Selling privately

PauloMN

Will be selling my car privately in the next month or so. Just wondering what the story is with the test drive - do people normally let people test drive the car (I'd want to test drive any car I was buying)? Is it possible for people to get temporary insurance cover easily, or does one just take the risk? Any horror stories, or better, advice?

Also I assume personal cheques should not be touched with a barge pole. Are bank drafts the only option aside from cash?

ambro25

Test drive:
1/ never without you in the car
2/ check your insurance cover - you should be 3rd party for any driver driving your car if you're present in the car, provided you're fully comp' yourself
3/ IMPORTANT: always get the guy to hand you the keys when you switch places
4/ check that they're 'kicking the tyres' thoroughly before asking to test drive, as this will help you gauge their interest (i.e. whether it's worth letting them drive your car or just tell them to naff off), since the test drive is usually the last thing on the list for the buyer...
5/ don't explain how any security feature works until after the test drive, once you've got the keys back
6/ don't leave the car paperwork (logbook, history, etc.) in the car (glove box, boot, etc.), keep them on you at all times

Money for the car:
1/Cash
2/Cash
and, err...
3/Cash

Bank drafts used to be so reliable you could 'take them to the bank' ( ) but there's an increasing amount of fakes circulating - so my banker (BOI) told me 'on the side' last week, when I got one myself...

PauloMN

Thanks Ambro, some good tips there. I have fully comp., so others are covered third party on my car - I'm just worried about some b4stard stuffing it and legging it!!

Cash - I'll be dealing with more than a few thousand so I don't want that sort of cash in the house to be honest, hence I was wondering about the bank draft. Otherwise I'll just have to dust off the baseball bat....

Seth Brundle

Nobody would ever drive my car on my policy - Im not going to lose my car or my NCB to some idiot who wasn't fully interested anyway!
If they don't have proof of full cover to drive my car then they don't drive it!

bazz26

Also have someone with you when they show up, just incase they would try to distract you.

Might be best for you to take it for a drive first with them in the passenger seat, pull over and let them get out and go round to the drivers side. You should then move over to the passenger seat on the inside.

okidoki987

What I used to do was:
(a) you open the car and sit in the passenger seat, then hand over the keys to the driver.
(b) When the test drive is finished, tell him to turn the engine off and take the keys BEFORE you get out of the car especially if there is somebody in the back.
(c) Never allow someone start the engine without you in the car.

Some ideas to decide what type of person they are
What car did they come in, new, old etc?
Did they come on their own or with wife, girlfirend, father, brother etc?
Knowledge of the car they are are looking at i.e. do they know the car or are they just on the prowl?

When I sold a car for CASH, I used to say "I'm going to lodge the cash"
(a) with my mate who owns a shop
(b) in the night safe of my bank
(c) In the brothers house as there's 5 of them and 2 dogs.
etc

Good points from ambro especially the draft one.
Do not fall for the scam
"I got a draft for 5,500 and you want 5,000.
I'll buy the car but you have to give me CASH back for the 500 over".
The draft is dodgy as **** and you'll be out of pocket.

What type of car are you selling?

PauloMN

Selling an Astra Coupe, suppose whoever comes to look at it will be specifically interested in that sort of car as opposed to if I was selling a 1.4 hatchback or something, however I'm sure it'd raise some level of interest in the "storeee bud" community - they're the ones I want to avoid....

Agreed on the bank draft thing and change - no way. If there's cash to change hands, it'll be the buyer making up a lower amount on a bank draft with cash.

Seth Brundle

Also, you send off the changed ownership docs - not the buyer! sThe last thing you want is to deal with speeding tickets you didn't do.

James_M

If you are both with the same bank you can both go there and let him transfer the money directly to your account. The teller can take his/her card and then tyour card and can then confirm the transfer.

Its a bit dodgy if its not the same (AIB to BOI) as the transfer takes a couple of days.

okidoki987

Reason I asked about the type of car was it might determine the type of punter you get.
i.e. 2003 Merc wouldn't see a young guy with 500 squids in his hand
so therefore it would be the older person who would be unlikely to leg it with the keys but an Audi Quatro or MGZ is a totally different type of punter.

