finalzero

Ask him/her to wait, if the buyer is genuine they won't mind waiting.

scoobynutta555

Trouble is, unless you know him personally you won't know if he is a fraudster or not. They wouldn't be good at their 'job' if they looked like fraudsters? Have a look at this Autotrader :

Forged Bankers Drafts

Vehicle sellers should be aware of the possibility of receiving forged bankers drafts when selling their vehicles.

Sellers have received what they thought were genuine bankers drafts only to be informed by their banks days later that the draft was forged. The money is then stripped from their account potentially leaving the seller out of pocket if they have already released the vehicle.

Forged bankers drafts can look genuine, with authentic looking watermarks and bank branch stamps on them, so sellers should not release vehicles until they've had firm confirmation from their bank that they can withdraw funds safely on the cheque (check with your own account holding branch for details). Criminals can try to obtain vehicles with fraudulent drafts relying on the sellers perception that drafts are as good as cash, but banks will not honour fraudulent drafts or drafts that cannot be cleared through lack of funds.

Do not release your vehicle until you have had confirmation from your own bank that the bank draft is genuine and has been paid by the bank issuing the bank draft. Ask your bank whether the draft has been 'given value' rather than 'cleared' as it seems there is a difference between drafts being cleared and funds being in the account.

Be particularly wary of potential buyers who view your vehicle after the banks have closed (Friday or Saturday afternoon or Sunday) and produce a bank draft already made out for the full asking price. Don’t be pressured into letting the vehicle go - a genuine buyer will not mind waiting until the draft has cleared.

nooobyscooby

Sell your car after November 30th:

Just announced on BBC . . .

Bank customers will now be able to rely on cheques which have been paid into their accounts, even if the cheques later bounce or prove to be fake.
From 30 November, cheques will clear with absolute certainty, six days after being paid in.

Previously, banks were able to recoup money from a customer's account if they discovered the original cheque payment was fraudulent.

The changes to the banking system were decided by the industry a year ago.

The problem of cheques never clearing was first revealed by the BBC Moneybox programme three years ago.

Subsequently the Office of Fair Trading put pressure on the banking industry to clarify the clearing system.

Big change

Contrary to common belief, banks have always been able to recoup money from a customer's account if a cheque bounced or proved to be fraudulent.

This was the case even if the discovery took place weeks or months after the event, and after the cheque had been formally cleared and the money spent.

In other words, cheques never really cleared with absolute finality. That will change from the end of the month.

"The big change concerns certainty of funds," said a spokeswoman for the banking organisation Apacs.

"It's only in the last few years that it has become an issue due to organised gangs getting into cheque fraud."

Although overall cheque fraud has been falling - from £46m in 2004 to £31m last year - it has become a bigger problem for certain groups of bank customers.

Among them are businesses who hand over their goods only to find later on that the cheque used to pay for them was dud.

The problem affects people selling items on the internet via ebay or who sell cars via Autotrader.

Clarity

The banking system is also clarifying the maximum times for banks to credit cheque payments to people's bank accounts.

From 30 November, interest will be credited no more than two days after paying in a cheque and the money will be able to be drawn out after no more than four days.

Some banks have already decided to speed up their own procedures independently.

Last year for instance, Lloyds TSB started crediting interest to its customers' accounts immediately.

Most high street bank customers will see little change in practice.

But some building society customers will see interest credited faster than before, while people with just basic bank accounts will be able to take their money out faster.

mikey-r

Good news above about the Banks' new ruling - about time to!

Just a thought, but a little discreet photo of the 'buyer' taken on your phone might not be a bad idea incase the deal goes titsup?

M.

nooobyscooby

Don't even be discreet. I always ask first, take a nice photo of the punter with his new car [mine] and one of him and his mates too.

No one has ever objected and if they did - no deal!

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

How is this possible fella? Funds can only be moved over if they are there to move

Your post has scared the cr*p out of me as it seems no payment method is safe

TX.

nooobyscooby

Even if you move the funds received immediately, same day, from your bank account to another account in, say, your building society, the bank can pull the money back from all the way down the line.

Cash up to £10K, paid in at the building society or bank in front of the buyer, is currently the only really safe way to transact. Crazy!

badgersport

It's all well and good people advising you not to hand over the car before the bankers draft has cleared but there is no way I would give someone I didn't know a bankers draft and not take the car until it has cleared. What if I never hear from them again and they do a runner with the money and the car?

Besides you're not even protecting yourself that way - a stolen bank draft can be recalled longs after it has cleared, so what are they suggesting? Give him the car a month after the draft has cleared?

Cash is a pain in the behind for any sizeable sum as the bank will ask all sorts of questions about where it came from and if you do more than a few transactions a year you should really register with Customs and Excise (or is it Revenue and Customs now?) as a high value cash dealer and keep all sorts of records. You also risk taking fakes.

Bank transfer is the most practical way - it also stops them hagling when they get to you. I always ask for full details of the transfer and call the issuing bank - find the number yourself to be sure. If in any doubt give your own bank the details and ask them to check it out.

Manic Mav

Well its gone,
Thanks to all for all your comments, in the end the guy was a genuine fella and understood my reservations of a bankers draft and sorted out payment by a CHAPS transfer that all went through with no problems.

So that’s me finished with imprezas for a while, started with a wagon, had that three years, then got a saloon and had that for 4 years, both cars were great and i never had any problems what so ever with either. Then made the mistake of getting a WR1thinking it was going to be the bees knees and had that just a year, never mind live and learn.

Thanks again, this has been a great site for help and advice on allsorts of topics, I will keep looking at what you lot are tuning next and just how far these great cars can be tuned.

scoobynutta555

Glad it's all sorted out and the money is in the bank safely. A genuine buyer would of course be happy with a CHAPS transfer, it probably cost the same to do it as a draft would.

Sad to see you leave Imprezas for the moment. I too fell out for a year after owning high end special editions, I thought to myself why have a limited edition 20 odd grand Impreza that does much the same as 5K one. I left for a year and then returned with a broken engined MY00 that I got restored. I've now had it a year and think it's time for something else again! You'll be back one day, not for a WR1 though I assume

Manic Mav

Yes the WR1 was not what I was expecting, it didn’t handle half as well as my 2000 classic did, the ride was far to harsh and if people think that UK imprezas are thirsty they should try running a 1, I just didn’t think that it justified the overall cost compared with the good looking classics.

Got my self a low mileage 1 owner BMW 330i touring for now couldnt make my mind up what to get, and I am loving it at the mo. Later on in the new year I will probably be looking for a nice STI classic wagon. Think its something to do with that burble that never leaves you!