and pay him, then he doesn't pay off the finance company, goes bankrupt, then you will have all sorts of bother

Nothing to worry about . You just pay finance company rather than seller . If anything it's safer as you know the finance has been cleared ....

Ah ok, thanks for the replies. Never realised it was that common.

Same when I bought my boxster, paid the finance direct to finance company, but I received a bacs payment from the seller because his car was worth less than the outstanding finance, just make sure you deal directly with the finance company

Same when I bought my boxster, paid the finance direct to finance company, but I received a bacs payment from the seller because his car was worth less than the outstanding finance, just make sure you deal directly with the finance company

You need to pay the finance company direct WHILST you are collecting the car. It helps to pre-arrange this with the company AND to get the seller to provide you with a settlement statement from the finance company up to the day of purchase. This will have their contact details and account number on. You need to get the seller to authorise them to speak to you too. It may take a few hours for the finance company to confirm they have the payment, so let the seller know you'll be hanging around on the day of purchase until they do. He won't let the car go until HE has this confirmation too. Don't pre-pay. In other words don't pay his finance off the day before, or before you are with the car and seller. He could just do a bunk and you have lost your money to his finance company. Do an HPI check when you are with the car. You can do one before at £19.99 and then update or re-check for free within 30 days.

Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons. Many do of course so its up to you.

not sure why there are 'lots' of reasons why you wouldn't do it... I did, as someone else above, worryingly I paid less for the car than the finance, so we had to each pay. just make sure you corroborate the finance companies bank details are correct.

I did this on my last couple of cars. One I paid off 30k to Porsche finance and the seller had to pay off the rest and hand me the car. Felt sorry that he actually paid me to take the car

too much hassle imo.... but ver common now-days.

When i have done it i have hpi'd the car. This in the past has told me if the car is on finance, who it is with and the agreement number. Sometimes it provides the phone number. If not i have researched the phone number myself. When it comes to collecting the car i have phoned the finance company so that i know who im speaking to, then pay the finance off and wait for confirmation e mail comfirming the finance company no longer has any interest in the car.

mollytherocker said: Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons. Many do of course so its up to you. 'Lots of reasons' Just give us 3 of them then...

as above all safe to do so. as a dealer I do this daily, nothing to fear, Hpi the car that will give you the name of the finance company and the agreement number, the chap will also have a settlement letter details should match those from Hpi , go and view the car and you may be able to pay debit card over the phone some will some wont, if not just pop to the bank and do a transfer, if the settlement is higher owner needs to do the same, if lower you give the buyer the balance job done, you can then request a letter from the finance company that they no longer have an interest in the car and it will be removed from the Hpi register.

Once again, thanks for all the replies.

I have done this with selling my last 2 BMW's both times took the purchaser down the pub for a bite to eat whilst the payment went through to BMW financial services. Once the money was in their account V5 and keys given to the new owner jobs a goodun.

This is my car. The balance owing to the finance company is a few thousand less than the asking price, so the transaction should hopefully be fairly straight forward. I did worry that mentioning it in the ad may put off potential buyers, but thought it only fair. However, it does seem fairly common place these days so imagine other sellers bring it up later. It's a fantastic car and I will be very sad to see it go.

BSRS said: mollytherocker said: Absolutely no way I would do this. For lots of reasons. Many do of course so its up to you. 'Lots of reasons' Just give us 3 of them then... 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever.

mollytherocker said: 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever. You may miss out on a lot of nice used cars. Most of the expensive ones are on finance. Having said that, my 981 seller owned it outright and it was his third new Porsche, at age 26! Well done!

DJMC said: mollytherocker said: 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever. You may miss out on a lot of nice used cars. Most of the expensive ones are on finance. Having said that, my 981 seller owned it outright and it was his third new Porsche, at age 26! Well done! Maybe. Thats fine with me.

It's what dealers do all the time !!

johnmaddox said: It's what dealers do all the time !! Yes, with the necessary legal protection, contracts, insurance and safeguards. Its VERY different if done between private individuals.

Went into my bank with the vendor, paid the outstanding balance off with him present and the remaining balance to him, safest way to do it and we were both satisfied everything was in order...easy

mollytherocker said: 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk This just sounds like hyperbole and is in no way specific to the OP's question. Surely you could say the same when handing over a wad of cash/transferring by bank to pay off a car in full? As stated earlier, paying the finance company direct is a good way to ensure the car has no outstanding finance and could be considered a bonus.

mollytherocker said: 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever. But how is it different to any other way? You sit in his kitchen transferring money to his bank account, or to his account with a finance company. In both cases you are trusting a stranger to hand you the keys afterwards but in both cases it's obvious what the payment was for. Can't see anyone ever getting away with holding on to the car. Cash would probably the most risky as there is no proper trail of where the money actually went. Or am I missing something?

