I'm hoping to pick up a black Furby vRS on Friday and I've just finished negotiating with the guy and feeling pleased, subject to the guy buying my car completing tomorrow night.

It's gone downhill slightly now as I've just run a website HPI checkand it's showing up with outstanding finance with VW Financial Services :thumbdwn:

So I'm after a bit of advice about what to do. The buyer doesn't know I've run an HPI check - do I mention the HPI check problem to him now and see what he has to say? Or speak to VW Financial Services in the morning (they're now closed) as see what the position is? HPI have already got back to me saying an 'interest' needs to be registered on the car, perhaps meaning that the current owner's told them he may be thinking of paying back the loan? If this interest hasn't been lodged then VW are entitled to take the car from me :eek:

As ever, I'm appreciative of any advice. I suppose I'm just glad I spent that

Tell the guy, he will know especially selling a decent car that anyone with a brain cell would run a HPI check so I would be suprised if he got offended. He may well be in the process of settling, and it's probably no more sinister than that.

Good luck, you'll love the furby (i do )

Yeah, good point. I'm just not sure whether to get the story, or any more details at least, from VW Finance in the morning before discussing it with him?

Steve

Ask him if there's any outstanding finance on it, as he needs permission from the finance co to sell.

If he says he has the all-clear, ask for proof.

If he says there is no outstanding finance, you know he's telling porkies....

Makes no difference really, tell him tonight you've done the check, see what he says, and tomorrow speak to VW to see if he is being straight. If they tell you what he told you then you know he's not about to stitch you up.

DONT just take his word for it that hes going to settle the finance with the money your gonna give him

If neccassary, speak to VW finance, tell them your buying this car, and see if you can get settlement figure out of them, then get a certified cheque from your bank for the outstanding amount,made out to VW Finance and the rest paid by whatever means you have agreed

Thanks guys. I've asked him and he told me straight that it was financed through 'Skoda Finance', so I'm a bit happier now. He said he'd take the payment into the bank on Friday and pay off the outstanding. I'll speak to VW Finance tomorrow anyway, and check up on my position. And I'll get in writing what he's doing regarding the finance before I take the car away.

Having never bought a car financed this way, what's the right way to go about this? I can see his problem, in that he needs the cash from me to pay off the monies owed. But at the same time buyers like me are in a weak position, because, on the face of it, there's nothing to stop the seller spending the money on something else! I suppose, at the very least, I need VW Finance's side of things and a guarantee from him that he'll pay the finance off.

Will keep you posted

Steve

When I wanted to settle my HP early with Skoda Finance I was given a settlement figure within a couple of minutes of phoning. After paying the agreement off in full, it then took Skoda Finance a while to deregister their interest in the vehicle and transfer ownership to me. When a son of mine bought a car privately which was on finance, the finance company refused to give him any details of whether or not the amount outstanding had been paid, citing the Data Protection Act. He bought the car anyway having been shown details of payments outstanding plus evidence that the owner had paid the finance company what was due to clear the HP.

Thanks for that Denis, I'll bear it in mind.

Steve

Wardy,

Just been through the same situation buying a Shogun for a friend. First bit of bad news is that the Finance company wont talk to you apart from confirming the vehicle is on finance, as Denis said Data Protection etc

The way we got round it with the sellers agreement was for him to call the Finance compay while we were there & once he had authorised it he handed the phone to us & we agreed details with the finance company. Basically my friend wrote out a check to the finace company for the settlement figure with the current owners name & account no on the back & then he trusted us to post it which we did (silly or what.)

The HPI check is always worth doing, this vehicle had been re-registered & the finance was attatched to the old reg but they still found out all details right down to the finance agreement account number

Before the days of HPI, I got caught when I bought a car that was on finance un-beknown to me. Had the car about three weeks and then the phone rang, it was the finance company.

Luckly for me I had got the seller to sign a statement to the effect that the car was 'free of any writ or lien', that there was no outstanding finance on the vehicle etc.

Talk about a 'get out of jail free card', that shut the finance company up straight away. All they then wanted was a copy and they were off to serve a writ on him, the car remained mine.