Privately Selling my S3- Advice needed!

[GRE57Y]

Hi all, I'm hoping to privately sell my S3. It has finance outstanding and I'm aware this must be settled in full before selling the car.
Therefore, the buyer would pay VWFS directly and any shortfall would be covered by me (also direct to VWFS) before then signing over the car to new owner.
My concerns are:
- What if they use stolen credit card to pay?
- How should the sale take place? Location choice etc?
- How easily and quickly can the sale happen?
- Anything else I should be aware or cautious of?

Thanks everyone!

 

[paulk]

It's not easy selling private with outstanding finance , the buyer is often as scared as the seller

When I purchase cars with outstanding finance I paid the company direct and asked for written and email confirmation, once cleared I paid the seller the balance , it can make for s long day when dealing with some finance company's
Also they should be able to check the card and you can ask for id to check

 

[S32B]

I vaguely remember on the BMW forums a guy taking the person who was buying his car into the BMW dealership he bought it from and they did it in there! Could be an option!!!

 

[GRE57Y]

Good points made by both! Thanks

 

[HawkeyeS3]

Hi all, I'm hoping to privately sell my S3. It has finance outstanding and I'm aware this must be settled in full before selling the car.
Therefore, the buyer would pay VWFS directly and any shortfall would be covered by me (also direct to VWFS) before then signing over the car to new owner.
My concerns are:
- What if they use stolen credit card to pay?
- How should the sale take place? Location choice etc?
- How easily and quickly can the sale happen?
- Anything else I should be aware or cautious of?

Thanks everyone!

Neither the buyer or you could use a credit card to pay VWFS off. Only you can do that, and it has to be by bank transfer (which you have to do, they do not do it over the phone). They mail you the details together with the outstanding amount, you then have to go online or into your bank to effect the transfer, and then you have to wait for them to confirm it which can take a couple of days. I paid mine off on a Friday, and they could not confirm that they had received the money until (earliest) Monday afternoon, as they have to get advice from the bank and check it against accounts, before sending you confirmation that the outstanding finance is paid off (which they mail to you). Same is true if you pay it off during the week, its takes a minimum of 24 hours to be processed. I actually called them to check they had received the money on the Monday after I effected the transfer on a Friday. Letter took 2-3 days to arrive.

So you may need to pay VWFS off before you sell your car privately, as a private buyer could not settle the finance for you. If in doubt give them a call for your options, they are actually quite helpful.

 

[steeve]

Have you thought of a short term loan from your bank (Not WONGA or similar) to pay off the outstanding amount?

 

[GRE57Y]

Have you thought of a short term loan from your bank (Not WONGA or similar) to pay off the outstanding amount?

Possibility maybe, but not sure I can trust the buyers cash...

 

[S32B]

Where abouts in the country are you? I used www.fow.co.uk to sell my car, they gave me £1000 more than Audi offered and that was only about £4-5 hundred less than what was recommended for a private sale. It saved a lot of hassle of people coming to the house etc. I let them have it the morning I collected the Audi and just got a lift from Fow to Audi.

 

[redlinehigh]

curious gre57y, what s3 are u selling please??

 

[GRE57Y]

curious gre57y, what s3 are u selling please??

Manual, 3-door, Brilliant Black, 45k miles, 63 Plate

 

[Darlo]

I have sold lots of cars privately. My last was my mk7 golf gti which had £17k owed to vw finance. They will only let you pay a maximum of £3k over phone via debit. I paid the full amount by bank transfer. I waited two hours and VW confirmed the finance has been cleared. Luckily the money was loaned to me by a family member to save any short terms loans. The person purchasing my car rang VW and confirmed it had been cleared.

As for advice on selling... bank transfer by the purchaser is the best. If they insist on bringing cash NEVER handle it. Take them to your bank and get them to pay it in to your account and make them sign a receipt as he bank could raise issue with large cash deposits because of money laundering legislation.

I have had zero problems over the years and having sold both cheap and expensive cars. I would never trade a car unless it had something wrong with it.

 

[GRE57Y]

I have sold lots of cars privately. My last was my mk7 golf gti which had £17k owed to vw finance. They will only let you pay a maximum of £3k over phone via debit. I paid the full amount by bank transfer. I waited two hours and VW confirmed the finance has been cleared. Luckily the money was loaned to me by a family member to save any short terms loans. The person purchasing my car rang VW and confirmed it had been cleared.

As for advice on selling... bank transfer by the purchaser is the best. If they insist on bringing cash NEVER handle it. Take them to your bank and get them to pay it in to your account and make them sign a receipt as he bank could raise issue with large cash deposits because of money laundering legislation.

I have had zero problems over the years and having sold both cheap and expensive cars. I would never trade a car unless it had something wrong with it.

Thanks for this info! Useful to know!

I think I'll be arranging any sale to take place at my local Audi dealership as a safe place to complete the sale... I've got someone pretty insistent on buying that won't leave me alone but not offering the price I need! Lol

 

[GRE57Y]

It's ready on eBay now!

 

[GRE57Y]

http://r.ebay.com/46UWNz