goodhand said: This is my car. The balance owing to the finance company is a few thousand less than the asking price, so the transaction should hopefully be fairly straight forward. I did worry that mentioning it in the ad may put off potential buyers, but thought it only fair. However, it does seem fairly common place these days so imagine other sellers bring it up later. It's a fantastic car and I will be very sad to see it go. It's a great looking car, me and my other half said we'd never want a red car but we saw the pics of this one and looked at each other! There's one near us in Guards Red but a lot more expensive (and tan interior which I am no fan of at all) but we might go and have a look just to see one in that colour in the flesh. I'm sure you won't have any problems selling it, we're looking at a few closer to home this weekend but still have one eye on yours. You were right to mention the finance in the advertisement, if you had mentioned it when people got in touch there would have been a feeling of what else are they 'hiding' ? Hopefully bringing it up here has put other potential buyers minds at rest, it's something I never realised was so common these days. Good luck with the sale, as I said, we still have one eye on it!

fredt said: mollytherocker said: 1 - leap of faith 2 - trust in a stranger 3 - risk I am not paying off someone elses debt. Not now, not ever. But how is it different to any other way? You sit in his kitchen transferring money to his bank account, or to his account with a finance company. In both cases you are trusting a stranger to hand you the keys afterwards but in both cases it's obvious what the payment was for. Can't see anyone ever getting away with holding on to the car. Cash would probably the most risky as there is no proper trail of where the money actually went. Or am I missing something? I dont understand the logic either . 1 - leap of faith, .... no leap of faith once you pay for the car legally its yours , for a car to be financed the finance company will have done hpi checks/ mileage checks ect 2 - trust in a stranger .... seller doesnt actually own the car the Finance company does, you are buying from the finance co and they are no stranger and abide to laws 3 - risk.... for me its less risk, the car will likely have been sold by a dealer so will have had all checks done that you will be doing to buy the car.

Bluedot said: It's a great looking car, me and my other half said we'd never want a red car but we saw the pics of this one and looked at each other! There's one near us in Guards Red but a lot more expensive (and tan interior which I am no fan of at all) but we might go and have a look just to see one in that colour in the flesh. I'm sure you won't have any problems selling it, we're looking at a few closer to home this weekend but still have one eye on yours. You were right to mention the finance in the advertisement, if you had mentioned it when people got in touch there would have been a feeling of what else are they 'hiding' ? Hopefully bringing it up here has put other potential buyers minds at rest, it's something I never realised was so common these days. Good luck with the sale, as I said, we still have one eye on it! Thanks for the comments. I too had ruled out red, but after looking at quite a few others, this one was just 'right' in so many ways. And that, in the flesh, the coloured really worked, was a bonus.

There is no issue. At all. In fact, if both parties agreed, there would no reason why (assuming the finance is through Porsche/whoever) that the exchange couldn't be done at a dealership. That's what I've done in the past. Buyer makes a call to the finance co. to check the amount owing and notify them to expect a payment. Buyer/seller meet and money is transferred to the finance co. Everyone grabs a coffee while they wait for confirmation. Buyer gets to see finance is paid off. Seller gets comfort of the same. Dealership gets to facilitate a happy transfer of funds and has two happy punters thinking "Yeah, I'd buy this brand again". Win. Win. Win. Of course, there are people that think paying with cash ensures they've done the morally right thing sufficient enough to make sure the Karma Gods shine brightly enough on them to ensure no subsequent hiccups ever occur.

Ok, its probably me thats different here. I dont use finance like most people. I have 3 cars that I own outright. I dont have finance. Not in the usual way anyway. I use 0% credit cards. I buy cars in full on my own terms. Its just the way I do things.

mollytherocker said: Ok, its probably me thats different here. I dont use finance like most people. I have 3 cars that I own outright. I dont have finance. Not in the usual way anyway. I use 0% credit cards. I buy cars in full on my own terms. Its just the way I do things. finance is borrowing money in this context, the rate of interest is irrelevant, so you do use finance...

dave123456 said: mollytherocker said: Ok, its probably me thats different here. I dont use finance like most people. I have 3 cars that I own outright. I dont have finance. Not in the usual way anyway. I use 0% credit cards. I buy cars in full on my own terms. Its just the way I do things. finance is borrowing money in this context, the rate of interest is irrelevant, so you do use finance... If you've borrowed against them you don't own them outright, at least not until you've paid it all off 0% or not - have I missed something here? "I don't use finance like most people" - worst I'm richer that yow post ever.

HollywoodStig said: dave123456 said: mollytherocker said: Ok, its probably me thats different here. I dont use finance like most people. I have 3 cars that I own outright. I dont have finance. Not in the usual way anyway. I use 0% credit cards. I buy cars in full on my own terms. Its just the way I do things. finance is borrowing money in this context, the rate of interest is irrelevant, so you do use finance... If you've borrowed against them you don't own them outright, at least not until you've paid it all off 0% or not - have I missed something here? "I don't use finance like most people" - worst I'm richer that yow post ever. I am certainly not rich I can assure you and am not asserting thats the case. I am just pointing out that I finance cars in a different way to most people. Yes, its still finance of course, but I find it far cheaper and flexible than traditional methods. It does take more effort though, as I am having to swap things around myself regularly, and make sure that its monitored carefully.