Nearly bought a newish bike on ebay today. I asked if he had proof of purchase he said he bought it on Finance from sunset in Cardiff. This spooked me a bit. In general with bike Finance is the bike the owners to sell or am I dependent on him continuing payments.

I have of course asked the seller about this. They've been really up front and straight forward. But I'm interested in general whether this isa risk buying used bikes

Dont see why it would be, your just buying a bike. Cash in hand or similar, cant see how it could be a risk at all.

Just occurred to me that bikes is really different to cars as they are not registered with the goverment

Surely until it's paid for in full it's not his to sell? It belongs to the finance company. Would you buy a car with outstanding finance payments on it?

I this case the seller assures me the finance is against him not the bike. I'm wondering if some one can assure me that is normally the case

obviously if money is still owed on finance the bike still belongs to the finance company, but as you say bike aren't registered so you should be fine.. unless they are very serious & have a way of tracing the bike, say like an ebay sale (seems unlikely but it is a consideration)…
Though if use a CC and paypal you should be covered insurance wise if it all goes balls up.

If the finance is on the bike it is not his to sell until the loan is paid off

Hmmm! I sold a bike while still making payments on it, only I sold various bits of it to various people. What would the finance company have done if I hadn't made the rest of the payments??

Err, it's nothing to do with government registration.

If he defaults why wouldn't he tell the court who he sold it to in order for them to pursue you to clear part of his debt? Regardless he sold it to you, you'd be forced to put a claim against him, but he'd of course be bankrupt…

with bikes the seller owes the debt not the bike.

However he'd still have a sodding receipt. Infact lots more receipts.

Ask seller for loan docs?

it should be a personal loan , so not attached to the bike .

I bought my bike on finance, it's definately a personal loan & the finance is attached to me & not the bike.

What Hora and CheesyBeanz said.

I'd be pretty surprised if it was anything other than a personal loan.

In the event that the seller defaults and it gets as far as the bailiffs I assume they can seize goods and/or cash up to the value of the outstanding debt, obviously their first choice would be the bike itself as that is what the loan was secured against, but failing that I’m sure they’d settle for his telly, stereo or any other higher value items they can muscle out the door… I don’t think they’d bother hunting for the bike if it’s not on the premises…

I expect, as said, it's a personal loan. ofc you can check with the lender, that would clarify matters.

Thanks guys I'm sure it must be a persoanl loan. No different to him having bought it on a card say

If its Blackhorse Finance (how I buy my frames) then its a personal loan.

http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/finance_option.php isnt clear so I'd ring the shop (i.e. someone who wont lie to you) and ask them if their finance deals are personal or on the bike itself.

The shop didn't know! Although confirmed it was Black Horse Finance