I've bought a nearly new car (8 months old, 2,300 miles) in a private sale, left a cash deposit, and need to pay the balance of £15,800 when I pick the car up on Saturday.

My initial plan (which the seller is happy with) was to get to their house, use their pc to go online and make a transfer into their bank a/c from mine through Faster Payments. They then log on to their bank a/c, see funds are there, we take car: happy days.

However, my bank has a £10k limit for Faster Payments, and though one of the seller's a/c's accepts them, the other may not. There is also the fact that the payments are not neccesarily instant, but make take 2-4 hours (according to my bank).

One option (which involves a lot of trust on my part though having spent some time at the seller's house with them – older couple – I'm reasonably comfortable with) is to transfer £10k to them on Friday which will definately be in their a/c on Saturday, and pay them the balance in cash (I did suggest cash in full but they are wary about false notes – fair enough).

So, just linked my bank a/c with the funds in to my Paypal a/c, will be verified in 2-3 days. My plan is that I get there Saturday, transfer the funds online from my Paypal a/c to theirs as a gift (I realise that removes some security but the car will be in front of me) which should hit their a/c immediately.

Do I have this right, or are there any reasons why this is a bad idea?

Could be wrong, but even as a gift I think there is a charge using Paypal.

Cash is best.

can you not just do a bankers draft?

When a I bought a motorbike with £6k cash I went to the bank with the seller and the bank checked the notes before creditting his account. Is that an option, if there's a local branch and its open on Saturday mornings?

I don't pay any fees for Paypal gift and neither does my receivee (if that's a word), nor do I for withdrawing funds. Think it depends what status account you have, verified or not etc.

Why not just do a bank transfer ahead of time? Or do what Krag said.

What krag said…go to bank with seller. If you both have banks locally, order your cash to that branch, draw it out with seller present, then walk next door, hoik your sack up on the counter and seller can pay into his account and the notes will be checked as they get paid in.

Both happy, and no faffing around counting money on the kitchen table. (It was bad enough trying to count £4200 when I sold my car, wouldn't want to sort £15k!

I don't pay any fees for Paypal gift and neither does my receivee (if that's a word), nor do I for withdrawing funds. Think it depends what status account you have, verified or not etc.

ahh – you've not had the letter yet from Paypal then?

"……………………We're not sure if you are aware of this, but we noticed that some of
your customers are sending you personal payments for purchases.
Unfortunately, this violates our rules, and we need your help correcting
this. Please don't ask or allow your customers to use personal payments
to pay for their purchases.

If we continue to see such activity after March 9, 2010, we may have to
disable your ability to receive personal payments, and then you will pay
fees for all money received through PayPal……….

That was only after 2 smallish gift payments
Looks like they're cracking down on it

Bankers draft would be worthwhile.

It might cost a bit (£25 for me once), but its safe and fairly convenient.

Bankers draft – but heres the twist. Nominate the branch nearby and order the bankers draft. You go with the couple at an arranged time and they are with you at the window as the draft is handed over.

This way they can be sure its not a forgery/false document.

Have you carried out a HPI etc etc? Just because they are a old couple doesnt mean they own the car or its totally kosher.

OAP's are jailed as well you know for fraud offences and OAP's were once young (and offenders with long criminal records).

You dont get to 65 and think 'ah, I think I will retire now' 🙄

All the best.

Hora – yes my thoughts too, but having spent time with them I'm 99% sure it's all kosher (I'd rather it was 100% but that's life).

HPI all clear, everyting I can check all looks ok.

Why are they selling so soon?

I used a bankers draft. Went to the sellers house & checked the car out, handed over the draft & he rang the bank to verify it, simples.

They have a son who works for Ford so they get 30% discount on new cars and change every 9 months with minimal cost each time.

So long as you trust each other then go with a Bankers Draft.

Only weird experience I had with one of those was when a couple of burly blokes drove 300 miles from Darlington to buy my 1yr old BMW. I went with them to a local bank where they had the BD drawn up, but I noticed a spelling mistake – which made me think they might've been given me a fraudulent one instead. So I pointed out the mistake which they accepted right away, and saw them have another one drawn up. Debited it straight into my account and handed them the keys. Nothing dodgy at all in the end – just a couple of very big blokes, one who whom wanted my exact spec car and was prepared to travel a fair number of miles for it.

You want to spend 16k on a Ford?

If they change there car every 9 months what do they normally do, surely they can recommend you a course of action that normally works for them….

Bankers draft is absolutely not safe – very easy to forge/steal and countless people have been had. A bank will not verify over the phone.

If you were the seller, absolutely definitely use what hora described above – it's simple and foolproof. If you are the buyer and the seller is happy to accept a banker's draft then use that. So what if it costs £25 – it's irrelevant given the size of transaction

Aye- Ive never had a problem either selling or buying by visiting the branch at a prearranged time. Usually you can pop over the road and put the draft into your own bank at the sametime as well.

Recently I sold a car for cash and the buyer never visited my house, testdrove, HPI'd or saw the car in the light of day until they handed over the money. Madness. I even said this to them.

what ever happened to paying by cheque?

Hand over cheque on wednesday, pick up car on Saturday.

My dad once bought a motorbike for cash. Went to the bank in Ashby, emptied savings acocunt, drove to Skegness, handed over sealed bank envelope with cash in it, seller says "don't you want to count it?", dad goes, "naaa, too much effort" seller counts it which is fair enough, gets to £1600 and realises hes only halfway through! The bank had counted it out twice!

All my parents got for being honest was one of those tiny boxes of ferrero roche (sp?) which seeing as theres a discount store next door to the bank selling nearly out of date chocolate was a bit of cheek!

I wouldn't use somebody else's PC to log on either. You can install programmes to monitor key strokes…..

OP- Buy Daffys car! Much better than a Ford IMO.

I was on the selling end in a similar situation a few months ago, similar amount too. I phoned my bank for advice and they said : meet the buyer at a branch of your bank, do a cash handover inside the bank with both buyer and you at the teller, once the teller has counted and verified the cash and given you a receipt handover the v5, keys etc. That's what i did and it was fine.

iainc – that's exactly what I've ended up deciding to do, seller is happy with this.

Hora – £16k for a Ford? 8 month old Galaxy 2.0TDCI Zetec*. Full list price new: £27k. £11k saving – I'm happy with that! (Sellers will have paid about £18-9k through their son which makes the deal stack up).

*I have a motorbike for when I want speed and handling. I judge cars on their ability to lug kids, bikes, beer, mates, camping kit etc etc around the place in comfort.

Bankers draft is absolutely not safe – very easy to forge/steal and countless people have been had. A bank will not verify over the phone.

Well thats odd cos my bank did! mind you I did tell them that the seller would be ringing them, got a contact name at the bank for him to speak too as well. Maybe if it wasn't pre-arranged it would be a problem.