Selling my car

I_am_mad

Hello,

I am currently selling my car. Someone came to look at it today and they asked to drive it but we said no as if something was to happen and they damaged it we wouldnt be covered, well this is my thinking am I right?

He said how do you expect to sell a car if you dont let people drive it, which fair enough is true, but we cant really afford to let people drive it and have something happen as we cant afford to pay for repairs. I know I am probably being over cautious but I am just wondering what other people have done in this situation.

He says he is coming back with his insurance documents to prove he has it and wants us to let him drive it. Please help

Thank You

danny3_2

My understanding is this--- if he is fully comp then he can drive your car with your permition,he is covered third party on his insurance,if he is NOT fully comp dont let him near it.

Rolandtheroadie

The documents he has will probably cover him for 3rd party only so if he has a bump your car wont be getting repaired through it (unless it isnt his fault obviously).
You want to sell a car, he wants to buy it. Give him his test drive but go with him.

Rolandtheroadie

danny3 wrote: »

My understanding is this--- if he is fully comp then he can drive your car with your permition,he is covered third party on his insurance,if he is NOT fully comp dont let him near it.

Check your policy document. This is no longer always the case.

KillerWatt

danny3 wrote: »

My understanding is this--- if he is fully comp then he can drive your car with your permition,he is covered third party on his insurance,if he is NOT fully comp dont let him near it.

Being fully comp or 3rd party makes no odds, the buyer is either covered to drive a motor vehilce that does not belong to them (with the owners permission) or they are not.

The only legal obligation the vehicle owner is under is to ensure that if they give someone permission to drive, then that someone is insured for the minimum 3rd party risks as laid down in law.
If the vehicle owner fails to ensure that someone else is covered to drive before handing over the keys, then that is an offence of aiding & abetting if the driver is not covered in law.

darich

I sold my car fairly recently and told the prospective buyer to bring proof of insurance or he'd be a passenger with me driving.
He did and I happily let him drive knowing he had fully comp insurance (7 days cover was provided by his employer - a car dealer).

I'd insist on proof of insurance. Ideally fully comp but as a minimum 3rd party.

I_am_mad

Well we took him out in it as a passenger and he asked about 5 times if he could drive it. My worry is if he bumps it and it is his fault, how would we get the car repaired?

danny3_2

scotsman4th wrote: »

Check your policy document. This is no longer always the case.

Checked mine i am covered,i didnt realise that things had changed,thanks for the heads up :beer:

KillerWatt

I_am_mad wrote: »

Well we took him out in it as a passenger and he asked about 5 times if he could drive it. My worry is if he bumps it and it is his fault, how would we get the car repaired?

From a legal viewpoint, the onus is on YOU to ensure that he is covered to drive. If you hand the keys over and something happens on a road or place where the public have access and it turns out he is not insured, then YOU will be getting 6 points along with him.

If you choose to let him drive it off road and something happens, make sure you took the full asking price off him as a deposit BEFORE you gave him the keys.

If he brings the car back incident free and says he doesn't like it then you give him his money back.
If he brings it back damaged, he's just bought the car.

Doesn't get much easier than that.


PS

Your prospective buyer has a valid point, I wouldn't consider parting with one penny unless I drove it for myself beforehand (along with all the other checks I would also carry out)

aqueoushumour01

KillerWatt wrote: »

If you choose to let him drive it off road and something happens, make sure you took the full asking price off him as a deposit BEFORE you gave him the keys.

If he brings the car back incident free and says he doesn't like it then you give him his money back.
If he brings it back damaged, he's just bought the car.

Doesn't get much easier than that.

it is extremely unlikely someone would be willing to hand over the full asking price as a deposit to a complete stranger in order to test drive the car.

Agreed I can't buy a car without seeing how it feels when I drive it - provided they have insurance it is a risk you just have to take if you want to sell the car.

I_am_mad

KillerWatt wrote: »

From a legal viewpoint, the onus is on YOU to ensure that he is covered to drive. If you hand the keys over and something happens on a road or place where the public have access and it turns out he is not insured, then YOU will be getting 6 points along with him.

If you choose to let him drive it off road and something happens, make sure you took the full asking price off him as a deposit BEFORE you gave him the keys.

If he brings the car back incident free and says he doesn't like it then you give him his money back.
If he brings it back damaged, he's just bought the car.

Doesn't get much easier than that.


PS

Your prospective buyer has a valid point, I wouldn't consider parting with one penny unless I drove it for myself beforehand (along with all the other checks I would also carry out)

Yes I agree with you, I dont think I would buy a car without driving it. Is just in this day and and age I dont trust anyone, which is sad really. I am just worried something will happen.

What happens if he shows me his insurance and I let him have a test drive and he does bump it, would he be expected to pay? I just dont know what to do really as if something did happen I cant afford to pay for the damage.

I know some people might moan about this, but he is polish so I dont know if he actually has an English license, what happens if he doesnt, does that mean his insurance is void. Im sorry for asking silly questions.

Thanks