Safest way of being paid for a car

[Taz]

I could have put this into the Autos section but it is a more general question.

I may be selling my car privately in the next week or two. I've never actually sold a car privately before! There's a reasonable amount of money involved (low £20K's) so I don't want to take any risks. What is the safest way to get paid for a car before I hand over the keys? Is there any risk in giving my bank details to the buyer so he can do a funds transfer from his bank account to mine? Could he use my bank details fraudulently?

Also, is a banker's draft risky in any way?

[herulach]

Cashiers Cheque, wait until it clears befoer handing over keys, deposit in cash

[XA04]

Suitcase full of cash .


I'm no expert but I've heard it would be best to use Cheque but wait till it clears first. If your doing it online (like through eBay) then a deposit through PayPal or something too (cash would be better though).

[5lab]

ah be careful of all sorts of bankers draft/cheques. there have been stories of fakes being accepted by the bank, then turned down. I'm not sure of any method other than cold hard cash thats 100% safe

[iMc]

For that amount of money a cheque is definitely safest.

Or go to your bank with the buyer and do a transfer in person.

[Taz]

Say he draws up a bankers draft in my name and we both go to my bank on the day of the sale. I then deposit the bankers draft into my account and get an instant confirmation from my bank that the funds are available. I then give him the keys to my car and he drives me home and then takes the car away. Would that work?

[dave87]

If your going to the bank anyway, why not do a bank transfer?

[5lab]

i believe bankers drafts can be faked. i may however be wrong

[Knoxville]

i believe bankers drafts can be faked. i may however be wrong

They can, and its getting more frequent, my das mate sold his Defender 110 a couple of years back now, buyer seemed legit enough and paid by bankers draft, needless to say it bounced, the police eventually tracked the vehicle down up north where it'd been sold to a used car dealer, not sure what happened after that because I havn't talked to him in a fair while now.

[Taz]

If I take the buyer with me to my bank and cash the bankers draft in front of him, can the bank still turn it down afterwards?

[Knoxville]

If I take the buyer with me to my bank and cash the bankers draft in front of him, can the bank still turn it down afterwards?

not sure tbh, if you can take the buyer to the bank to do that you may aswell do a direct funds transfer between your accounts.

[Taz]

He doesn't want to release the funds unless he has some sort of assurance that he will get the keys! Ideally he wants the funds transfer and key handover to happen simultaneously. If he transfers the funds from his bank account to mine then I still have the keys to the car!

[dave87]

Yea, if you do it at the counter, he has to authorise it, at which point you hand him the keys no?

[Knoxville]

Yea, if you do it at the counter, he has to authorise it, at which point you hand him the keys no?

my point precisely

[Taz]

not sure tbh, if you can take the buyer to the bank to do that you may aswell do a direct funds transfer between your accounts.

Are these transfers fairly quick then? I thought they took a couple of days.

[dave87]

Bank transfer take 3 working days iirc, but it should only let him do the transfer if he has the money available (and for that reason, go to his bank, rather than yours), so it can't be faked, or bounce

Dave