NSW What to Do When Purchasing Car from Private Seller?

[David Chang]

I'm thinking of purchasing car that is currently on sale by a private seller.

The car is in his wife's name and there's money owing.

Do I need to see drivers licence and marriage certificate? The logical thinking is to see the photo in his driver licence, get his name, see the marriage certificate, his wife's name and match it to the owner's name. My principle is better safe than sorry but do you think it's too much?

I don’t know who this guy is and how he is related to the car's owner. He can probably claim that he is husband but he can be Joe Bloke with no relation at all to the car's owner.

Then do all the other due diligence: NRMA(State Roads) PPI, do RWC. If everything's okay, then we sort out the finance:

Say money owing to 1 financial institution is $45K but we agreed on $41K. So I pay 41k to his financial institution and he pays 4K to his financial institution then I get a certificate/receipt stating there's no more money encumbered in the car?

At this stage, the car is still under his wife's name.

Do I go to RMS on the same day and do the transfer? I read from another forum that the transfer can't be done on the same day because it takes time for the record to be updated in the finance company.

If he decided to walk away, what's my right? I paid off his loan and not getting the car.

Am I thinking too much?

 

[Sophea]

The owner of the car will have to fill out and sign the transfer papers so you will have to meet the wife eventually when she does that. I would definitely be seeing her licence and her to match her photo to it.

Also with the finance, what we did recently when we purchased a vehicle for less than what was owing on the finance...the finance company said that a lump sum payment could be made into their account at an ANZ bank branch. So we drove with the seller down to the nearest ANZ branch we paid X amount into the account in cash and seller put in X amount to bring it up to the total owing. We both walked away with a receipt of the deposit.

A few days later he emailed confirmation letter from finance company stating that the loan had been paid out and their security had been removed etc. You can do transfer same day as far as I understand it. But the way it worked out for us we had to do it the next day.

I would also highly recommend doing all your PPSI checks etc as well and checking all your engine / VIN numbers etc.

 

[Tim W]

Don't buy a car with money owing on it. Ever.
And if it's in his wife's name, then it's not his to sell anyway.

 

[Tim W]

The owner of the car will have to fill out and sign the transfer papers so you will have to meet the wife eventually when she does that. I would definitely be seeing her licence and her to match her photo to it.

Also with the finance, what we did recently when we purchased a vehicle for less than what was owing on the finance...the finance company said that a lump sum payment could be made into their account at an ANZ bank branch. So we drove with the seller down to the nearest ANZ branch we paid X amount into the account in cash and seller put in X amount to bring it up to the total owing. We both walked away with a receipt of the deposit.

A few days later he emailed confirmation letter from finance company stating that the loan had been paid out and their security had been removed etc. You can do transfer same day as far as I understand it. But the way it worked out for us we had to do it the next day.

I would also highly recommend doing all your PPSI checks etc as well and checking all your engine / VIN numbers etc.

I'm glad you had a happy ending.
So many people who buy cars with money owing on them
(assuming the lender even agrees to the sale!)
end up in a world of pain.