Eoin

2/ check your insurance cover - you should be 3rd party for any driver driving your car if you're present in the car, provided you're fully comp' yourself

I am not too sure about this, but I think that if you have fully comp, that gives you third party cover on another car, once that car is insured and not a motor industry car (e.g. a rental car). Therefore if someone is test driving your car, they should be insured under their policy but only 3rd party.

For another driver to be insured in your car, you must have an open policy which normally means that any fully licensed driver (normally over 25) can drive the car under your policy. This is usually how company cars work.

ando

it might be a good idea to get a form printed out before hand with blanks that you fill in the time with. For instance, Test drive of 00D32323 by Name from 12:20 to 12:40. Signed _____

You dont want to get points on your license if he was speeding during the test drive

the evil belly

if you do that make sure to get the driver number off their licence too

Mutz

Just take all their wordly possesions off them and meet them at their house.

unkel

ambro25 wrote:

check your insurance cover - you should be 3rd party for any driver driving your car if you're present in the car, provided you're fully comp' yourself

I don't think that's correct, but I might be wrong. If you're fully comp on the continent, typically anybody can drive your car with your consent and you are still covered fully comp. If you are third party, they'd still be covered third party on your policy

Not here

Some people here have insurance (mostly fully comp) on their own car which let's them drive other people's cars (with the owners consent) and they would be third party insured

Conclusion: if they have this insurance, then you would not be liable for third party damages. You would be liable to any damage to your car! Claiming that back from them would be most tricky

Silvera

eoin_s wrote:

I am not too sure about this, but I think that if you have fully comp, that gives you third party cover on another car, once that car is insured and not a motor industry car (e.g. a rental car). Therefore if someone is test driving your car, they should be insured under their policy but only 3rd party.

Most insurance policies allow you to drive another car, provided you don't own it and it is not hired under a hire agreement. (N.B.- the 'other' car must be insured also, for this to be legal).

i.e. if a person is going to test drive your car - and they currently have their own policy - their insurance will cover them to drive your car.
However, beware, it will be third party cover only!

I too would agree with the 'cash only' statements by previous posters.

Silvera.

Eoin

um, have the three of us not just said the exact same thing about the insurance?!

Silvera

'to be sure to be sure', eh

seriously though, comprehensive insurance is not required for 'other cars' cover - I had this when I only had third party cover on my car.

PauloMN

Must check my policy, you can get open drive policies here I'm pretty certain. I'm almost certain anyone over 25 with a full license can drive my car under my policy with third party cover. I'll obviously check though....

Anyone recommend a good medium for advertising it? I'll chuck it in Buy & Sell anyway given the fact it's free.

parsi

If they pay you by cheque you can cash it no problems at the branch it was drawn on - I sold a car recently and got the cheque in advance for it, headed to their branch and walked away with cash.

ambro25

Well... excuse me for stating the obvious, but there's a nice, brand new section of the 'For Sale' Forum herein waiting for you, where you can advertise for nought

PauloMN

...and get the "I'll give you 3 packets of Tayto and a bent paper clip for it" replies? Oh wait..... that's octane.ie isn't it!

Might give it a whirl here as well. Anywhere else?

Eoin

I have found CBG quite good - it is worth it to go for the colour advert though, as people tend to pay less attention to the text only adverts. Excuse the shameless plug, but here is a "sample" advert. ahem.

lomb

best bet is mayb to get a draft but have them fax u a fotocopy of it b4 they bring it. then ring up the bank or go in to verify it. also get them to fax a fotocopy of their driving license and bring the original to confirm they are one and the same. this will throw any dogs off the trail.

Seth Brundle

If you advertise in the buy and sell expect the majority of your callers to be from the likes of CBG etc.

Eoin

kbannon wrote:

If you advertise in the buy and sell expect the majority of your callers to be from the likes of CBG etc.

Oh yeah, forgot about that - even worse if you advertise in the herald and the indo.

Dades

Last month I put an ad for a car in buy & sell using their website, and I had loads of callers. Easy and free.

