wannabee

hi, looked at a scooby at the weekend, agreed on price etc (private seller) however she still has finance on the car, she said that she would clear it before i buy it and that i can speak with the finance company on the phone to recieve confiramtion that the final payment has been made and that no other finance is owed on the car.

she was unwilling to clear the finance until i clearly confirmed my interest in buying, not too sure where i stand.

could i get ripped off or will a phone call\fax to the finance company give me legal peace of mind on the car...

SWRTWannabe

Just a few thoughts...

Does she want a deposit, or just a verbal "I'll buy it"?

If she is going to clear the finance, then it is going to take a few days for them to recieve the cheque / money transfer anyway and therefore I would want to see evidence that this has taken place before parting with any cash - i.e. a letter from the finance company saying the account has been closed.

Don't know whether phoning the finance company would help as I doubt they would give out detail of what is effectively someone elses account. And if she offers to call them, make sure she isn't just calling a mate!

Hope this helps!

NotoriousREV

Or, assuming the finance outstanding is less than the price your paying, agree to write a cheque to the finance company yourself to settle it, and the remainder straight to the seller.

wannabee

she said that she would call up and use her credit cards to clear the existing debt...can this be done over the phone?

can the finance company close an account the moment someone pays a final balance in to it or does it take a few days?

i understand she doesn't want to lose out, but neither do i

desperate to pick the car up, been without one for 2 weeks now!

NotoriousREV

It may take a while for the finance company to acknowledge that the account is closed. When I paid off my bike finance earlier this year, RIGP took 6 weeks to acknowledge I'd even paid the money! They still haven't sent me a letter of satisfaction (I paid it off in July) so you could be waiting a while.

She should be able to pay of her loan using CC's over the phone, but not every finance co will let you.

Martingb

In my experience, most finance companies won't allow Credit Cards to be used to clear finance.

Martin.

fast bloke

They can close the account immediately. If they have a local office, why not go with her while one of you clears the finance? Nothing needs to be done on trust that way. You could also arrange to take over the finance, giving her cash for the balance. You can then clear it yourself with no hassle.

simon_prickett

When you think the finance is cleared, do a full Equifax HPI check... if they tell you it is and it isn't, you have some sort of cover through HPI I think.

I'd say if in doubt walk away, there's other cars out there.

Simon.

ezoray

It isnt S150UKJ is it.Its got other issues surrounding it if it is :-/


Pete.
(clutching at straws but you never know)

dsmith

I did exactly this once. Went with the owner to the office. Saw the money being handed over and office girl confirmed it was all cleared (in fact Part of my payment for car was direct to the finance company in cash, owner never even touched it ).

Deano

wannabee

the finance company are prehistoric - they say it'll take several days before any confirmation will be sent to say that the car's debt has been paid off.

i can understand her reluctance to pay the car off before i decide not to go through with it, but i don't know what to do.

my only potion is to go withthe owner to the finance centre and pay the full amount off there and then, they still won't be able to confirm though (that's what the agent i spoke to said) is there anything else i can do?

ptholt

wannabee, but if you pay with your own debit card/cash or cheque, you will know that the amount is paid and they will give you a receipt to show you have paid the full balance (cash is better i suspect as the lady won't be so worried about you stopping the payment).

Then so long as the hpi check only shows the oustanding finance you've just paid off everything should be fine.

You then leave it a few weeks and contact finance co (or previous owner) to get copy of settlement letter from fin co and its clear.
If your really paranoid you could do another hpi check just to make sure the fin co remove there interest from the vehicle.

MattN

basically it comes down to the fact that you as the buyer need to beware.

YOU pay off the finance and give the rest of the money to the seller.

I understand that they will have concerns but to be harsh it's their problem. They bought a car on finance - they knew the problems this would entail.

Personally if I was selling a car on finance I'd get a credit card cheque and pay it off BEFORE I tried selling. As as stated above it's a bit of a standoff with noone in the position to do anything.

I'm sure if you left a deposit on the understanding the finance will be cleared it should be fine also. You pull out she keeps the deposit, not much but enough to make you stop looking for other cars - a few hundred for example.

Mal K

I have been trying to settle my account with International Motors Finance now for over 4 weeks. I have now called them 5 times to be told they will send a settlement figure and how to pay by return of post. To date...nothing. Then yesterday after finally losing it on the phone to them they assured me I would get the letter today and then tried to get me to finance my next car with them. I think not, Northern Rock here we come. You can't settle by credit card over the phone either, must be something to do with paying credit off with credit. Mal

DavidBrown

Well, so long as she does clear the finance BEFORE you hand over any £££ then you're OK.

Get her to put the deal in writing too.

From her perspective, she probably can't clear her debt until you give her the money to do so.. so she'd be exposing herself financially if she cleared the debt and you disappeared.

[Edited by DavidBrown - 1/7/2002 10:31:20 AM]

ptholt

the finance co will have some sort of local 'ish office, you can do one of two things.

1 go wither to the above mentioned office and pay the amount yourself to close her account, get a recipt and each take a copy.

2. as the other person above suggested, you phone and clear her finance. (tho she might be a little worried about thay).

Either way it will take anyting up to a day or so for it to show clear on hpi.

So just make sure u take every precaution that its cleared before you purchase otherwise the car is not yours, regardless of you having keys and log book.

edited to say they should take switch/debit cards though.



[Edited by ptholt - 1/7/2002 10:55:02 AM]