Reply to: Bankers Draft For Car Purchase

[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.

[realityhack]

Good advice given & taken.

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[VectraMan]

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.

[TykeMerc]

If payment is cash, usually safe, but then the money could be stolen, cocaine money, or money laundered money. Who can say?

What is the amount that they are paying anyway ? If it's more than 10K and they paying by cash, sounds suspicious. If it's less than 5K then fine.

Impossible to say if cash is from a dodgy source.
As to the £5k and £10k statements I'd be willing to bet that a significant number of the posters on this board could come up with £10k+ in cash from perfectly legitimate sources with a day or so notice, I certainly could.

[fullyautomatix]

With the kind of scams and frauds going on these days, using the internet to find gullible targets, who can say who is genuine ?

If payment is by cheque/draft and if the amount is more than the value they agreed for, run off.

If payment is cash, usually safe, but then the money could be stolen, cocaine money, or money laundered money. Who can say?

What is the amount that they are paying anyway ? If it's more than 10K and they paying by cash, sounds suspicious. If it's less than 5K then fine.

[TykeMerc]

Thanks all - have considered all the advice and agreed with buyer for cash payment. Looks like my matress will be pretty high tomorrow night...

Wise decision.

[kaiser78]

Thanks all - have considered all the advice and agreed with buyer for cash payment. Looks like my matress will be pretty high tomorrow night...

[norrahe]

Despite the fancy advert, you wont get anything like the value for your car.

I can vouch for that. If you do want a good laugh, get in touch for a derisory valuation of your car.

[BolshieBastard]

Sounds dodgy! Run like the wind.

Have you tried http://www.webuyanycar.com? Yes I know their advert is annoying but might be a safer option if this does not work out.

Despite the fancy advert, you wont get anything like the value for your car.

[Hawkeye]

Sounds dodgy! Run like the wind.

Have you tried http://www.webuyanycar.com? Yes I know their advert is annoying but might be a safer option if this does not work out.

[BolshieBastard]

I have at last a buyer for my car, who wants to pay via bankers draft. However they want to see the car tomorrow night and take it away there and then, obviously after the Banks have shut before I can pay the draft in.

Is the bankers draft safe and will funds clear next day or 5 days as per cheques ? Thanks for any (helpful !) responese.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

You need the bank to clear the draft first. Pay £25 to have an express clearance. If its a dodgey draft (there are some) you'll find out if it doesnt clear there and then.

Never, ever let anyone take your car until you have cleared funds.

[TykeMerc]

Is she available where stacks of cash are involved, is that what you're saying?

I could probably arrange for her to come and check notes for you for a suitable percentage of the total, subject to a minimum daily rate plus expenses and my fee of course...

I did use the word personally.

The days of a bankers draft being anything special and guaranteed are long gone as it's just a cheque issued by the bank branch against money drawn from the persons account (so they could get cash every bit as easily and cheaper since a bank will charge for the service) and it can be stopped.
As pointed out it's a doddle to forge cheques these days and it's far from unknown for banks cheque books to be stolen for that matter.