We’re selling our car.
As a female I’m a bit nervous as I’ll have to let a driver (a stranger) test it with me sitting in the car.

How do people pay these days? What is the safest way to take payment?

Any tips on where to advertise and how to sell would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

It’s a crappy process, I hate it, but I’d stick to the well established paid services like Auto Trader. You will get a lot of silly offers so don’ feel panicked into accepting the first offer, it can take a couple or few weeks to raise serious interest. Also value the car sensibly and build in a bit of negotiating room. When it comes to negotiating remember about the good point of your car. They’ll be keen to pick up on every blemish to try to knock you down but it’s a used car so won’t be perfect condition. If they start raising a list of problems you were not aware of then take a time out and ask them to come back once you’ve got them checked out by a mechanic. The chance are they’re lying or trying it on. If they are they won’t want to leave empty handed and wait and will soon climb down then you’ll know they were bluffing.

As for test drives it’s a tricky one. If you’re nervous have you got a friend who can accompany you?

Good luck

What are you selling? Get in a cheeky stealth ad! If you are going to meet some wierdos, they might as well be stw wierdos 😊

’08 Volvo V50, 1.8 petrol, 81k. 🙂

Is it normal to accompany someone on a test drive? I’ve never done it. Leave your own keys or your friend or your ID or something with me and off you go.
Very rarely been accompanied when buying either, which is good, I tend to drive like an idiot on test-drives, rev really hard, emergency stop, check it brakes straight with no hands on the wheel, checking steering with some good swerving, the sort of thing which a careful owner might wince at. I drive sensibly normally but if there’s a problem I want to find it before I buy rather than after.

We sold a motor privately last year, mostly because the part-ex offer we got for it was very low.

I posted about it here (similar to your post OP) and got a bit of interest which encouraged me to advertise it here on the classifieds. The classifieds ad got zero interest 😂

Autotrader was the next step and I’d go with that again. It costs a bit more, but the tooling is good, and you do get interest. Expect some daft offers/chancers and so forth.

I built in a bit of negotiation money into the price I advertised and in the end got the full asking price (which was more than double the part ex offer).

Payment was via bank transfer: we used the same bank so I could see the buyers transfer in my account before he left. If you do cash I think the advice is to do it at a bank to avoid possible forgery scams (you deposit the cash with the buyer there in person).

Sounds a bit silly to say but don’t forget to keep the car insured while you’re selling it. My insurer did one-week temporary cover notes for the couple of weeks it took to sell.

Best of luck!

The last couple I’ve sold the buyer hasn’t asked for a test drive, and I don’t know how I’d manage insurance. My policy wouldn’t cover them and even if I saw their certificate and it covers other cars, that’s still only third party.

The other important point about insurance is to cancel your insurance immediately you sell, and make it clear in writing to the buyer that insurance is their responsibility. There’s a case where the seller was held responsible for a very large bill – buyer crashed it into a third party on the way home, had no insurance, only policy in force was sellers – so they paid the third party claim but sued the seller for the money because he (by default) allowed the buyer to drive. I wrote a ‘record of sale’ that included that, plus other things like ‘sold as seen’, what was included in the sale, responsibility for notifying DVLA, etc.

I think bank transfer is the safest.

Oh yes, that reminds me: we also used this from the AA:

https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/buyers-sellers-contracts

Not sure how much weight it’d actually hold if you had problems later, but it does at least set out in writing the terms of the sale.

#volvoforsale

Bank transfer on mobiles seems to be the way now. They transfer £1 first to make sure they’ve got the details correct and then once you’ve confirmed they transfer the rest and once it’s in your account away they go.
I’ve never asked for insurance details when people have test driven – maybe naive on my part but I assume if they’ve driven to my house then they most likely have a policy that covers driving other vehicles.

Remind them to bring their card reader if doing a bank transfer.

