Right rant time
I've just been down to a chaps house with my son to look at a car he was hoping to buy. The car seemed straight enough and the price was right and speaking to the owner (who has had the car for 18 months) everything lined up. All paper work fitted his story and I asked him if there was any HP or other loan secured on the car and he said there had been but he had cleared it off. So I agree to buy on the provisio that it came back HPI clear for finance / theft etc and he agreed. I did ask him again if I was going to find out anything he should be telling me no and he insisted everything was in order.
So we get home and HPI the car and it turns out it has HP on it. No surprises there as he had just cleared it off but there was a contact number and loan reference for the HP company and so I called the seller and told him I would phone the HP company in the morning and just double check that as far as they were concerned the debt had been repaid. Only then did he admit that he hadn't actually cleared the loan yet and that he was going to use the money I gave him for the sale to clear the debt. He even said I could go with him to the bank. Pay it into his account and then go home with him and he would call the HO company and clear the outstanding finance while I listened in. This sounds fraught with danger to me as I have no way in ensuring he actually clears the debt so.
So based on the premise that he has lied to me once already what are peoples thoughts. The car does seem genuine and my gut feeling the seller is also and is caught in a bit of a chicken and egg situation with money but I still don't trust him enough to bung him the best part of four grand and just hope he gives it to the HP company as he is clearly in some sort of financial trouble.
I'm going to call the HP company and see what they recommend as this situation must have arisen before but has anyone any experience of such a situation and can come up with a safe way to conclude the sale? The car is what the lad wands and the price is right so if a safe way could be found it would be worth continuing.
I've just been down to a chaps house with my son to look at a car he was hoping to buy. The car seemed straight enough and the price was right and speaking to the owner (who has had the car for 18 months) everything lined up. All paper work fitted his story and I asked him if there was any HP or other loan secured on the car and he said there had been but he had cleared it off. So I agree to buy on the provisio that it came back HPI clear for finance / theft etc and he agreed. I did ask him again if I was going to find out anything he should be telling me no and he insisted everything was in order.
So we get home and HPI the car and it turns out it has HP on it. No surprises there as he had just cleared it off but there was a contact number and loan reference for the HP company and so I called the seller and told him I would phone the HP company in the morning and just double check that as far as they were concerned the debt had been repaid. Only then did he admit that he hadn't actually cleared the loan yet and that he was going to use the money I gave him for the sale to clear the debt. He even said I could go with him to the bank. Pay it into his account and then go home with him and he would call the HO company and clear the outstanding finance while I listened in. This sounds fraught with danger to me as I have no way in ensuring he actually clears the debt so.
So based on the premise that he has lied to me once already what are peoples thoughts. The car does seem genuine and my gut feeling the seller is also and is caught in a bit of a chicken and egg situation with money but I still don't trust him enough to bung him the best part of four grand and just hope he gives it to the HP company as he is clearly in some sort of financial trouble.
I'm going to call the HP company and see what they recommend as this situation must have arisen before but has anyone any experience of such a situation and can come up with a safe way to conclude the sale? The car is what the lad wands and the price is right so if a safe way could be found it would be worth continuing.