Somebody wants to buy my car without seeing it!

House_owner

I put my car up on autotrader this morning and within an hour had 2 people interested in it.


The first person wants to view it this evening - no problem.


The second person wanted to buy it without seeing it - he lives in a town about 100 miles from my town. I didn't like the sound of this at all, and insisted that I wanted people to view the car before buying it.

I wondered what people here think of this? - would you want to buy a car without seeing it? Do you think that this looks suspicious?

Lum

So long as they don't want to pay you with a stolen bankers draft and then send the change to Nigeria by Western Union then I don't see the problem.

Insist on cleared funds only. Preferably cash.

Is the car anything interesting or special? Is it underpriced?

House_owner

No nothing interesting or special. It probably is underpriced, but I need to get rid of it fairly quickly, as I have just brought another car and can't afford to run two cars.

I was just concerned that they may just drive the car away, and then 'discover' something wrong with it and I would end up with a load of hassle. Whereas if they view it, i have the comeback of saying 'well it was sold as viewed.

I know for myself that wouldn't want to buy car without seeing it and giving it a test drive.

Lum

Invite them to ask questions, answer the questions honestly, make sure it's clear there will be no refunds. It's their own fault for buying a car without looking at it. Not your problem.

What car is it and what is your asking price?

krlyr

How would the second person pick up the car? If they were to collect, just ask them to inspect the car. The AA do a simple private sales contract you could have him signed, nothing spectacular but an easy way to make sure he signs something to say sold as seen. I believe the law on private sales is that it's assumed as sold as seen anyway, but doesn't hurt to cover your back anyway.
You could always take advantage of having two potential buyers and aim for a higher price. E.g. tell this guy 100 miles away that you have a viewer tonight but if he wants to reserve it, you want an extra £x and you won't arrange any further viewings.

rdwarr

I've bought two cars recently without seeing them. I've also sold two on Ebay to buyers who didn't see them. In all cases everything went well.

Nicknack_2

I understand your skepticism on this, although i have sold a few cars on ebay, Gumtree, Autotrader etc where the buyer has committed to buying without seeing.
Seems crazy to me (unless on ebay where unless you visit first, that is the norm), but it happens!

House_owner

Thanks for your comments everyone. I have never sold a car before, so I guess I am feeling a bit nervous.

The car is a Toyota Yaris 1.0 11 years old, and it is on for £850 - I know that this is underpriced but I need to sell it quickly. The tax will run out in a couple of months and the cassette player doesn't work.

LincolnshireYokel

Make out a reciept ready for the car, that says

SOLD Vehicle XYZ123 Noddy car red

SOLD AS SEEN AND WITH ALL FAULTS

with the date, time, amount and name of the buyer.

SELLER: your name.



Make two copies, make sure he signs your and you sign his.

What you are vulnerable to without this is him buying the car, taking it away, then suing you claiming it has numerous faults you didnt point out. Then he's got your car and will soon have your money as well.

Quentin

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

.......What you are vulnerable to without this is him buying the car, taking it away, then suing you claiming it has numerous faults you didnt point out. Then he's got your car and will soon have your money as well.

Not at all. Ignore this scaremongering.

It is buyer beware. The seller does not have to point out faults when the seller is a private individual.

If the buyer pays cash, there's no way he gets his money back (unless the seller lies about something material)!

HeadAboveWater

It's a private sale. Sold as seen. You're not offering a warranty.

OH sold his jeep a few weeks ago. Buyer inspected it on 3 different occasions before handing over cash. Decided then a week later he wanted his money back. Pestering my OH something shocking on the phone, and got quite threatening. OH reported him to the police and they gave him a warning coz he was harrassing OH (2 warnings actually - he ignored the 1st one coz he thought OH had got a mate to ring him and pretend he was police! :eek:). Said he'd go to his solicitor and blah blah blah. Haven't hear tell of him since