Buying private car help please

marcarm

Having never bought a car privately, or indeed sold a car privately, I just wanted to check that I am doing it right.

Scenario:

We have 2 cars at the mo, we are selling the main car and buying something bigger.

The insurance will be changed from the main car to the new car, which we are picking up on Saturday.

So the way I see it is, we SORN the main car on Friday night, as it will not be used after then as we will be using our other car to pick up the new one. We also arrange for the insurance to be swapped over to the new car at midnight of Saturday, getting around the continuous insurance requirement. It will be kept on our drive so not on the road.

When the buyer of the main car arrives, they tax it using the new keeper slip as well as insure it before they drive off.

Does this sound right to you? I could not SORN it and then the new owner can tax it, but with the insurance being swapped over so we can get the new car, I didn't want to risk any form of fines, as the main car might not get picked up till the Sunday and I don't want it to be flagged up anywhere as not being insured.

Thank you

forgotmyname

Are you expecting someone to buy your car without being able to test drive it?

No tax and no insurance = it should not be on the road at all.

Even if the other drive has cover to drive other cars it may not allow driving a car thats not insured. But its not taxed so even then your at risk of getting a nice letter from the DVLA asking for some money from you, because your the registered keeper.

marcarm

Sorry didn't clarify but I already have a buyer for the car, they came yesterday and drove it etc and paid a deposit, they are contacting me this week with a definite time to collect it, so that is all sorted.

The car will not be used after Friday lunchtime until the new owner comes to collect it at the weekend.

So the SORN will come into effect after I use it for the last time, the insurance will stop at midnight of Fri/Sat and transfer to the new car, the new owner comes at the weekend, taxes it while here and would expect them to have arranged insurance beforehand, if not they are welcome to do that here but then again that is at their risk if they decide not to, as soon as they have left the car is not my responsibility anymore.

BeenThroughItAll

If you SORN it, the buyer will not be able to tax it online for 5 working days. Don't know why DVLA systems aren't able to cope with that, but it happened to a buyer of one of my cars last summer. I'd SORNed on the Friday, they arrived on the Sunday to collect it, but couldn't actually tax it until the Thursday or Friday after.

marcarm

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

If you SORN it, the buyer will not be able to tax it online for 5 working days. Don't know why DVLA systems aren't able to cope with that, but it happened to a buyer of one of my cars last summer. I'd SORNed on the Friday, they arrived on the Sunday to collect it, but couldn't actually tax it until the Thursday or Friday after.

That's a bit of a spanner in the works.

So would I be ok leaving it on the drive, changing the insurance on Friday night and then leaving it as taxed so the new owner can change it over so they can drive it home? So doing nothing with the tax but just changing the insurance?

I'm loathe to take out a new policy for the new car as that will incur admin charges etc, plus all my NCD is on the main car so wouldn't be able to use that.

BeenThroughItAll

marcarm wrote: »

That's a bit of a spanner in the works.

So would I be ok leaving it on the drive, changing the insurance on Friday night and then leaving it as taxed so the new owner can change it over so they can drive it home? So doing nothing with the tax but just changing the insurance?

I'm loathe to take out a new policy for the new car as that will incur admin charges etc, plus all my NCD is on the main car so wouldn't be able to use that.

If it were just for a couple of days, that's what I'd do, personally, but I can't advise you to do that as it's technically incorrect to do so.

You could ask your insurer if they'd keep your old car insured for a few more days - many will.

Alternatively, if you trust your purchaser, you could transfer the keeper record and get them to tax the car from the Friday night - but I'd only do that if you're certain they're going to turn up and collect the car/pay for it.

marcarm

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

If it were just for a couple of days, that's what I'd do, personally, but I can't advise you to do that as it's technically incorrect to do so.

You could ask your insurer if they'd keep your old car insured for a few more days - many will.

Alternatively, if you trust your purchaser, you could transfer the keeper record and get them to tax the car from the Friday night - but I'd only do that if you're certain they're going to turn up and collect the car/pay for it.

They have paid a deposit for it, and tbh it's not a fortune we're talking about for the car.

It should be for a day max as if they arrange to collect it the Sunday it will only be uninsured for the Saturday, and if they collect it Saturday it would only be uninsured for a few hours. It's not going to be used as we will have the new car , I was just hoping nothing would get flagged on the systems to say it was uninsured etc.

This is from the MIB website

The registered keeper of a vehicle that appears to be uninsured will be sent an Insurance Advisory Letter (IAL). This letter will advise them their vehicle appears to be uninsured and unless they take action they will receive a penalty from the DVLA.

If, after receiving an Insurance Advisory Letter (IAL), a registered keeper fails to comply with the advice set out in the letter they will face: blah blah

So it appears the worst that could happen would be a letter in the post, but by the time that has been printed and sent the new owner would have insured and taxed it and driven it away never to be seen again by me.

BeenThroughItAll

marcarm wrote: »

They have paid a deposit for it, and tbh it's not a fortune we're talking about for the car.

It should be for a day max as if they arrange to collect it the Sunday it will only be uninsured for the Saturday, and if they collect it Saturday it would only be uninsured for a few hours. It's not going to be used as we will have the new car , I was just hoping nothing would get flagged on the systems to say it was uninsured etc.

This is from the MIB website

The registered keeper of a vehicle that appears to be uninsured will be sent an Insurance Advisory Letter (IAL). This letter will advise them their vehicle appears to be uninsured and unless they take action they will receive a penalty from the DVLA.

If, after receiving an Insurance Advisory Letter (IAL), a registered keeper fails to comply with the advice set out in the letter they will face: blah blah

So it appears the worst that could happen would be a letter in the post, but by the time that has been printed and sent the new owner would have insured and taxed it and driven it away never to be seen again by me.

That's how I would look at it, but obviously you can only do what you think is appropriate.

marcarm

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

That's how I would look at it, but obviously you can only do what you think is appropriate.

Thanks, I think I'll risk it as it will be for 1 day max and that is the weekend. Any longer and I don't think it would be worth it but if I get a letter I can respond and inform them that the car has been sold etc

Also, don't insurance policies star at 00:00hours on the day of inception?

Checking my current cover note and it starts at 00:00 and expires at 23:59, so if I cancel the insurance for Sat and they collect on Sat, technically it wouldn't be uninsured for that day.

The only issue would be if they collect on Sun then Sat would be uninsured.

bertiewhite

marcarm wrote: »

Thanks, I think I'll risk it as it will be for 1 day max and that is the weekend. Any longer and I don't think it would be worth it but if I get a letter I can respond and inform them that the car has been sold etc

I'm not sure exactly what it proves but with a couple of cars I've brought, the owners have taken a photograph of me driving the car away after money has changed hands.

foxy-stoat

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

If you SORN it, the buyer will not be able to tax it online for 5 working days. Don't know why DVLA systems aren't able to cope with that, but it happened to a buyer of one of my cars last summer. I'd SORNed on the Friday, they arrived on the Sunday to collect it, but couldn't actually tax it until the Thursday or Friday after.

If that's true then don't SORN it online, fill in a SORN form and post it off when you like which will cover you. Or don't SORN it at all.