I assume if they’ve driven to my house then they most likely have a policy that covers driving other vehicles

Not always a safe assumption, not all policies include it. If they do have it, it will probably only be third party, so I’d want some kind of assurance along the lines of ‘if you break it you buy it’. If they don’t have it, and hit a third party, your insurance may fork out and claim back from you (see my post above).

Test drive full deposit….

But then I only buy n sell shite

maybe naive on my part but I assume if they’ve driven to my house then they most likely have a policy that covers driving other vehicles.

These days driving other cars on fully comp insurance is increasingly rare, and it would be 3rd party only, i.e. your car wouldn’t be covered if you crashed it. edit – beaten to it while typing!

Bunnyhop, why not try webuyanycar or similar? Expect to get a decent percentage less than they quote, but it costs nothing to get a value on the website and low risk.

Thanks everyone. These are some really good points to consider.

Always see their insurance if you allow them to test drive. Allowing someone else to drive without insurance is an offence.

Also take a photo on your phone of the completed documentation when you sell – the timestamp came in handy when my buyer racked up 2 speeding tickets on the way home after I sold it to him…

also bookmarking as ill be selling my octavia next week. some good tips here, thanks.

I’ve got my Golf R estate on auto trader currently. Be prepared for some people offering you repaired write offs in part exchange! I’ve sold on auto trader a few times and it’s been very good. Bank transfer or cash paid in to the bank with the person is the way to go.

Bunnyhop, why not try webuyanycar or similar? Expect to get a decent percentage less than they quote, but it costs nothing to get a value on the website and low risk.

Saw this on an advert, its like confused.com but for selling car

https://motorway.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5qqdvpDH5AIVjbHtCh2msA12EAAYASAAEgKACPD_BwE

Trade.
It.
In.

The last couple of cars I have sold privately I have sold via eBay. A good description including as much detail as you can, lots of photos of the car (after it has been cleaned). I have always used a slightly inflated buy it now price, but allow offers. I normally get a couple of low offers, but then a few sensible offers. Never had anyone request a test drive – but have offered it subject to them having suitable comprehensive insurance.

ebay classified advert is the best way to sell. £20 for 4 weeks and no other fees to pay. Autotrader is a lot more expensive and has less traffic.
Payment by bank transfer is best, make sure you see them do it or be sure it is a transfer as there is a scam around where someone pays an automated cheque in through a machine of the supposed right value which shows up but then bounces. A rare thing but easy to check.

I just sold a car privately for the first time in 20 years of motoring.

It was a 14 reg Ford Kuga and I did my market research and posted it on ebay as a classified ad at a competitive price. Absolutely no interest…
Dropped the price by £300, picked up a couple of watchers but still no calls…..
Dropped it another £200 which made it just about the cheapest comparable one on all the usual places inc Autotrader. Few more watchers but no calls until a trader rang and asked what my best price was. He came for a look and I ended up selling to him for basically px price. Seems the trade has won and the market for private sales other than classics or bangers is dead.

As for payment (over £8k) he gave me cash so I made him wait until I put it in the bank before I handed over the logbook.

Just about to buy a can for sub 2k and the chap is happy with cash or bank transfer.

If you’re replacing the car with something nearly new, consider Motorpoint.

Very decent and honest to buy from and the cheapest around. They do trade ins.
Very pleasant and stress free to deal with.

mines being MOT’d today ready for selling from tomorrow i hope. ive taken a few pics, but just wondering if theres any benefit to doing what i see a fair bit of, and thats ‘splodging’ out the number plate so its not available for public viewing.

ive always thought its just being a bit paranoid, as lets face it, its available for the public to see on the roads. am i right in thinking that keeping the photo intact can only be ‘a good thing’ as it can be looked up online to check MOT history etc, and theres no way any baddies can rob my house/beat up my mum/kill my dog from it?

thanks

am i right in thinking that keeping the photo intact can only be ‘a good thing’ as it can be looked up online to check MOT history etc

That’s my take on it, but I guess someone could use the info to clone your car. If it’s a common model, I don’t see a reason to hide it. More exotic models are less visible on the road and so potentially more valuable for cloning online.

