Question about insurance when privately selling a car

doubledown

Hi all. Just a quickie. I bought a new car at the weekend and my insurance poilcy switched over from my old car to the new one. However, I'm planning on selling my old car privately, but I am no longer insured to drive it. So if someone calls to look at the car and they want to take it for a quick spin, they can't, right?

I can't even take it for a spin with them in the passenger seat. My insurance company will not insure me on the two cars, even for a couple of weeks, which I understand.

So, my question is - How do I sell the car to someone if they can't try it out? Do I have to tell my insurance company to switch me over every time I want to show the car to someone? What's the norm in this situation? Ok, that's more than one question, but you get my drift.

And suggestions or help based on previous experience will be much appreciated.

natnif

in my experience you just take the chance.generally speaking, there are less check points during the day...and you may even still have the insurance disc for the car so you will pass the checkpoint anyway. In short, it's not all that legal, but just try stay in quiet areas. This is pretty much the norm and as long as your not in an accident, most gardai would be fairly understanding of this.

mik_da_man

^^^ what they said

But when I was selling my car I got any new prospective owner to transfer his/her insurance to my car for a while to let them test drive it.
It wasn't an issue once the person had insurance already

Eoin

I disagree; driving uninsured is not excusable. My gf was in the same position, but her insurance company gave here a couple of weeks cover on both cars until she could sell hers. Provided that your old car is not more powerful than your new one, then they are not really taking any more risk in covering you on both cars.

As mik_da_man said, have the prospective buyer transfer his/her insurance to your car - if nothing else, this should weed out any time wasters.

Mayshine

Can you not temp transfer your policy onto your old car for the day? Means you cannot drive your new one that day I suppose

Litcagral

As others have said, leave it up to the prospective buyers. Let them take the risk as they will be doing the test drive. If they are unfortunate enough to have an accident, the third party will be checking out the test drivers insurance - not yours.

Gurgle

Litcagral wrote:

As others have said, leave it up to the prospective buyers. Let them take the risk as they will be doing the test drive.

But make sure they know you have no policy on the car - Theirs may not cover them to drive your car in that case.
And if they're caught & prosecuted it may come back on you if you don't tell them.

Big Balls

natnif wrote:

most gardai would be fairly understanding of this.

PMSL!!!!!!

Quote of the day.

loyatemu

natnif wrote:

most gardai would be fairly understanding of this.

b0llocks!

I've seen numerous cases in my local newspaper where people have been done for no insurance and they frequently claim they were only test-driving the car. never cuts any ice with the judge.

my insurance policy gives me 3rd party cover on driving other peoples cars. I've seen it said here and elsewhere that the other car also has to have its own policy but I've never actually seen this in writing on any policy document. So if the prospective buyer has their own comp policy they may well be covered to drive your car (obviously they'd have to check this themselves and you'd have to take their word).

unkel

doubledown wrote:

My insurance company will not insure me on the two cars

If they don't, there are others that will. It's expensive though - last time I looked it was €60 / week (compared to a grand per year on my regular insurance)

As the others said, transfer over your insurance, or better, have the prospective buyer transfer over his. This can be done by phone

natnif wrote:

in my experience you just take the chance

Well you should change your experience. Plain stupid to drive without insurance. If you cause a serious accident and a claim is made against you, you'll be paying back for the rest of your life. Worth it compared to a 5 minute phone call? I think not