Is it still safe to sell a car privately and take bank transfer as payment?

Dominic-Toretto

Dominic-Toretto

Dominic-Toretto

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I have sold one of my cars privately which is being collected on Saturday for £25k, is it still safe to take bank transfer? If I recall correctly there have recently been some anti fraud measures put in place in banks, that allow us to reverse fraudulent transactions? He couldn't do the bank transfer and then reverse it could he? If this is the case what steps can I take to protect my self?

The buyer seems legitimate and is happy to take the car without the V5 (New v5 is coming in the post as I took my private plate off), he just said to transfer the v5 online when it arrives.
 
ketma said:
Bank transfer is no issue, I'd be more concerned he's willing to take a car with no V5 handover and ownership would legally still be with you.
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What does it say on the front of the V5C in big capital letters?

gXeDCdr.png


While the holder of the V5C is usually the owner, and in absence of any other proof of ownership a V5C might be enough to "prove" ownership on the balance of probability, the document is not proof of ownership - it is held by the person who is responsible for the vehicle. OP would not be the owner the moment the money is exchanged and the buyer drives away.

The main issue would be if the buyer racks up speeding tickets, parking fines etc after buying and before the V5 is transferred. OP can create a receipt / proof of sale document with date and time of sale, both parties names, addresses etc, signed by both parties to mitigate that issue. I'd probably do that anyway on a higher value sale.
 
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SonicSW20 said:
What does it say on the front of the V5C in big capital letters?

gXeDCdr.png


While the holder of the V5C is usually the owner, and in absence of any other proof of ownership a V5C might be enough to "prove" ownership on the balance of probability, the document is not proof of ownership - it is held by the person who is responsible for the vehicle. OP would not be the owner the moment the money is exchanged and the buyer drives away.

The main issue would be if the buyer racks up speeding tickets, parking fines etc after buying and before the V5 is transferred. OP can create a receipt / proof of sale document with date and time of sale, both parties names, addresses etc, signed by both parties to mitigate that issue. I'd probably do that anyway on a higher value sale.
Click to expand...

In fact, if this was your worry then a bank transfer would be the safer way of doing it as you have an independently verifiable timestamp of the exact moment the money changed hands.
 
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Dominic-Toretto said:
I have sold one of my cars privately which is being collected on Saturday for £25k, is it still safe to take bank transfer? If I recall correctly there have recently been some anti fraud measures put in place in banks, that allow us to reverse fraudulent transactions? He couldn't do the bank transfer and then reverse it could he? If this is the case what steps can I take to protect my self?

The buyer seems legitimate and is happy to take the car without the V5 (New v5 is coming in the post as I took my private plate off), he just said to transfer the v5 online when it arrives.
Click to expand...
Only if they are willing to wait while you confirm payment is in your account. There is a common scam where a fake banking app is used, that looks like it's sending a payment, but nothing is actually transferred. After a while of assurance and "it'll be there within an hour, honest", the buyer leaves with the goods and no money ever arrives (because it was never sent).

The buyer could still try to reverse payment, but you would dispute it and the bank would most likely side with you as you already have the money in your account and an explanation for why it was sent (ie not in error). It's also much harder to do a random bank transfer by accident. With a Lloyds Bank transfer for instance, you'd not only have to get the account number wrong, you'd have to know the name of the person that account number belongs to in order to make the transfer at all.

I'd just say not to let the car go until the transfer has gone through and is showing on your account.
 
Who do you bank with? When we purchased the Cupra, despite being from a main dealer, I called up as I had a daily limit of £25k but needed to transfer £36k so I rang to do a BACS payment. Lloyds advised I didn’t need a BACS and could use the faster payment service, but because it was a high value item, I was transferred to a special ‘High value’ team and the checks they did were astonishing.

  1. Asked for the Reg number of the car, they did their own HPI check on my behalf, even verified the VIN.
  2. Dealer check, to make sure it wasn’t in financial trouble
  3. Sort code and account number check
  4. Asked me where I had seen the car, was the ad still available and if so, could I send them a link
  5. They then asked me to take a photo of my driving license/passport and upload it, all while on the phone
  6. They stated if it was a private sale, they would have asked for a pic of photo ID of the buyer/seller
  7. Am I being coerced or am I feeling under pressure, if so say X word in a sentence and they would deny the transaction and alert the authorities
If you or the seller is using Lloyds, ask to use that team as they will do so many safeguarding tips, no doubt they’ll check your colon is clean too!
 
SonicSW20 said:
What does it say on the front of the V5C in big capital letters?

gXeDCdr.png


While the holder of the V5C is usually the owner, and in absence of any other proof of ownership a V5C might be enough to "prove" ownership on the balance of probability, the document is not proof of ownership - it is held by the person who is responsible for the vehicle. OP would not be the owner the moment the money is exchanged and the buyer drives away.

