Selling a car privately

[ATiRubyfan]

I am selling my 2007 Focus for a grand.
What are the things I should look out for when private buyers wish to come by and view the car ?

-Should I ask buyers for their driving license?
-The vehicle does not have insurance anymore. Should I buy 1 day insurance ( about £30 ) if I wish to drive the car on the road with the buyer in the passenger seat or vice versa?
-Should I ask the buyer to come to my house or meet up with him in a supermarket car park?
-Should I make an invoice and give it to him or will a text message suffice?
-What about taking payment? Cash only? or BACS?

Ta.

 

[Armageus]

Given how in demand any cars seem to be at the minute, might be worth seeing what webuyanycar and the like would offer - probably be less hassle

 

[AWPC]

Cash only is a big no no most will be forged! Either BACS, or paypal & ensure the moment its transferred & cleared you move the money to a savings or other account to stop them doing the scam whereby an accomplice around the corner will recall the money same time its sent to you!

So you watch them send the money but obviously you do not watch the accomplice recall that transfer!

WBAC will lowball their offer they offered me £1K but my car is worth £4K privately

 

[kindai]

-Should I ask buyers for their driving license?

No, not your problem

-The vehicle does not have insurance anymore. Should I buy 1 day insurance ( about £30 ) if I wish to drive the car on the road with the buyer in the passenger seat or vice versa?

Legally yes it will need insurance for any test drives. Given the number of test pilots youre likely to get day insurance could get expensive....

-Should I ask the buyer to come to my house or meet up with him in a supermarket car park?

Up to you. I usually do at my house due to time wasters and people being late.

-Should I make an invoice and give it to him or will a text message suffice?

I just do a basic hand written receipt most of the time. "1x (car make and model, reg number) sold as seen for £xxxx"

-What about taking payment? Cash only? or BACS?

BACs, cash, whatever.

 

[Malevolence]

Cash only is a big no no most will be forged!

Cash isn't a problem, especially with the new notes. And a 365nm UV light can be had for next to nothing.

 

[Haggisman]

Cash only is a big no no most will be forged! Either BACS, or paypal & ensure the moment its transferred & cleared you move the money to a savings or other account to stop them doing the scam whereby an accomplice around the corner will recall the money same time its sent to you!

So you watch them send the money but obviously you do not watch the accomplice recall that transfer!

WBAC will lowball their offer they offered me £1K but my car is worth £4K privately

Eh? You can't just "recall" a bank transfer like that...

Even if you could, moving it to another account would just result in the original account going negative by the amount

 

[Lopéz]

Cash only is a big no no most will be forged! Either BACS, or paypal & ensure the moment its transferred & cleared you move the money to a savings or other account to stop them doing the scam whereby an accomplice around the corner will recall the money same time its sent to you!

So you watch them send the money but obviously you do not watch the accomplice recall that transfer!

WBAC will lowball their offer they offered me £1K but my car is worth £4K privately

I have never bought or sold a car privately for anything other than cash.

 

[Drangueos]

-Should I ask buyers for their driving license?

No, I would not give to you if you asked me.

-The vehicle does not have insurance anymore. Should I buy 1 day insurance ( about £30 ) if I wish to drive the car on the road with the buyer in the passenger seat or vice versa?

Legally you should, but no one does and usually when the car doesn't have insurance they drive just around the block.

-Should I ask the buyer to come to my house or meet up with him in a supermarket car park?

I would not buy a car from a supermarket car park, you expect the V5 to match the sellers address, you don't have to let them in anyway.

-Should I make an invoice and give it to him or will a text message suffice?

You need to give a receipt

-What about taking payment? Cash only? or BACS?

Cash or Bank transfer, in case of cash just make sure you don't get fake notes.

 

[Gibbo]

Check what trade offers are from likes of WBAC, Cazoo, Motorway etc.
If half decent, just sell to them, save a lot of hassle potentially.

 

[Spleen Sauce]

Agree with Gibbo, last time I sold a car privately, even though the car was in just about perfect condition I had nothing but hassle with time wasters, etc. Just take the small hit in price for a stress-free life and use one of the WBAC services. Sold to Cazoo a couple of times, absolutely zero hassle.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Check what trade offers are from likes of WBAC, Cazoo, Motorway etc.
If half decent, just sell to them, save a lot of hassle potentially.

Agree with Gibbo, last time I sold a car privately, even though the car was in just about perfect condition I had nothing but hassle with time wasters, etc. Just take the small hit in price for a stress-free life and use one of the WBAC services. Sold to Cazoo a couple of times, absolutely zero hassle.

Given the cars value, I reckon this is a bad idea. It’s an old Focus, unless it’s perfect, you’re going to get knocked down in price substantially.

 

[Armageus]

Given the cars value, I reckon this is a bad idea. It’s an old Focus, unless it’s perfect, you’re going to get knocked down in price substantially.

On a £1000 car how much can you possibly be knocked down?

No harm in checking and given the state of the market offers may be better than expected.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Given the cars value, I reckon this is a bad idea. It’s an old Focus, unless it’s perfect, you’re going to get knocked down in price substantially.

Nothing lost by trying. We sold a car that barely ran that was an old fiesta and they still gave us about £1500. They can’t knock you down much more.

 

[HoneyBadger]

On a £1000 car how much can you possibly be knocked down?

No harm in checking and given the state of the market offers may be better than expected.

Nothing lost by trying. We sold a car that barely ran that was an old fiesta and they still gave us about £1500. They can’t knock you down much more.

Have either of you actually used webuyanycar? [I have]

Plus he would have to insure it to drive it there.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Have either of you actually used webuyanycar? [I have]

Many times. Last time I just traded in to save even more hassle.

Insurance for a day is pennies. I did the same when I sold my dads car for him when he could no longer drive it.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Many times. Last time I just traded in to save even more hassle.

Insurance for a day is pennies. I did the same when I sold my dads car for him when he could no longer drive it.

Okay, then you understand the process. If the car is not exactly as described, the £1k will very quickly become £700 (example)

It’s a 2007 Focus, up for a £1k, realistically how many test pilots can there be?

 

[dave28]

Meet at your house, yes you need to have insurance and road tax if driving it on UK roads.

Cash only in full.

Start your price a little high because these days everyone wants to knock you down.

Polish the hell out of it and clean inside spotless.

 

[gc123]

I have never bought or sold a car privately for anything other than cash.

this

 

[ShiWarrior]

i have a 2009 Focus with 80K on the clock, 1.8 manual, zetec

WBAC = £1,000
Motorway = £1,500

motorway seems to be the better option nowadays anyway I've read on this forum, less hassle

 

[Amos91]

Check out Cuvva for insurance by the hour.