I always think there’s something g to hide if people hide the number plate, I want to do an MOT history check before I ring up if I’m interested, hiding the number plate puts me right off.
Fine in any other situation, picks on here for example, but not when you want someone to buy it, they have to know what it is and be able to check it.

I’ve sold a few cars on ebay in the last 2 or 3 years. Take really good pictures, include both the good and bad parts and give a good description including the last service, when the next one is due etc.

Price the car competitively, you are not a dealer so cant expect to get retail prices. You wont be able to offer part-x, finance or a warranty.

Then, be prepared to deal with a few idiots, stupid questions and time wasters. It is normally pretty clear who these are from the first sentence of their message.

I’d also advise finding out how much we buy any car or similar would give you so you have a fallback option and know how low you can go before its not worth the effort and risk of selling privately.

Timestamped photos via https://originstamp.org/home

It’s free and cannot be tampered with. Blockchain, innit. As useful in that speeding ticket malarky up there ^^^^

sorry, where does that time-stamping come in useful? pic of a receipt when you sell it or something?

not sure what the angle is there, apologies.

I think selling privately is not as scary as I first thought.

Price it up on wbac and https://www.evanshalshaw.com/sell-your-car/
Describe it accurately and get the prices
Then compare to completed private sales on eBay
Decide if the difference in price is worth taking the private route…

ok, just back from holiday and ready to sell my 57 octavia Lauren and klement #stealthad etc etc…..

i got a years MOT on it just before the hols, it has no insurance to cancel as its been SORNed for 9 months, and tax is obviously the new buyers responsibility.

im just going over all the above and want to check im going down the best route with least potential hassle for me.

firstly, the valuation. ive put my details into the evans halshaw link above and will wait for them to reply by email with a rough valuation, but they state that they need to see condition to be more accurate etc, and id also guess ill be bombarded with emails for ever, much the same as WBAC (which i shall also visit shortly for their valuation)
are there any trusted/accurate valuations that dont cost money?

i like that AA link above for the buyers/sellers contract, ill download that. altho not legally binding, i think it would still show a buyer that youre trying to do things properly.

i mentioned insurance, i dont have any. i assume that any test drive will be illegal? not only because of that, but no tax either. i could maybe get away with a short drive up the road, but i wouldnt be happy letting someone shoot off on a test drive on their own, leaving security etc, id always want to be in the car at the same time.

if they decide to buy, and obviously drive off, there is no way i can be sure theyve sorted out tax/insurance for themselves. i assume id need to time stamp the AA document with the exact time the keys were handed over, then its all their responsibility in case of an accident? is that right? they could maybe also sign to say that before they drive away they have made the car legal? would that cover me against the case above where the seller was sued for letting them drive off?

the transfer of money advice above, about bank transfer or cash at a bank so it can be checked for forgery, im some way from a bank so that would be difficult, so best for a bank transfer? and even if theyre different banks, wait for the money to show? am i 100% safe then from any reclaims/scams/”you didnt tell me about this scratch at the back i want my money back”?

thanks

Remind them to bring their card reader if doing a bank transfer.

I forgot to take my card reader when buying my last car. I used the sellers and it worked fine. Had the same thing when I sold my car, buyer didn’t have a card reader, used mine, all fine.

TLDR

You can use any card reader, doesn’t have to be yours.

EDIT:

A “sold as seen” receipt has always been OK in my experience. There’s no come back on a private sale, it’s sold as seen, just state facts as far as you know them.

Also transfer the V5 online with you and the buyer filling in the details. It’s instant ownership. The buyer will be responsible from then. It also directs them to pay the “tax” there and then, and also cancels your “tax”.

Their insurance is then their responsibility, just cancel yours immediately just to be safe.