iamevilhomer

went with my little sis on saturday to view a car,paid £200 deposit,meant to be picking it up thursday,BUT she did a hpi check and finance is owing. Called people who own car and they say they have it sorted with royal bank of scotland to pay it off etc. I have told her to be very very careful.Whats the best course of action?

Iwan

The HPI check should have given you the details of the company that's owed the money. If you're the one buying the car, you should be able to ring them directly and get confirmation if the outstanding amount has been settled. If it hasn't, be very cautious until you're given the green light by the company.

I had this buying a P1 off a main Subaru dealer a few years back, they hadn't bothered doing their own checks when they took the P1 in in p/x, and were about to sell it on to me without checking even though it was supposed to be covered by the Subaru 'Proven Used Cars' scheme.

Always safest to do your own checks, and then follow them up to make sure all's above board.

Leslie

Good advice. You should contact the finance company and check that the debt is cleared and that the car actually belongs to the seller.

Les

al4x1

or you can do two bankers drafts one payable to the finance company and the remainder to the seller

d5hof

A freind of mine settled her monies with the lender but after 3 years when her buyer did a HPi it still showed money owed, but a quick phone call to the lender sorted it out though.

thesyn

Before I paid for a car in the past I insisted on a letter from the finance company confirming that the finance had been settled. They were happy to provide this.

Butty

iTrader: (2)

Take the deposit back and walk away - there's millions of other cars to choose from.
If the owner "forgot" to mention outstanding finance then what else have they omitted to tell her.
If she still wants the car then get written proof that the debt is paid.

Nick

stringostar

the focus i had before i bought the scoob had finance on it. but because i got a personal loan, and not HP, the loand was secured on me, even tho it showed up as hpi. when i sold the car, i asked the finance company to remove any interest in the car, meaning i still had the loan, but the car came up squeeky clean.

iamevilhomer

I agree with all the advise given. Unfortunately the rest of my family dont and insisted on trusting the "nice" couple involved.

I advised getting 2 cheques, one payable to finance company and one to the owners for the balance. I was overuled.

What gets me is the fact the didnt mention it when we viewed the car, and were going to just pay it of on the quiet without ever saying.

Even though i have told my family that if after handing the money over and the peoples house was burgled etc and finance was not settled, that the finance company would come after the car, it just did not register.

I can now see how people are gullible enough to be conned.