Selling cars privately- test drives

[mitch84]

Hi all,
I have a car for sale on Autotrader and Facebook vehicles.
I’ve had my first call, and someone may want to come and see it tomorrow.
Thing is, it’s £6.5k and I’ve only ever sold older/cheaper cars privately years ago that I let them test drive if they had third party insurance.
However I’m far more nervous about this one, especially in the current situation with social distancing etc.
Any idea what best to do?

[tspill]

I have sold numerous cars and motorcycles and have never allowed a test drive. Simply not worth the risk.
I offer to take them out in the car and mow take this offer. Any potential purchaser I have dealt with has understood and I have never had a problem. If it came to it and I lost a deal because of this - than that is the way it goes.

But check out webuyanycar as their prices can often be better than you can get privately and much less hassle.

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by tspill

I have sold numerous cars and motorcycles and have never allowed a test drive. Simply not worth the risk.
I offer to take them out in the car and mow take this offer. Any potential purchaser I have dealt with has understood and I have never had a problem. If it came to it and I lost a deal because of this - than that is the way it goes.

But check out webuyanycar as their prices can often be better than you can get privately and much less hassle.

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Out of curiosity, why have you never allowed a test drive? I wouldn’t buy a car without driving it.

OP purely because of covid I’m not sure what I’d do in the situation. I wouldn’t expect someone to buy a car without driving it themselves - but then I wouldn’t get in a car with someone I don’t know at the moment because of covid.

It’s a tricky one!

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by Scaramouche

Out of curiosity, why have you never allowed a test drive? I wouldn’t buy a car without driving it.

OP purely because of covid I’m not sure what I’d do in the situation. I wouldn’t expect someone to buy a car without driving it themselves - but then I wouldn’t get in a car with someone I don’t know at the moment because of covid.

It’s a tricky one!

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I think it’s likely insurance. They may have third party insurance through their own fully comp insurance, but are incredibly unlikely to have fully comp. the issue is what happens if they crash it.
I bought a Fiat 500 second hand privately in 2016; the lady wouldn’t let me test drive it, but did drive me round town etc. It was a newish car, and I popped to a local garage to test drive the same model. It worked ok, but I didn’t even have the third party at the time so I knew I was stumped.
I best speak to them in advance maybe and check expectations

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by mitch84

I think it’s likely insurance. They may have third party insurance through their own fully comp insurance, but are incredibly unlikely to have fully comp. the issue is what happens if they crash it.
I bought a Fiat 500 second hand privately in 2016; the lady wouldn’t let me test drive it, but did drive me round town etc. It was a newish car, and I popped to a local garage to test drive the same model. It worked ok, but I didn’t even have the third party at the time so I knew I was stumped.
I best speak to them in advance maybe and check expectations

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Ah that’s fair enough - I buy a fully comp insurance for test drives and take proof haha. Like most I’ve got the 3rd party on my insurance, but I then get a fully comp temporary insurance for 24 hours.

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by tspill

I have sold numerous cars and motorcycles and have never allowed a test drive. Simply not worth the risk.
I offer to take them out in the car and mow take this offer. Any potential purchaser I have dealt with has understood and I have never had a problem. If it came to it and I lost a deal because of this - than that is the way it goes.

But check out webuyanycar as their prices can often be better than you can get privately and much less hassle.

See more...

Thanks, that’s really good advice.
I had an ok we buy any car quote, but it expired and has since dropped like a stone.
The issue I have is that the car is a particular colour that is hard to come by, but is very eye catching and popular. I know it will get snapped up, and I think I can do a bit better than WBAC.
I put the reg in Autotrader and it told me to advertise for £6496 (assuming doesn’t take into account colour). Current we buy any car is £5,250.
It’s a back up! It’s only been on 2 days and I’ve had a couple of calls, so I think I’ll give it the 3 weeks of my auto trader advert first 😀

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by Scaramouche

Ah that’s fair enough - I buy a fully comp insurance for test drives and take proof haha. Like most I’ve got the 3rd party on my insurance, but I then get a fully comp temporary insurance for 24 hours.

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Ahh right, that’s a good idea. Well if you turned up I would be more than happy for you to have a test drive

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by mitch84

Ahh right, that’s a good idea. Well if you turned up I would be more than happy for you to have a test drive

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Anxiety and working in roads policing for a while means I’m probably over insured 😂😂. Completely get the insurance thing though, I Wouldn’t let someone drive my car uninsured either. That just hadn’t crossed my mind because I get insurance as part of the process .

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by Scaramouche

Anxiety and working in roads policing for a while means I’m probably over insured 😂😂. Completely get the insurance thing though, I Wouldn’t let someone drive my car uninsured either. That just hadn’t crossed my mind because I get insurance as part of the process .

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Out of interest, did it cost you a lot? X

[Scaramouche]

Originally Posted by mitch84

Out of interest, did it cost you a lot? X

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No it didn’t, I’ve had a quick look at old emails and the last two we took out were under £30 fully comp. one was for me and one for my dad and both under £30 for 24hrs.

I took 24 hours as both times were far away/one was 8pm viewing so plenty of time to get the cars home and then deal with my normal insurance the next day.