I've just sold my van on ebay, bloke met the buy it now price, turned up, took a wee look, started it and then handed over the cash!? eh? no way would i do that. it's the 2nd car i've sold on ebay in much the same mway! hey-ho.

guess they assume once they've won they have to pay

mate of mine sold an old scrapper jetta on ebay for £150. guy paid via paypal within the hour.

he has never picked it up. this was over a year ago.

I bought a vw beetle with no engine in it. Was on a pallet next to the car.

Sold a LWB straight 6 landrover to a bloke from Belgium who complained it had cost him more in fuel to get home than he'd paid for the thing!

Maybe he's gonna pack it full of weed killer and park it outside downing st?

fake cash?

Yep, sold a car like that once. Bloke turned up, apologised for being late (10 mins), handed over cash and drove off. Just about hung around long enough to say he liked the colour, which was nice of him……

I think its a bit different on ebay, having won the auction you are (I think) kind of obliged to complete the deal unless the item has been substantially misrepresented.
I've bought a couple of cars off The Bay and I think you get a bit of nose for it, its not too difficult to work out if the seller is just a straight-up bloke and hence the car is also pretty straight-up..

Your obviously a straight-up chap!!!

thats very kind of you JB, many thanks.

A few years ago we sold a tarted up mini (old style) and we had to practically had to force the guy to drive it around the block!

sold 2 just the same, including one which was a resprayed pink mgf that i had bought 3 weeks prior, which blew up 30 miles from where i bought it, fixed it for £30 and resold it for price i paid within a couple of days of listing it, guy came started it, never drove it, said he only wanted the engine for a trike project,

You're not obliged to pay, it has to match the description – you're perfectly within your rights to have a look around and decide it's not as described.

That happened to me. A young couple turned up, looked at the car and offered me the (traditionally high Autotrader ££ono) asking price – no haggling, no test drive, didn't even want to look at the slim file of paperwork I'd cobbled together!

Every other car I've sold has been a long drawn out process filled with mutual mistrust, so unless I've developed a trustworthy persona suddenly, who knows what's going on.

Second-hand car buyers today – tsk.

Sold my old Rover like that. 175 quid from a bloke that was going to drive it home. With no clutch. In third.

Still allowed me to put a bit of cash aside for my next car.

We sold a Ford Ka via Auto Trader like that – bloke turns up with his daughter in the pitch black (around our way there is just dim light from the kitchen and no street lights), took a quick look at it and said he'd have it (something like 'it's the colour she wants and this is the first one we have found'). They drove home (30 minute drive away) and immediately transferred £3k into our bank then came back the following night to drive it away.

To be fair I was very honest with him and pointed out all the faults it had and where it had been (professionally) resprayed after a minor ding etc and I offered to take them out for a drive in it (they couldn't drive as they weren't insured) but he said he trusted us and was happy.

Mad!

Thing is I think people buying cars on ebay fall into 2 groups.
1) The experienced and well-aware, looking for a bargain knowing they can fix most stuff, or looking for just a part like the engine.
2) People not knowing the risks and going ahead anyway.

I'd never recommend buying an ebay car to anyone I didn't think capable of giving it a good once over and standing up for themselves and walking away. But it can be a helpful source of parts, even if they're attached to body shells.

i'm one of the idiots that has bought cars off ebay without more than the description.
it's madness and I'm bonkers
….but isn't everyone on here ?

on yer own on yer own….. 😀

I sent my bro to check out a car on Ebay. The idiot said it was good for the asking price as it was fully loaded, sold by a rich guy etc.
It didnt even make it teh 30 miles to his house before the bottom end rattles started.
I tried to nurse it the 150 miles home to my house. It blew a con-rod out teh block on the motorway. Small fire, put out with 2ltrs of Evian.
Never trust someone who has always had company cars to buy a car for you.

Every vehicle I've ever sold on ebay has been to someone who turns up and drives home in it, having never seen it before.

