Private car sale. Best payment method?

the whistler

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I have arranged to sell my car privately, so the buyer will need to pay me before taking the car.

He has paid a deposit in cash, and we have discussed options for paying the balance. As it's quite a substantial sum, payment in cash is not really an option. The buyer has suggested that when he comes to collect the car he will arrange a fast transfer from his bank to my account. Then when I see the money in my account he can take the car,

Obviously I will need to give him my bank details, sort code and account number and I'm just wondering if there is any risk with this.

Are there any alternative better methods?

I dont know the buyer. He has given me his name, address and phone number. I will ask to photocopy his driving licence so I hope that should cover everything.

Any advice will be appreciated.
 
You’ll have the car and the funds, as soon the funds show, immediately move them into another bank account on your bank app, so it’s one step further away.

I’ve done this and had no issues
 
Dont forget there are limits to the amount that can be transferred, different banks not the same.

Best to make enquiries first.
 
Done very similar last month, this was £5k cash and £15k bank transfer. Our only issue was the bank transfer. Because it was a transaction of more than £10k, it had to go to another few levels of security, so while we were hoping it would be pretty much instant, it in fact took around 2 hours. I spoke to my bank after an hour or so and was told because of the amount it could've potentially taken until the end of the working day. This was on top of buyers dad trying to transfer via online banking, having to phone bank for security, going to bank for security :( So not exactly smooth
 
As an example my bank states

£100k transfer limit to another bank account holder with the same level of bank account

£250k within my own bank accounts and 3rd party ie if buying a car if the first option isn’t applicable £50k

These are daily maximums and FOC
 
As an example my bank states

£100k transfer limit to another bank account holder with the same level of bank account

£250k within my own bank accounts and 3rd party ie if buying a car if the first option isn’t applicable £50k

These are daily maximums and FOC
You could partake in some serious money laundering if you were so inclined :p
 
Bank transfer is generally safe but time scale is not always guaranteed. My last sale had the buyer bring cash....£17k of it. We walked to the bank and paid it in. Their machine counted it and checked the notes were all good. Then we walked back to mine and filled in the paperwork.
 
Bank transfer is generally safe but time scale is not always guaranteed. My last sale had the buyer bring cash....£17k of it. We walked to the bank and paid it in. Their machine counted it and checked the notes were all good. Then we walked back to mine and filled in the paperwork.

I could pay off my mortgage with £17k!
 
I have arranged to sell my car privately, so the buyer will need to pay me before taking the car.

He has paid a deposit in cash, and we have discussed options for paying the balance. As it's quite a substantial sum, payment in cash is not really an option. The buyer has suggested that when he comes to collect the car he will arrange a fast transfer from his bank to my account. Then when I see the money in my account he can take the car,

Obviously I will need to give him my bank details, sort code and account number and I'm just wondering if there is any risk with this.

Are there any alternative better methods?

I dont know the buyer. He has given me his name, address and phone number. I will ask to photocopy his driving licence so I hope that should cover everything.

Any advice will be appreciated.

I don't believe so. With these minimal details, a person can put money into a bank account, but they certainly can't do anything else. Any other actions, such as withdrawls, setting up a new standing order, direct debit, or even getting the balance will require further things, such as a bank card and/ or identification if going into a branch, or you login credentials if using internet banking.
 
I would ask them to pay a nominal sum into your bank account in advance. Once set up, it is much easier to make additional transfers. It's the first payment that tends to have most constraints.
Then it's down to the bank how much you can transfer daily.
 
Obviously I will need to give him my bank details, sort code and account number and I'm just wondering if there is any risk with this.
Nope. You do realise that if you have a chequebook that all this info is printed on every single cheque? All you can do with this info is pay money into the account. Without this information you can't pay any money into an account. How would the bank know which account to put the money in without it? To get money out of the account you would also need more personal information about the account holder.
 
I don't believe so. With these minimal details, a person can put money into a bank account, but they certainly can't do anything else. Any other actions, such as withdrawls, setting up a new standing order, direct debit, or even getting the balance will require further things, such as a bank card and/ or identification if going into a branch, or you login credentials if using internet banking.

