I've found a car in the UK that would do us nicely as a knockabout motor for a while and, by pure coincidence, it would suit me to fly to the UK at the end of this week to collect it.
I have bought several cars in the UK from France in recent years and always paid by internet funds transfer. But this guy - though he is only dealing off his front drive - doesn't want to reveal his bank details. Actually, I suppose this isn't a surprise. I have offered him the phone numbers of people in the UK I have dealt with on this basis in recent years, involving transactions worth many more thousands of pounds than the motor he is offering, but to no avail.
My question is: how easy is it to get a bank draft issued with a couple of days notice - by phone or internet - at a branch local to the seller?
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Not easy - Bank Drafts in the UK are wide open to forgery, I'd be very reluctant to accept one of fa buyer to be honest. This fellow needs a sound talking to !
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Darn!
How easy is it these days to arrange cash from a bank branch that is not one's own (at a few days notice)? It's only a couple of grand. In France they want 48 hours notice even if it's your own branch and then they keep you waiting forever and practically make you beg for it.
You're right RP, the guy needs a sound talking to, and probably from HMRC, but heigh ho...
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>> Darn!
>> How easy is it these days to arrange cash from a bank branch that is
>> not one's own (at a few days notice)? It's only a couple of grand.
This is the UK. If you have the required funds in your account, any branch of that bank will cash a cheque drawn on your account. Other banks won't.
you have the required funds in a UK bank?
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>Other banks won't.
What's the problem here?
For the last ten years or so I've used my debit card when buying cars.
I put my card in the terminal and input my PIN, the dealer gets a call from the card fraud dept. and passes me the phone to confirm my inside leg measurement and it's accompanying tattoo. They give the dealer a transaction code and everything is sorted.
Can't another bank do the same?
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>> >Other banks won't.
>>
>> What's the problem here?
>>
>> For the last ten years or so I've used my debit card when buying cars.
>>
>>
>> I put my card in the terminal and input my PIN, the dealer gets a
>> call from the card fraud dept. and passes me the phone to confirm my inside
>> leg measurement and it's accompanying tattoo. They give the dealer a transaction code and everything
>> is sorted.
>>
>> Can't another bank do the same?
Your not buying anything with a debit card, you are withdrawing cash. He's not dealing with a dealer, but buying a hooky car for readies at the roadside. Frankly I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole - it sounds suss, but hey he is big enough and ugly enough to do what he wants.
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>Your not buying anything with a debit card, you are withdrawing cash.
Isn't that what the seller wants? An instant cash transfer into his/her account backed with a transaction code?
Simply to walk into his bank with Mike and know that the payment has gone through before he hands over the keys?
>He's not dealing with a dealer, but buying a hooky car for readies at the roadside.
I thought this was just a private sale from someone's home where the guy is being a bit cautious about giving out his bank details to a stranger? Understandable considering the car buying scams by the Lads from Lagos?
Am I missing something?
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>> Am I missing something?
Yes. The guy wants CASH, not money into his bank account. That pushes it to more than "cautious" Thats decidedly "hooky" territory.
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>> >> Darn!
>> >> How easy is it these days to arrange cash from a bank branch that
>> is
>> >> not one's own (at a few days notice)? It's only a couple of grand.
>>
>> This is the UK. If you have the required funds in your account, any branch
>> of that bank will cash a cheque drawn on your account. Other banks won't.
>>
>> you have the required funds in a UK bank?
>>
^^
This has never, ever, ever worked for me.
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..This has never, ever, ever worked for me...
Bank branches carry the least amount of cash they can get away with - it's dead money.
A snap withdrawal of a few thousand will clean out most small or even medium-sized branches.
A semi-retired friend of mine worked for the NatWest in Baker Street, central London, as a courier and general help.
Quite often, wealthy Arab customers would walk in and ask for lots of money in cash.
The Arab was shown to an an office to wait while my friend jumped in a black cab to go to the bank's main branch in Lombard Street to get the money.
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>> ..This has never, ever, ever worked for me...
>>
>> Bank branches carry the least amount of cash they can get away with - it's
>> dead money.
>>
>> A snap withdrawal of a few thousand will clean out most small or even medium-sized
>> branches.
Depends on the location, the footfall, the number of account holders, and historical transaction data. I have done exactly as I described a couple of times. Whilst queuing in my branch I have seen several large (thousands) cash withdrawals (and deposits as it happens)
I have been in bank branches when the tellers have cashed up, severals thousands per cash drawer is the norm, not to mention that contained within the vaults (not much admittedly)
One thing that has changed is that the staff no longer fill the cashpoints. Thats cash thats not needed, or counted, in the branch tally. (They do in larger branches with multiple cash points)
At one time, when I was fixing cash points, I held 100k pounds, in cash, in my hands.
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>> At one time, when I was fixing cash points, I held 100k pounds, in cash,
>> in my hands.
>>
These days of course it is Romanian gangs who fix cash points and get £100k in their hands.
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>> These days of course it is Romanian gangs who fix cash points and get £100k
>> in their hands.
Myself and a colleague came across the first lebanese loop used in the UK.
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>>Myself and a colleague came across the first lebanese loop used in the UK.
May I suggest you and your colleague were the first officials to discover a lebanese loop in the UK?
;>)
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...These days of course it is Romanian gangs who fix cash points and get £100k in their hands...
A detective told me the cleverer ones aim to steal about £30K and then go home with the money, which sets them up nicely over there.
Seems to me coming to the UK to thieve is almost a career option for Romanians.
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You can get a bank draft issued over the counter if the money is in that bank.
