Buying a secondhand van

[4petedaniel]

Hi WE are attenpting to become campervan owners.and are in the process of purchaseing a VW clubman In a private deal, We are both happy with the camper and the price .But having just read this months MMM it state never pay cash . Now this is one of the condidions of the seller . I have arranged to have the cash ready in a local branch of my bank ,and to hand it over,inexchange for the van , we then expect to ride away with it on conpleteion. the Gentleman I am paying has told me that he only has a short time to live which is why he is selling , has any one any suggestions on how I should I proceed?

Petedaniel

[fred grant]

WITH CAUTION my andsum

 

see the thred stolen motorhomes at the top of the threads and email the contact given with full details if you think this motorhome cood be stolen.

 

in any case dont buy without a hpi check and an inde profesional inspection.

 

while payin cash used to be the norm many yers ago (just ask us poor farmers) there are rules now in place to stop money laundering.

 

SO NEVER pay large amounts in cash.

 

Me an alice smells a trout here. all the best f

[Bazza454]

4petedaniel - 2007-08-05 7:50 PM Hi WE are attenpting to become campervan owners.and are in the process of purchaseing a VW clubman In a private deal, We are both happy with the camper and the price .But having just read this months MMM it state never pay cash . Now this is one of the condidions of the seller . I have arranged to have the cash ready in a local branch of my bank ,and to hand it over,inexchange for the van , we then expect to ride away with it on conpleteion. the Gentleman I am paying has told me that he only has a short time to live which is why he is selling , has any one any suggestions on how I should I proceed? Petedaniel

Although the sale may be genuine, I would be very cautious.

The first thing to do is a HPI check which will cost around £40, this will tell you if there is finance outstanding on the vehicle. The second is to ensure that you do not "exchange" at a motorway services area or car park but actually at the sellers home address, not the driveway, but in his house.

I personally would walk away from this deal, it just seems too risky.

Have a look at the attached link, it may help, good luck.

 http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs/buying_second_hand_vehicles.htm#Thevehiclewasboughtfromaprivateseller

[Hymer C 9.]

This just does not sound right, and as Fred says Caution, there are a lot of Motorhomes out there and the end of the season coming up, so perhaps you could get as good a deal that does not seem dodgy, just a feeling. Good hunting, Carol.

[DonW]

You could try some simple checks like seeing the guy's driving licence ( hopefully photo type) and whether it matches with the registered keeper on the log book. If its dodgy he may decline to help in which case you can walk away. But of course he could have forged documents!

Don

[Guest peter]

Don't touch it with a barge pole unless he will accept a chequeas I'm sure he is planning to live long enough to cash it. Sounds really dodgy to me. You'd get a good deal at a dealer if you have no part exchange, but drive a hard bargain. Like the old saying goes, if it looks too good to be true, it most likely is.

[Derek Uzzell]

Pete:

 

You haven't given any indication of the amount of money involved, but it's fair to assume that purchasing an Auto-Sleepers Clubman in good condition, whatever its age, will involve a significant amount of dosh.

 

Frankly, whether or not a motorhome vendor is at Death's door, it's unrealistic for him to expect a private buyer to hand over bundles of cash nowadays, given the continual warnings about fraud from the media and the police. It's one thing to ask for a realistic cash deposit to secure a purchase, quite another to demand a multi-thousand pounds cash lump sum.

 

You'd be sensible to heed MMM's warning about cash deals, and to follow the magazine's many other recommendations in the "Buying Privately" section, some of which have been mentioned in earlier postings in this thread.

[BGD]

Hi Pete -

 

Can I offer a slightly different "take" on this.

 

I would suggest that your risks (and those of anyone else buying a good or service) are not markedly reduced simply by not paying in cash.

 

The basic principles in English common-law is that, in order to have "good title" to property or land, you must have acquired that "good title" from the person you got it from. The consideration in exchange for the passing of good title does not have to be reasonable, but it must be real.

 

The courts have always upheld these long-established principles. This is where the expression "caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware) basically means.