Jeremy Clarkson once published his bank account details in his newspaper column to prove exactly this point. Someone used the details to set up a direct debit with a charity.

Here's the story.
 
Jeremy Clarkson once published his bank account details in his newspaper column to prove exactly this point. Someone used the details to set up a direct debit with a charity.

Here's the story.


I recall this, inspired me to do the same and much worse to a guy who tried to scam me out of £70 but was thick enough to send me his driving licence and bank details. A lot of fun was had by me before he got arrested for Fraud.
 
I recall this, inspired me to do the same and much worse to a guy who tried to scam me out of £70 but was thick enough to send me his driving licence and bank details. A lot of fun was had by me before he got arrested for Fraud.

Hang on; you illegally used banking details and personal information that a person sent you, to illegally move money from his bank account to elsewhere, but he got done for fraud for not managing to scam you for £70? Am I really reading this right? o_O

I'm also interested in what 'much worse' means...Care to incriminate elaborate?
 
Hang on; you illegally used banking details and personal information that a person sent you, to illegally move money from his bank account to elsewhere, but he got done for fraud for not managing to scam you for £70? Am I really reading this right? o_O

I'm also interested in what 'much worse' means...Care to incriminate elaborate?

Well whilst he failed to scam me out of £70 (was meant to be a deposit for a larger £300 purchase) he seemingly did manage to con others out of money on Facebook a few forums and back when ukhotdeals had a trading forum. One woman pretty much devoted months to finding all the victims getting them to file reports etc.

I didn't do anything horrible to him... Not like I drove 300 miles to burn his house down. Magazine subs to gay pornography and juvenile things
 
Well whilst he failed to scam me out of £70 (was meant to be a deposit for a larger £300 purchase) he seemingly did manage to con others out of money on Facebook a few forums and back when ukhotdeals had a trading forum. One woman pretty much devoted months to finding all the victims getting them to file reports etc.

I didn't do anything horrible to him... Not like I drove 300 miles to burn his house down. Magazine subs to gay pornography and juvenile things
Wow, you showed him, let’s call that 1:0 in fraud actually committed and yes it’s you that is currently winning.
 
Wow, you showed him, let’s call that 1:0 in fraud actually committed and yes it’s you that is currently winning.

One of the greatest setbacks for me is the hating of the feeling that someone has or tried to get one over on me... If I had transferred that money I would have been nearly 400 quid down. I took what I felt was revenge that was proportional. I mean I have read stories of people ordering pizzas,skips and all that stuff to someone's house in an act of pettiness.
 
One of the greatest setbacks for me is the hating of the feeling that someone has or tried to get one over on me... If I had transferred that money I would have been nearly 400 quid down. I took what I felt was revenge that was proportional. I mean I have read stories of people ordering pizzas,skips and all that stuff to someone's house in an act of pettiness.
Okie dokie then......
 
I works within the payments industry and 10k is the limit on faster payments.

There after it a bank transfer that could take longer and may cost depending on bank.

Basically you should have a written contract that the car belongs to the buyer when the funds clear not on payment.

On the basis the car is kept at your house. He should transfer the money and once you have it release the car.

If you attempt to immediately move a large sum of money to another account. There is a good chance the banks fraud system will suspend the transfer for up to 2 days.

This is more likely to cause stress than be a comfort
 
IG crosses David off list of potential traders I'd deal with, just in case I annoy him...
 
I works within the payments industry and 10k is the limit on faster payments.

There after it a bank transfer that could take longer and may cost depending on bank.

Basically you should have a written contract that the car belongs to the buyer when the funds clear not on payment.

On the basis the car is kept at your house. He should transfer the money and once you have it release the car.

If you attempt to immediately move a large sum of money to another account. There is a good chance the banks fraud system will suspend the transfer for up to 2 days.

This is more likely to cause stress than be a comfort
Thanks for bringing this thread back on track with sound information.
 

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