Buying a car from the UK -what is safest way to pay ?

brianfrancis45

After s satisfactory inspection and a HPI check , I just bought a car from a private UK based seller via eBay. In his auction listing he asked for payment to made in cash but as I was a bit nervous of travelling to UK with a ball of cash , I asked him before the end of the auction if he would accept payment by way of transfer from my bank in Ireland to his bank in UK . He agreed that he would be happy to do it this way but that he would only release the car to me once the cleared money was in his bank account.

Just wondering if any of you have experience of buying from a private Seller abroad and if bank to bank transfer is the safest way to pay from the Buyers point of view. I'm just feeling a bit nervous that when my bank sends the money to his bank account, what's to stop the Seller from doing a runner with the car and my cash ?

Any informed opinions appreciated. Thanks

CiniO

If you are transferring money by bank transfer, use transferwise or something similar, as this will give you huge savings on currency exchange rate and fees.

However I'd be quite wary of paying by bank transfer, for the reason you outlined in your question.

IMO cash is always the easiest and safest way of paying when buying privately.

Valetta

Once you have agreed the exact price for the car, a bank draft is the sagest way to go.

Scan or fax a copy to the seller. They can ring your bank to conform the authenticity of the draft.

I have done this on a couple of occasions without any problems.

MKeating14

What about Paypal?

Hachiko

brianfrancis45 wrote: »

After s satisfactory inspection and a HPI check , I just bought a car from a private UK based seller via eBay. In his auction listing he asked for payment to made in cash but as I was a bit nervous of travelling to UK with a ball of cash , I asked him before the end of the auction if he would accept payment by way of transfer from my bank in Ireland to his bank in UK . He agreed that he would be happy to do it this way but that he would only release the car to me once the cleared money was in his bank account.

Just wondering if any of you have experience of buying from a private Seller abroad and if bank to bank transfer is the safest way to pay from the Buyers point of view. I'm just feeling a bit nervous that when my bank sends the money to his bank account, what's to stop the Seller from doing a runner with the car and my cash ?

Any informed opinions appreciated. Thanks

meet him outside a designated bank in England and just do a transfer inside the bank to his bank a/c.

probably safest of all options, obv you need to either transfer money from your Irish bank to his bank (messy) or just give a wad of cash to bank attendant.

Hachiko

MKeating14 wrote: »

What about Paypal?

paypay is a joke forget that cack, unless the o/p wants to wait a few weeks to get keys

MKeating14

On Ebay alot of the sellers are requesting payment by Paypal. Are you covered by this form of payment as it saves you walking around with large amounts of cash with you?