 

What this means is the prospective seller of this van must be the true owner in order for good title (true ownership) to pass to you. This is totally regardless of how you pay him, and how much you pay.

 

Example: you pay him (by cash/cheque/bankers draft) an agreed amount of money. At some later point the Police/previous owner/Hire purchase/loan company turn up saying that the van did not actually belong to the seller, but was in fact stolen by him/a previous "owner", or was on credit, etc etc.

Because the guy who sold it to you never acquired good title to it, good title never passed to you. Thus in law it is not, and never was your van - it goes back to the last person in the chain who did have good title.

You get nothing. Zippo. Unless you can successfully sue the guy who you "bought" it from for damges for misrepresentation (civil court case, no legal aid, loser pays ALL costs, highly unlikely to succeed) AND the guy has enough money to repay you any damages that the court may impose, AND he actually does so, rather than simply disappearing, or refusing to obey the court decision.

 

Messy.

 

Much better to reduce the risk to a minimum, by checking through every single piece of paper to do with the van - all maintenance receipts, V5, etc.

HPI check is good, but not foolproof unfortunately.

Does he have a purchase receipt - if so contact the previous owner to check van history.

Check with places he says van has been serviced/repaired.

Check him out - neighbours, local shops, employer etc.

Do each and every check you can possibly think of, before then paying by whichever means you decide - 'cos your chances of getting your money back from a private seller are always gonna be remote.

 

Not every good deal is a bum deal - but in any deal involving maybe tens of thousands or pounds, check the deal out. Thoroughly. Before doing it.

[4petedaniel]

Thanks for that advice

It seems that paying out large sums of money is a perilous business But I would hope that If he still has the bill of payment from the last owner and that seems to be Marquis I should be a bit more secure

[johnsandywhite]

4petedaniel - 2007-08-06 10:12 AM

 

Thanks for that advice

It seems that paying out large sums of money is a perilous business But I would hope that If he still has the bill of payment from the last owner and that seems to be Marquis I should be a bit more secure

 

8-) I don't understand the problem with some people? Mamby (Namby?) Pamby. My son and I have bought around 15 Vehicles from as far as the North of Scotland to the South of England and most places in between. There has only been 1 dodgy deal. That involved an off road Motorbike that had the frame numbers apparently removed. We walked away from the deal. If the Motorhome you are buying has a V5C and is registered at the address you are picking it up from? WHAT is the PROBLEM? *-)

[BGD]

Johnsandywhite -

 

The problem with some people is that they are thieves. They are crooks. They are bent. Some people steal things from other people and then attempt to sell them on. In order to do that they tell lies, they forge paperwork, they alter documents, they replace VIN plates, they re-stamp engine numbers, they "ring" vehicles.

 

There's generally no problem with honest people at all.

 

Seems to me (and my general attitude top risk is possibly more relaxed than that of many other people), that even if the risk in paying out (say) £20,000 cash for a 2nd hand vehicle, to a guy you have never met before and know nothing about, is very low; then it's still worth making the effort to check out the vehicle history and his bona fides, before you hand the money over.

 

Even taking your own example of only 1 dodgy deal (that you are aware of) out of 15 second hand vehicle purchases that you have made, that means you have experienced a potential thief/crook ratio of 7%. I have to say that 7% seems a high percentage to me.

 

Risk is a function of two things: the likelihood of the (bad) event occuring; and the size of the damage (cost, time, heartache etc) that would follow.

 

The risk of the deal going bad is statistically low; but the possible cost to the buyer in the event that the van is knicked is damn big. Losing £10 on a deal isn't big news, but losing (say) £20,000 when what you had been led to believe was "your" van was repossessed by the Police/previous real owner would I suspect hurt most of us a lot.

 

Ergo, on a deal that big it seems to me worth checking stuff out thoroughly for yourself, rather than simply trusting the word of a complete stranger, who (for whatever reason he tells you) wants to get rid of the vehicle he's attempting to sell to you.