Selling/buying car, crossover.

Oddjob

Hi, I hope someone can help me.
I am buying my friend's car, no problem with that, she will get her new car from a dealer before I will have sold mine but can park it up on her son's drive until I want it. I will not fetch it until I have sold mine so will have time to tax and insure it before I fetch it.

The problem is, I don't know what happens when you sell a car.
As I understand it, as soon as you exchange money and documents, the car is not yours any more and the tax is not in place for the new owner until they have arranged it.
If they come to your house and pay you cash and want to take it, what happens then? Do you have to refuse to let them until they have taxed it? This is what happened to a neighbour when him and his brother went to buy a car, everything was agreed but the owner would not let them take it that day and as they had travelled a fair way to look at it, they just walked away and bought from elsewhere.
What happens at the crossover? Can you say you will not declare it to DVLA as being sold until say a certain time that day so as to let them get it home? If you did that and they had an accident, would you be in trouble?

Sorry, not bought/sold a car for a long time. Last time I did, the tax lasted until the end of the month when the previous owner would have claimed any excess back.
TIA

facade

The tax isn't your problem once the car is sold.
As the Government have made it into a rip-off, by making people pay twice for the same month, most people have no problem with simply posting the completed logbook front page (keep a copy!!!!!) or doing the online change of owner an hour or so after the new owner drives away.

What is your problem is the insurance. There are a few horror stories/urban myths about people who have sold cars or motorbikes that are involved in accidents with no insurance, and the previous owners insurance has to pay out millions of pounds, and then is trying to get the money back off the previous owner.

So you need to tell your insurer as soon as you can that the car is sold.

Just produce a receipt for the new owner, and a copy for yourself and make sure that you have the new owners address, and the date & time that the sale took place.

Oddjob

Thank you, I was going to do that regarding the insurance, as soon as they leave I was going to phone my insurers, its up to them to phone their insurers before they leave as far as I am concerned. It was just the tax I was worried about.
You are right about it being a rip off. It was always the case when I have bought/sold before that you sold whatever tax was on the vehicle for at least part of the month, sometimes even selling it with the tax and not making a refund request.
I will be able to get my new one taxed and insured before I fetch it luckily.

takman

Oddjob wrote: »

This is what happened to a neighbour when him and his brother went to buy a car, everything was agreed but the owner would not let them take it that day and as they had travelled a fair way to look at it, they just walked away and bought from elsewhere.

Taxing a car after you buy it is easy i usually do it on my smartphone and it only takes a few minutes. There is also a 24 hour phoneline where to tax a car after you buy it.


So i don't understand why the owner refused to let them take the car away?

Oddjob

takman wrote: »

Taxing a car after you buy it is easy i usually do it on my smartphone and it only takes a few minutes. There is also a 24 hour phoneline where to tax a car after you buy it.


So i don't understand why the owner refused to let them take the car away?

Thanks for your reply, I'll have to find the 24 hr number in case anyone needs it.
I'm afraid I don't know why the person wouldn't let them take the car other than they were told by them that they would need to tax it before they took it. Perhaps they didn't think of doing it by phone or perhaps they hadn't got a suitable phone, I really don't know. Its just that I told them the other day that I was selling it and they said that since the law changed they weren't sure how it worked with the tax and told me about the one they got refused, even though they said they just wanted to get it home and tax it then.
I didn't want to break the law but likewise, I didn't want to risk losing a sale.

facade

You aren't breaking any laws if you inform the buyer that the tax doesn't transfer and they need to tax it (again) or SORN it from the minute they buy it off you. (And that you will be informing DVLA as soon as is practicable)

Quite often people object to paying a full months tax on Saturday the 30th when they won't be driving the car until Monday the 2nd once they have got it home. Like I said, not your problem, you paid the tax including the rest of the month anyway, so you can't be fined, and you beleived they would be taxing it online with their mobile while sitting in the car , after all, if you check the tax online it will show as taxed!

Even if they bring a trailer, they would find that you can't SORN a vehicle that you have just bought, online , you have to wait for the V5......

Oddjob

If I bought a car like that, I wouldn't be able to tax it on my phone as I dropped my smartphone and trod on it (not very smart of me lol), it died so I have had to go back to using an old phone until I get it fixed so it is good that there is a 24 hr phone line as well.

Thank you both for your replies, much appreciated.

Nodding_Donkey

facade wrote: »

You aren't breaking any laws if you inform the buyer that the tax doesn't transfer and they need to tax it (again) or SORN it from the minute they buy it off you. (And that you will be informing DVLA as soon as is practicable)

If you SORN it they can't tax it online, they have to go to a post office.

Oddjob

I won't be Sorning it, I shall be using it up until it is sold. I'm not fetching the car I have bought until mine has gone.
It is taxed and insured and used everyday.
facade meant if THEY wanted to SORN it.