Be Careful about Private Cash Purchases

We make no apologies for pretty consistently recommending that you should only buy used farm equipment from a quality and professional source. It’s also important to generally select good-quality equipment.

Having said that, we recognise that people will make their own decisions and it isn’t our intention to try and frighten anybody off going for a private purchase bargain if they think they’ve seen one. Even so, we do need to remind people to keep a few things in mind when paying by cash for a private purchase of farm equipment.

Remember that one of the biggest advantages of paying by cheque, bank transfer or card, is that you have an audit trail of how much you paid should you ever need to use it.

Now we’ve said before that when purchasing from a private individual, you probably don’t have too many consumer protection rights but what protection you do have may be even further watered down in situations where you can’t prove how much you paid for the item concerned or to whom you paid the money. 

Whatever all the ins and outs are of taxation and legal responsibilities, remember that if a private individual is asking for cash it might not always be in your best interests to oblige. If something subsequently goes wrong and you have to prove ownership or try to seek redress, you might struggle to do so if you can’t actually show evidence of your payment and who received it.

If, for whatever reason, you do you decide to go forward and pay cash, remember to get some sort of receipt containing the seller’s full details and their signature acknowledging your payment and what it is for. It might be sensible also to ask them to prove their identity and address as part of that same process of issuing their receipt.

If they have any hesitation about doing any of these things, it might be cause for concern.