Bankers Draft For Car Purchase

[SueEllen]

I bought my last car with a CHAPS payment on the day. The way I see it is at least if it's a direct UK bank to UK bank payment it ought to be traceable, and the other party will have been at least verified by the bank when they opened the account.

It doesn't make it 100%, and if the money turns out to be stolen they'll still take it back, but the same is true of any other type of payment. But at least you have proof of the transaction, and a reasonable chance of tracking down the fraudster, which you won't have with cash. And personally I'd be pretty nervous of anybody giving me a large amount of cash. It's easy for them to tip off a mate to mug you on your way to the bank the next day.

Or they could stake your house out and break in during the night.

[swamp]

My rule is: < £3,000 buy/sell privately for cash; > £3,000 buy/trade in at main dealer. Don't ever trust independent dealers.

Yes you'll get a crap price at a main dealer, but you won't ever get scammed, and there is a lot to be said for that these days. Stick to what you're good at: contracting. Work two days extra and let others with less money and more know-how deal with Joe Public and his suspect bankers' draft.

[vetran]

Good choice cash on the nail

Last car I bought the Dealer (established home based dealer I would recommend) politely declined a bankers draft without clearance and asked for cash for just such a reason.

[realityhack]

Good advice given & taken.

Avoid banker's drafts for car purchases - it's a well-known and widespread scam.

[Lockhouse]

What I do now is get the seller's account number and sort code and do a telephone transfer. If they have a modern bank account the money is usually there within ten minutes. Also works well if I'm selling.