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Probably easier to meet the seller in their local UK bank branch and conduct the funds transfer there and then Mike, either electronically or in cash.
>> he is dealing off his front drive - doesn't want to reveal his bank details
Sounds like he's got something to hide to me :(
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Mon 21 May 12 at 20:06
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Sounds a bit iffyer than Iffy :-) There's nothing in the bank details you can't see on a cheque.
Probably summat to do with HMRC.
My main bank, the Hafilax, lets me have £2k over the counter without notice. I can't speak for others.
Ted
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I'm with the cynics here Mike I'm afraid. C'mon then, what sort of car are you looking for? I'm sure we can collectively come up with a Mondeo or two for you by the weekend !
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Where's there's money there's always a fiddle......
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There may be no scam or fishy-ness, but if the guy's simply being difficult to deal with then walk away. If he's that fussy over how he receives his money, then simply find another car with a more accommodating seller!
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Fishy pong here as well.
Sorry to hear that, GB.
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>> Fishy pong here as well.
Embarrassing bodies live is on CH4 tonight. They might be able to help ;o)
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My sympathy is with the seller. "Here's somebody who is purporting to be from abroad. He's going to appear in the UK for a couple of hours and take away a lump of metal that's worth £2,000 from my drive, without any sort of UK address or ID. And he wants to do something peculiar with my bank details too. Why bother. I'll sell the car to somebody English soon enough. It all smells a bit fishy to me."
Nothing wrong with buying cars from people driving off their front drive. I've done it. I've also walked.
Isn't physical cash a fairly normal way of buying cars in the sub-£2,000 range? And realistically nobody would buy a car costing more than that sort of money from somebody's front drive, would they?
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Tue 22 May 12 at 09:50
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>>>sub-£2,000 range? And realistically nobody would buy a car costing more than that sort of money from somebody's front drive, would they?
Nothing wrong with paying £5k/£10k/£20k as long as it's from the right sort of drive. Just not one where the seller is coy about any aspect of their details.
Cash is king with Mike's deal.
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That's a fair point MM.
Thing is, I have done this three times before, using trust and internet transfers, including quite a large amount for the Beast. But in the past I have always dealt direct with the car's previous owner rather than somebody who can make a few hundred with no strings, guarantees or income tax complications just because he happens to have what I want. I still get a Christmas card from the (now) old lady who sold me her late husband's Prelude seven years ago!
I don't get anywhere trying to buy in France. I could buy whatever, really, but I don't want to buy new because I park in the street in French towns and cities. And, by and large, the French are so uncaring about their motors that it is nigh on impossible to find anything more than a couple of years old that has been looked after. You'd be amazed at what you see on small ad sites over here - if you are lucky enough to get a viewable photograph don't expect the car to have had the mud washed off! And 'service history' often means the first-ever oil change - no filter - the day before the ad went on.
The car in question now is a 2000 Civic Aerodeck, automatic, one owner, 33k with full Honda history and allegedly 'mint'. It's top dollar for its age but you just can't find that sort of thing over here. And I happen to have another reason to be in the UK for a couple of days.
I'm still mulling it over...
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>> ....and allegedly 'mint'.
Hope you've seen a few photos! I have twice been stung driving 50 or so miles to look at "excellent condition" cars. One, I was told by the private seller, had a little rust round the rear wheel arches - trouble is, most of the metal had gone, but indeed there was a little rust on what was left....
The second one was not only poorly prepared, but the inner flanges of the bonnet were rusting away (very unusual,it was a Saab, but I suspect from the very short period when they used Italian steel) and there were numerous other bodywork problems. This was from a guy selling prestige cars from his drive and roadside (which I didn't know until I got there).
I ca only say - don't get too excited!
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Just a quick supplementary question. The car doesn't show up on the insurance database - can someone selling the odd motor from home (and evidently accepted by Autotrader as a 'dealer') have some sort of trade cover?
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Photo 3 seems to show the n/s/r door a different shade. May just be the lighting.
I'm wary of descriptions like this: 1 Lady Owner, Drives Well,Mint Condition,1st To See Will Buy!!.
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the estate is a rare beast.,
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Yeeees, I noticed the door shade - it looks ok in one pic but not in another. I have now gone off this deal, which is a shame because as Z says, it's a rare beast. Barclays - from what I could understand of the Bangalore accent - tells me I can withdraw £800 in cash from any branch but if I want any more I will have to transfer it to the branch in question the day before.
And, I have a basic problem with someone calling themselves a dealer, taking the profit but not offering any services in return.
Nah, I'll go on looking - this weekend would have been useful but it's not vital.
Please, guys - no Mondeo suggestions. I know they are ok. My pal has one as a knockabout. But if I have one it will have to say 'Jaguar X-type' on it. Anyway it's just too big, like the Accord Tourer I really took a shine to.
Z - you remember seeing the pic of me then?
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Looks like you're wise to avoid. The guys ebay name is delboy and he's received two negatives... one for a mower that was "junk" and the other for being "economical with the truth" when selling a Triumph Stag.
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Two points, I have never, in normal banking hours in the UK, had any problem, if the seller doesn't like the look of my cheque, going to the counter and if less than money laundering regs, withdrawn the cash there and then. If the bank couldn't do it, I'd close my accounts and move them elsewhere. It's a bank, not a branch PO dealing in stamps!
Secondly, the ad for that car and the "Mint Condition" means I'd be shopping elsewhere.
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>> Z - you remember seeing the pic of me then?
Therapy has helped erase the memory from my mind.
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Paying for a car at a distance. Who trusts whom? - R.P.
