Buying secondhand goods with finance on them

[Christian]

Random question but one I haven't seen an answer for, so thought I'd ask!

I'd say everyone is aware and pretty careful about buying secondhand cars to check there is no outstanding finance. My understanding is that if you bought a car that had outstanding finance, it never actually was fully owned by the seller and the finance company can take the car off the buyer.

The recent thread 'does your watch cost more than your car" got me thinking. With watches costing as much as some cars and with 0% interest retail finance being so common...what happens if you buy a secondhand watch that someone has just taken out on finance and is using as a quick way to raise cash, or worse took the finance and has no intention to pay back once they have sold on the watch? Is this the same situation as a car?

[Devonian]

I can't say for certain, but I'm guessing that any finance on a watch would be an unsecured personal loan, so not attached to the watch. Finance can be attached to cars and houses easily but not sure if they would do it against a watch?

[Brighty]

Finance company wouldn't have the watch's serial number, so they could never prove it was 'theirs'. As above, it must be unsecured, so they would chase the original buyer, not the watch

[Christian]

Ah, I see. One less thing to worry about when buying secondhand! Thanks.

[xellos99]

Ah, I see. One less thing to worry about when buying secondhand! Thanks.

Crooks dont need to do that these days, they just hack an account and pretend to be someone else and get away with it apparently

[draftsmann]

Are hire purchase terms still used for certain types of household goods? It’s inherent to that type of contract that title does not pass to the customer until the final payment is made.

[aa388]

It’s the individual that has the loan, the shops just have easy access to money to shift stock so o wouldn’t worry about it.


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[MartynJC (UK)]

Same as for phones. With some costing £1K+ I have an interest free loan to pay for mine. But it is a personal agreement not secured against the phone. If I sell the phone I still have to pay off the loan.