The main issue would be if the buyer racks up speeding tickets, parking fines etc after buying and before the V5 is transferred. OP can create a receipt / proof of sale document with date and time of sale, both parties names, addresses etc, signed by both parties to mitigate that issue. I'd probably do that anyway on a higher value sale.
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Yep, a statement for any legal mitigation for points you have highlighted, but what a hassle to go through if anything like that occurs...

Me personally, I wouldn't buy a car with no V5 slip and I know the dealer I sold my car to last week wouldn't have gone through with the sale without the V5 so he could validate the address registered and all that stuff.

Well, it would have not have been processed by CarWow as it was a requirement.
 
ketma said:
Yep, a statement for any legal mitigation for points you have highlighted, but what a hassle to go through if anything like that occurs...

Me personally, I wouldn't buy a car with no V5 slip and I know the dealer I sold my car to last week wouldn't have gone through with the sale without the V5 so he could validate the address registered and all that stuff.

Well, it would have not have been processed by CarWow as it was a requirement.
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Yep, if I was selling I would get it back on its original registration plate before advertising (if I was dead set on selling) - means eating a bit of admin cost but it mitigates a lot of other hassle down the line.
 
Dominic-Toretto said:
I have sold one of my cars privately which is being collected on Saturday for £25k, is it still safe to take bank transfer? If I recall correctly there have recently been some anti fraud measures put in place in banks, that allow us to reverse fraudulent transactions? He couldn't do the bank transfer and then reverse it could he? If this is the case what steps can I take to protect my self?

The buyer seems legitimate and is happy to take the car without the V5 (New v5 is coming in the post as I took my private plate off), he just said to transfer the v5 online when it arrives.
Click to expand...

Personally I'd whip up a 'Bill of sale' for him to sign on the day. 2 copies, one for him, one for you. Time and date clearly on both

This way you have proof that he bought the vehicle should he try to reverse the transaction which then would incite a fraud case & secondly, if he decided to contravene any RT laws then you have a signed document as proof.
 
Resident said:
Personally I'd whip up a 'Bill of sale' for him to sign on the day. 2 copies, one for him, one for you. Time and date clearly on both

This way you have proof that he bought the vehicle should he try to reverse the transaction which then would incite a fraud case & secondly, if he decided to contravene any RT laws then you have a signed document as proof.
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This is what I've done every time I've sold one of my bikes, mainly for the cover of I don't want one of their tickets :cry:
 
may be im behind the time , but are you allowed to sell the vehicle when the transfer hasnt been completed?
i seem to recolect having to wait for the paperwork so i could get the old plates made up to put on the car?
i know years ago when you had to take cars to be inspected for plate transfer being told if i sold it before the transfer paperwork was with me i would in effect be giving the new owner the plate?


i may be wrong but seems remember it
 
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I bought my M140i with a private plate, that the owner wanted back, that's what we agreed during sale.

We did the transfer, once the V5C came on private reg, I unassigned the plate from the car and once the paperwork came I posted it via 1st class to them.

When he does the transfer, do £1 transfer first then the rest of the cash. I once had to wait an hour for the transfer to clear, speaking to my banks fraud department explaining everything... Next time, I did the £1 trick and 15k landed in the private sellers account within seconds.

Car seller's contract | AA

When you sell a used car privately it's important to provide a 'sold as seen, tried and approved without guarantee' receipt, though you should bear in mind that this doesn't affect the buyer's legal rights. The car must match any description you give in writing or verbally in the course of the sale.
www.theaa.com www.theaa.com

Use this for extra proof, if the car is infact used for something dodgy and ask him to put in BT title the reg of the car.
 
Dominic-Toretto said:
I have sold one of my cars privately which is being collected on Saturday for £25k, is it still safe to take bank transfer? If I recall correctly there have recently been some anti fraud measures put in place in banks, that allow us to reverse fraudulent transactions? He couldn't do the bank transfer and then reverse it could he? If this is the case what steps can I take to protect my self?

The buyer seems legitimate and is happy to take the car without the V5 (New v5 is coming in the post as I took my private plate off), he just said to transfer the v5 online when it arrives.
Click to expand...


If you do not do bank transfer as payment, options seem to be limited ?
Crypto, cash, escrow like PayPal or Wise or Skrill.
Of these, I would personally take bank transfer.

No matter what payment method you take, you have no control over what the buyer does with the car once he has paid and got the car. You can indemnify yourself against tickets etc by taking the precautions suggested earlier in this topic.
 
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I bought a car privately on Sunday and the only issue as the buyer was a £10k/day transfer limit I was unaware of

I requested the bank increase it through the app but it took them about 3-4 hours to do so, luckily the Mrs was with me so she transferred the difference so we didn’t have to hang around all day
 
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