The thing is, if the sellers got good feedback and gone out of their way to show you the faults on the thing, the buyer has a fairly good idea that it's an honest sale. Thats why the stuff with bad photos and descriptions go for so much less.

Every time I've ever sold a car on ebay, I've also got more than I'd think to ask for it.

The thing is, if the sellers got good feedback and gone out of their way to show you the faults on the thing, the buyer has a fairly good idea that it's an honest sale.

Can be an honest sale but still a bag of poo unbeknownst to the seller.

I sold a car when as student I got to drive ppl around in new cars who forgot their licence for test drives.

I drove like Miss Daisy smoothing out crappy gear change and had a few ppl come back into the showroom to buy their new car and objecting to another test drive when I asked to rebook them with licence etc.

They didn't see me wheel spin off and doughtnut the car in the back…

Ebay-once you have bid that's it isn't it? -can you walk away?

What's the current position with the masses on test driving a car sold privately? Is it still the done thing to be able to drive it yourself (presumably uninsured) or have to live with getting the owner to drive whilst you sit in the passenger seat?

Back in the summer of 2001 I won an Elise on eBay for £4k under the book price of the time. I'd only seen pictures of the car and had a brief email conversation with the vendor but sorted the finance in the week, took a train to London at the weekend where I handed over a bank draught and drove it home.

Best decision I ever made.

G

What's the current position with the masses on test driving a car sold privately? Is it still the done thing to be able to drive it yourself (presumably uninsured) or have to live with getting the owner to drive whilst you sit in the passenger seat?

I've got 'Drive other cars' on my policy, most fully comp ones do have. Only give you third party cover though so if driving something expenive may be worth trying DayInsure or a similar company.

Never sold a car like that (all mine have been scrapped when dead!) but tried to buy one from ebay, Stoke, rang to arrange to go and see it and have a drive before deciding if I wanted it, but was told that someone was coming down from Aberdeen to fetch it, already paid.

I bought my latest car without seeing it. Without even seeing a picture of it. Just a text message from my brother.

I suppose it doesn't really count as he is in the trade 😉

Be very careful on the third party other vehicles cover, most fully comp insurance policies don't have it included any more so check before you assume you're covered.

Not me!

But my colleague bought a brand new BMW without a test drive.

She got rid of a perfectly good Ka because she'd be spending alot of time driving over the Snake from Warrington to Sheffield pretty much everyday and thought the Ka would be a death-trap and not up to the job. She'd had her heart set on a Golf. Spent at least 10k on something a year or 2 old that had quite a few issues. She managed to get a full refund. She then bought the BMW on pretty much an impulse – she didn't test drive it but did sit inside.

i bought a car from a dealer without driving it or looking inside it.
i think the dealer thought i was a time waster so when i asked to take it out he said no its raining. i said how much for cash,he said price is on it lad,i said here's the cash then.
car was great.
thing is i would go back to him as i could tell they all seemed nice and at the right price.

we sold a car like that…
Other half's fiesta got broken into, door bent down, and in picking it up from the shop to get a quote the exhaust failed around the mid box. Basically it went from a reasonable car into a sh1t heap in the space of about a week. Then the MOT ran out and being an old car wasn't worth it.
Anyway, some lady in London bought it, caught a bus down to us then basically took the keys, got in it and drove off (I'd bungeed the exhaust up to get it home from the garage) back to London (60 miles on the m40)
Other half was all worried, so I pointed out that she'll have it far enough away by now that she wouldn't be able to push it back!!!
— we got good feedback —
We were so expecting to sell it for parts!

I bought a motorbike before the dealer even had it in stock! They'd taken it as part exchange and were expecting it in a couple of days, the salesman gave me a description over the phone!
It wasn't quite what I was after at the time (I wanted green not blue!), but fully loaded with £1200 worth of extras. I gave the salesman £200 deposit over the phone and picked it up the next weekend, no test ride, just a quick look over
To be fair, it was a stunner and I never, ever regretted buying it.
The salesman also said I could get my deposit back if I didn't like it, and it was a large reputable dealership