Selling/Buying a car that's got outstanding finance?

[swgti]

Looking at various options at the moment but one of them is to try and sell my car privately, thing is it's still got some finance on it and I wont be able to settle that until I've got the cash from a sale. Now obviously from my point of view it's simple, sell the car, collect the cash, pay off finance in full, happy days. But what's the point of view from a potential buyer? is no one going to touch it with a barge pole? is it entirely a trust thing or is there some process we can go through that leaves the buyer confident of no come back as far as they are concerned after the sale?

[Smudgster]

Get documentation showing the settlement figure, then with the purchaser go to the bank payoff the finance with the details provided. Will take 2 weeks to processes then the new buyer can apply for confirmation.

Thats what I have done in the past and worked OK

[GrayMK5GTI]

Or take out a loan to settle the finance, then the car is yours.

HPI check will show the outstanding finance so may put buyers off 

[Deako]

Ive sold a couple of cars with finance outstanding. Ive had the buyer settle the finance themselves, then take the car the same day. You need to know of the person buying the car here really, to ensure their money isnt going to bounce etc.

Ive also sold a car with existing finance as a cash payment. I took the buyer to the bank, we put the cash in, then i called the finance company up and settled the figure over the phone.

Both went without hitch.

[Rob.]

It was a bit of a faff for me, but it worked out OK in the end.

The seller called VW Finance on speaker phone with me in the car, confirmed all his details etc, confirmed the final settlement value. I paid via debit card over the phone (which got rejected thanks to my bank's anti-fraud system, so had to call them up and release it!). Requested that VW send both of us an email stating they no longer have an interest in the car.

[tony_danza]

I've settled someone else's finance, and that went fine.

Last time I did it, I got a loan from the bank to do the transaction myself before selling up, and then cancelled it within the 'cooling off' period, meaning zero charges.

[Deako]

I've settled someone else's finance, and that went fine.

Last time I did it, I got a loan from the bank to do the transaction myself before selling up, and then cancelled it within the 'cooling off' period, meaning zero charges.

Colling off period would normally be less than the time it would take for the HPI report to clear on the car though.

[Beddie]

I've settled someone else's finance, and that went fine.

Last time I did it, I got a loan from the bank to do the transaction myself before selling up, and then cancelled it within the 'cooling off' period, meaning zero charges.

Colling off period would normally be less than the time it would take for the HPI report to clear on the car though.

'withdrawal' period is 14 days starting the day after you sign any finance documents, surely it doesn't take that long to do a HPI? I have no idea how long it does take tbh as only bought dealer sourced cars of late.

[Deako]

I've settled someone else's finance, and that went fine.

Last time I did it, I got a loan from the bank to do the transaction myself before selling up, and then cancelled it within the 'cooling off' period, meaning zero charges.

Colling off period would normally be less than the time it would take for the HPI report to clear on the car though.

'withdrawal' period is 14 days starting the day after you sign any finance documents, surely it doesn't take that long to do a HPI? I have no idea how long it does take tbh as only bought dealer sourced cars of late.

HPI would show on a vehicle for up to a month. This method is not effective at bypassing that process. You would have to be lucky for the buyer to not do an HPI check or trust that you had paid the finance off. A letter from the finance supplier would help, but they normally take a couple of weeks to post these out.

[tony_danza]

It's plenty long enough to receive the documents from the finance company confirming it has been settled, and with my consent BMW gave the buyer a password to enable him to access aspects of my account and confirm over the phone.

Also, although cooling off is 14 days, you still have another 30 days to pay the money back. Don't forget I did all this before even putting the car up for sale, so I had my prep work done.

[Beddie]

It's plenty long enough to receive the documents from the finance company confirming it has been settled, and with my consent BMW gave the buyer a password to enable him to access aspects of my account and confirm over the phone.

Also, although cooling off is 14 days, you still have another 30 days to pay the money back. Don't forget I did all this before even putting the car up for sale, so I had my prep work done.

Yeah just done the exact same thing with my new car, took the dealer finance to get their deposit contribution (£750) and the 2 year free service pack and 6 month RFL, signed the docs to 'lock' in the agreed terms then phoned VWFS 3 days later and withdrew from the finance at 10:30 on Tuesday morning and had the letter stating their non interest in the vehicle by noon on the next day, cost me £18 in interest 

[tony_danza]

When I bought the old MK5, I settled his finance over the phone, had an email confirming this from a nice lady at VW within 15 minutes whilst I had a brew and then headed home with the car.

Most newish cars have finance, you've got to learn to deal with it sensibly.

[adamm]

Sold a few cars with finance outstanding. Generally if someone wants the car then they will work with you to get it sorted.

First car - told the guy no deposits holding the car. His response "fine I'll pay the finance off then collect tomorrow". That went without a hitch.

Second car - I went to the bank with the lad and he done a chaps transfer to the finance house who then emailed me to say they no longer had an interest in the car.

Third car - the guy turned up with cash. We were planning to pay it in at the bank together but his flight was delayed so he got in on a Saturday afternoon. Banks were shut and it was a bank holiday weekend so it was tuesday before I paid the cash in and settled the finance. He didn't seem to care though.

Not something that would put me off buying a car personally tbh.