Specify cash/bank draft in the ad though - or you will get dodgy punters calling you.

ando

eoin_s wrote:

Excuse the shameless plug, but here is a "sample" advert. ahem.

excuse mine too

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_detail.asp?CBGID=263950&ID=16167683&frmFilter=

I got my first phone call today about the car, it was some auction company asking me to put my car into auction.... I dunno, I heard of someone having a bad experiance with these a few weeks ago on these boards so i think I'll stay clear

masto1983

ando wrote:

excuse mine too

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_detail.asp?CBGID=263950&ID=16167683&frmFilter=

I got my first phone call today about the car, it was some auction company asking me to put my car into auction.... I dunno, I heard of someone having a bad experiance with these a few weeks ago on these boards so i think I'll stay clear

Not many notes is there!!? I know 3dr and alloys is stating the obvious but you should throw in a list of extras that cant be seen. i.e. e/w, cd, etc.

Nice machine tho!

ando

dunno how I missed that, n1 bud

stratos

Found this thread very imformative (the first page mainly), some stuff I never would have thought of here.

James_M

ando wrote:

excuse mine too

http://www.cbg.ie/Car_detail.asp?CBGID=263950&ID=16167683&frmFilter=

I got my first phone call today about the car, it was some auction company asking me to put my car into auction.... I dunno, I heard of someone having a bad experiance with these a few weeks ago on these boards so i think I'll stay clear

Was it this crowd? www.motorauctions.com

I got a call too but I couldn't find any bidders on any cars. In fact it doesn't appear to have much action at all. Would rather spend €50 elsewhere thanks

Eoin

James_M wrote:

Was it this crowd? www.motorauctions.com

I got a call too but I couldn't find any bidders on any cars. In fact it doesn't appear to have much action at all. Would rather spend €50 elsewhere thanks

Yeah, I got a call from them as well, and checked out the site and there seemed to be no activity at all.

I didn't get the point at all - you are not going to bid on a car unless you go out and see it, and if you like it when you see it you are hardly going to go back to your PC and put in a bid.

James_M

Apparently its a spin off to their other site www.exsellauctions.com

Maybe they should try and make a success of the first

*tumbleweed*

Scruff

Out of a matter of interest, what are the specs and price of the Astra you're selling? any pics?

test999

You cannot rely upon bank drafts 100%

Do not accept a bank draft unless
1/You know the difference between the real thing and a really really good fake
2/You've called the bank to verify it's a legit draft (which means the car must be sold during banking hours)

There are currently a huge number of fake drafts of exceptional quality

ando

has anyone given up on selling privately and gone to the auctioners to sell their car? Is it worth it? I think there's a big one in Ashbourne

PauloMN

Ok, so if someone buys the car and gets a bank draft for me, can they ring me when they get the bank draft and quote me a number or reference which I can use to verify the draft over the phone? That's probably the best option if it's possible.

@ Scruff - the car is an '01 Astra Coupé 1.8, 40k miles, gold, ABS, alloys, air con, 4 airbags, e/w, immob. + deadlocks, electric heated mirrors, CD, p/s etc.. I have a fsh for it, I'm the owner from new. It's original, no boy racer stuff added. Going on what I've seen them priced at on the net and in garages - €13-14k, I'll be asking for €12,900 for it. Quite sad to see it go, but I need 4 doors....

stratos

Re auctioning your car. Forget it, I did it once, just out of convenience. You will get nothing for your car and the charges will do away with the rest. I think only for the desperate.

lomb

stratos wrote:

Re auctioning your car. Forget it, I did it once, just out of convenience. You will get nothing for your car and the charges will do away with the rest. I think only for the desperate.

how much did u get and what was it?

Dilbert75

Sold my car privately a few weeks ago, first time trying it. Put a free ad in CBG and sold it to the first guy who called. Have had a few guys calling since, as the ad is still running (3 weeks later!).

Told him I'd only accept cash or a draft - the advantage of a (genuine) draft is that it doesn't bounce - the person has to have the money in order to buy the draft. However, like a cheque, it can be stopped after its issued so unless you lodge it to a branch of the issuing bank, it'll take 5 days to clear.

Had that auctions crowd ringing me too - told them to sod off. Would have put a picture ad in CBG before going to anyone else.