Check says outstanding finance, seller says not. What to do?

[DeuceDeuce]

I’m (hopefully) buying a car from a private seller and all seems fine but I ran a ‘vcheck’ on the registration and it has flagged outstanding finance.

The seller has strongly claimed this is not correct and I believe him but as we all know, talk is cheap… So…

What’s the go to place for getting the true picture of a car’s history/finance? Or do they all get their info from the same sources and I just need to drill down on this and get it sorted?

[Driver101]

Doesn't the vcheck tell you who the finance is with? A HPi check does.

Phone the finance company up and ask if there is outstanding finance.

[85Carrera]

Why would you (a) do anything other than an HPI check and (b) take the word of a seller over an HPI check?

Do a proper check and if it says credit is outstanding it is.

[DeuceDeuce]

I thought vcheck was one of the best/comprehensive companies to use for this sort of thing. Which is the proper check I should use?

The check I did says it’s VW finance but seems unlikely as the car is a Ferrari and the owner has had it for over 4 years and has never had finance.

[joropug]

When was the finance taken out ?

During his ownership?

Might be some cock up with a private registration but if it says it has finance you’ll want that cleared before taken it on . Even if it’s an error it’s the sellers problem to sort not yours.

[The Road Crew]

85Carrera said:

Why would you (a) do anything other than an HPI check and (b) take the word of a seller over an HPI check?

Do a proper check and if it says credit is outstanding it is.

Vcheck is a proper check in my experience.... I know of several cars that have been written off, sold by copart, that didn't show on hpi but did flag up through vcheck.

Agreed, I'd be struggling to take the sellers word... Tread very carefully OP...

[Jamescrs]

I would try calling VW finance personally and see if you can get anything out of them regarding any finance claim, they must have a marker on the registration for some reason, as someone else said could be a plate transfer issue.

If you can't get it sorted i'd be asking the seller to look into it as any half intelligent buyer will come up with the same issue.

Ultimately if it can't be rectified i'd walk away, I imagine we are talking about a significant amount of cash involved in the purchase and it's not worth the risk.

[InitialDave]

I've had this, bought a car, and when I sold it, the buyer did a check and there was finance from the previous owner. Phoned the finance company and they cleared it up.

[griffter]

I expect it’s a typo with the reg/chassis number although it’s hard to believe that hats possible.

Meanwhile there’s a Passat going cheap for cash in Keighley.

[edthefed]

Why are you stressing ?

Tell the seller you will buy subject to him resolving the issue on his car !

[t400ble]

Walk away

[HTP99]

Either an old marker that was never removed, it happens quite a lot, or a mistake with a mis-typed reg/chassis number.

Don't stress, it can be easily resolved.

[samoht]

edthefed said:

Tell the seller you will buy subject to him resolving the issue on his car

+1. It's surely much easier for the car owner to ring up and get the situation resolved, than you as a third party. If they are unwilling or unable to do so, that tells you all you need to know...

[ilikejam]

As above - do not take the seller's word for it.

Likely just a marker that's not been cleared or a typo.
Possibly the first owner had it on finance, current owner bought the car cash and didn't do an HPI check and it does still have finance on it.
Less likely the seller is straight up lying to you.

Either way it becomes your problem if you buy the car, so don't buy until it's resolved.

[DeuceDeuce]

Checked with VW finance and they have no record of any finance on the car.

The seller is going to try and get this cleared up but I’m guessing it won’t be done before I’m due to collect tomorrow.

[OnionBhaji99]

[Pistonheader101]

Do not transfer funds until marker is clear.

[DeuceDeuce]

Everything has now been cleared up and all should be well for collection tomorrow.

Apparently the seller had spoken to a main dealer a couple of weeks ago about possibly selling to them and this was likely what the seller was going to do until I came along. The dealer took it upon themselves to finance the car before even buying it (as is normal practice according to them) and that’s why the check had the finance marker.

All sorted now but took most of the day. Do dealers really do this and if so, how is that allowed?

Thanks for the responses and of course I would never had paid a penny until this was resolved.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

DeuceDeuce said:

Everything has now been cleared up and all should be well for collection tomorrow.

Apparently the seller had spoken to a main dealer a couple of weeks ago about possibly selling to them and this was likely what the seller was going to do until I came along. The dealer took it upon themselves to finance the car before even buying it (as is normal practice according to them) and that’s why the check had the finance marker.

All sorted now but took most of the day. Do dealers really do this and if so, how is that allowed?

Thanks for the responses and of course I would never had paid a penny until this was resolved.

I too had a car that was still shown on the dealer's stock plan. (That's probably what the finance was)

[Pistonheader101]

DeuceDeuce said:

Everything has now been cleared up and all should be well for collection tomorrow.

Apparently the seller had spoken to a main dealer a couple of weeks ago about possibly selling to them and this was likely what the seller was going to do until I came along. The dealer took it upon themselves to finance the car before even buying it (as is normal practice according to them) and that’s why the check had the finance marker.

All sorted now but took most of the day. Do dealers really do this and if so, how is that allowed?

Thanks for the responses and of course I would never had paid a penny until this was resolved.

Nice one and enjoy