Paying for a car from a private seller

[Thinqer]

Hello all,

New member here looking to buy my first 911 and my first car of this sort of value and I was wondering how people actually pay ~50k to a private seller in a safe and secure way?

I think the maximum daily online transfer is 10k for personal accounts and 30k for Premier accounts (with Barclays) which would mean making at least two transfers over 2 days which feels a bit dodgy to me - one of us would be exposed for at least a day or two.

Most likely scenario is that I'd want to buy on a weekend so branches won't be open. Does anyone have any help or advice on this?

Thanks in advance,

Ben.

 

[vroomvroom]

The £10k limit is normally an online limit, if I call I have paid more (£60k last time)

 

[Yellow]

You can definitely bank transfer more than that, think I used the CHAPS system for this previously.

 

[Robertb]

Speak to the bank, see what they recommend. At least then you'll know they have an eye on the transaction in case something goes wrong.

 

[Alex]

Just rock up with a Tesco bag full of £20s. That seems to be the normal protocol round my manor. Good way of off loading all those old ones stashed in the loft before the BoE pull them out of circulation.

 

[T8]

Speak to the bank, see what they recommend. At least then you'll know they have an eye on the transaction in case something goes wrong.

:yeah:

Good luck with your purchase :thumb:

 

[Thinqer]

Thanks everyone, looks like speaking to the bank first is the way to go.

Anyone got any tips on how to actually transact? Presumption would be that you're at the seller's house so do you hold on to keys and V5 whilst making transfer, then fill out V5 or do the transfer then ask for everything once they've confirmed funds have come in? I'm kinda hoping that 911 owners are a friendly bunch so nothing untoward should happen...

(Alex - I'll keep the bag full of notes in mind as a back up option :lol

 

[chicb]

I have bought a few cars like this. Firstly transfer something small like £10, could be as low as £1 to ensure it goes to the sellers account. You don't want £20000 vanishing into the ether if you happened to input a wrong number. Once he has confirmed receipt of that amount you can transfer your daily limit (my bank allows from memory £25000) Your initial £10 has established a link to his account so you transfer the higher amount to that named account. No more inputting account numbers (no mistakes). Pick soonest transfer & it will go almost immediately (within a couple of mins)

 

[spinnaker]

I am about to pay for a car (fingers crossed!) and have spoken to Barclays about this today. Paying online through their app is limited to £10k however they told me this morning that you could transfer upto £50k by logging into the online banking site on your phone/ipad instead.

I have done similar, I paid a small amount in earlier to put the seller on my list of known payees and all going well the payment should go through without a hitch from their driveway.

They did tell me to keep their fraud team number to hand in case of a delay. However they said that any issue would show up in the online banking site after requesting the transfer.

I think in my case it is positive that the seller is also with the same bank in this case.

Good luck!

 

[martin t]

On Saturday I sold my cab for a fairly large sum.

From the moment the deal was done to the money entering my a/c...3mins.

All done from a smart phone.

This was a first for me as it then took m,e 3 attempts over 2 days to trx the money to a high interest savings a/c (ok i am joking about the high interest part).

In the old days, ie 2 years ago it would be a case of going to the buyers bank, filling out the forms, paying £26 for a chaps payment then back home to log on to see it the money had arrived. Which of course it had not so several cups of tea and take another look. All there and away goes the car with new owner.

I think you might be alluding to "how do i know this car is ligit". Well a starting point is the seller, and that will take too long to profile.

May the gods go with you, and do an HPI check.

 

[maldren]

I have bought a few cars like this. Firstly transfer something small like £10, could be as low as £1 to ensure it goes to the sellers account. You don't want £20000 vanishing into the ether if you happened to input a wrong number. Once he has confirmed receipt of that amount you can transfer your daily limit (my bank allows from memory £25000) Your initial £10 has established a link to his account so you transfer the higher amount to that named account. No more inputting account numbers (no mistakes). Pick soonest transfer & it will go almost immediately (within a couple of mins)

Totally agree. In addition, a first transaction of a large amount may well be delayed while the bank's monitoring checks the transaction. By sending a small amount first, you will probably bypass this and have a quicker transaction.

Last time I used it, the limit at my bank (HSBC) was £20k for online payments but that may have been raised since. There is also an industry limit for 'faster payments' but this is now £250k!

 

[badbadtz]

I have bought a few cars like this. Firstly transfer something small like £10, could be as low as £1 to ensure it goes to the sellers account. You don't want £20000 vanishing into the ether if you happened to input a wrong number. Once he has confirmed receipt of that amount you can transfer your daily limit (my bank allows from memory £25000) Your initial £10 has established a link to his account so you transfer the higher amount to that named account. No more inputting account numbers (no mistakes). Pick soonest transfer & it will go almost immediately (within a couple of mins)

I tried that once buying an RS6 privately ...thought I'd try a small amount first which was sent instantly but when I transferred the large sum it got stuck in the ether. I had to leave the sellers house without the car or the money and it took me the following morning calling my bank to workout where it went. Supposedly transferring a small amount before a larger sum is common practice for wire fraud.

Good luck with the purchase Ben :thumb:

 

[MaxA]

I'd be tempted to do the deal at your bank, as they can verify the funds have been sent, and you can do the paperwork right there and then.

 

[spooky]

I had a nightmare selling mine last year. The buyer went into my bank with me with a load of cash that left about £50K balance. They had no problem whatsoever with over £30K in cash.

He then walked up the road to his bank and they let him take out about £25K (if I remember correctly) in cash and he transferred the remaining £25K.

We went back to my bank and they took the additional £25K in cash. No problem (so about £55K or so in cash in two visits and no issue with it, no evidence required for source of funds - just his word about where the money came from).

They then locked my bank account for a suspected fraudulent transaction for the bank transfer... It took over one week for them to finally give me access to my money. No problem at all with around £55K in cash but that online transfer was, apparently, a big problem, even though he was there in my bank telling them he had just made the transfer and showing them his online account confirming the transfer.

Horrendous.

 

[nickyg63]

send a pound a few days before, then if you buy the car the payment is usually easy.

ive done this a few times, when I have bought something and sent the payment without a nominal amount it has often taken a while to go through