Best sites for private sale/purchase

borderfox_2

I've been using the following;

autotrader
motors.co.uk
ebay
gumtree


Is there anywhere else worthwhile for tracking down cars - particularly those advertised privately?


Anyone tried any of the auctions??

EdGasketTheSecond

What you list is about it for a general car. There's also pistonheads classified plus specialist places for classic cars etc.

Auctions are a waste of time now for the private buyer; fees are horrendous; you can't test anything or even open the car door in most cases, and they are all 'sold as seen' with no rejection. Prices for a private purchase there aren't much lower than a dealer's forecourt in many cases.

I've noticed a trend of less cars being offered for sale privately. I think this is entirely due to the onerous admin that now accompanies a private transaction i.e. as a buyer having to tax and insure it before you can legally drive it home and as a seller having to keep it taxed and insured so any buyer can legally test drive it. Part exchanging your old car at a dealer is a lot less hassle and it has taken its toll on the private market.

BeenThroughItAll

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

I've noticed a trend of less cars being offered for sale privately. I think this is entirely due to the onerous admin that now accompanies a private transaction i.e. as a buyer having to tax and insure it before you can legally drive it home and as a seller having to keep it taxed and insured so any buyer can legally test drive it. Part exchanging your old car at a dealer is a lot less hassle and it has taken its toll on the private market.

The only thing that's changed is that the buyer must tax after purchase. One has always had to keep the vehicle taxed and insured so a potential purchaser can legally test drive it, and the purchaser has always had to insure it before driving it home.

The only thing that they have to differently now is make a phone call or online transaction at point of purchase. It's not exactly 'onerous'.

EdGasketTheSecond

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

The only thing that's changed is that the buyer must tax after purchase. One has always had to keep the vehicle taxed and insured so a potential purchaser can legally test drive it, and the purchaser has always had to insure it before driving it home.

The only thing that they have to differently now is make a phone call or online transaction at point of purchase. It's not exactly 'onerous'.

You obviously haven't lived very long.

Back in the day, you generally got tax with the car and if not a 'tax applied for' disc in the window would suffice.

Most insurance covered you to drive any car at least for a short period so you could breeze up, view a car and drive it home if you liked it. The insurance would cover you for 'any car' so as a seller you could buy another car and only transfer insurance once you had sold the old one; no requirement to take out two lots of insurance like there is now plus you could just sell the remaining tax to the owner or include it as part of the sale so no-one got ripped off paying tax twice in the month of sale/purchase.

it is generally extremely expensive to take out new insurance and you have to compare quotes carefully and have all the paperwork in place in case you get stopped due to the car not showing on MID; not something easily organised on some stranger's doorstep on a rainy night. Quite onerous I would say and lots of faff compared to how it used to work.

BeenThroughItAll

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You obviously haven't lived very long.

Back in the day, you generally got tax with the car and if not a 'tax applied for' disc in the window would suffice.

Yes, as I said, the only thing that's changed is you need to buy tax immediately to, in your words, 'legally drive it home'. A 'tax in post' or similar notice did not a legal vehicle make.

There has never, ever, been a 'grace period' that so many people like to claim there has. That has never been written into legislation.

Most insurance covered you to drive any car at least for a short period so you could breeze up, view a car and drive it home if you liked it. The insurance would cover you for 'any car' so as a seller you could buy another car and only transfer insurance once you had sold the old one; no requirement to take out two lots of insurance like there is now plus you could just sell the remaining tax to the owner or include it as part of the sale so no-one got ripped off paying tax twice in the month of sale/purchase.

Yes, you said that about the tax being sold. That's the thing that's changed... I think you'll probably find most insurance policies never actually allowed people to drive 'any car' at 'any time' for 'any purpose' as they would need to to make your position viable. If they did, the insurance industry would have fallen apart years ago. Unless you happen to have an old policy document or some other documentary evidence to the contrary, I'll believe the knowledge I have gained from actually working for an insurance company well over 20 years ago, and having actually worked on underwriting engines and policy management systems.

it is generally extremely expensive to take out new insurance and you have to compare quotes carefully and have all the paperwork in place in case you get stopped due to the car not showing on MID; not something easily organised on some stranger's doorstep on a rainy night. Quite onerous I would say and lots of faff compared to how it used to work.

So you do a lot of that work before you turn up at a seller's house. Or, and here's a radical idea, agree the purchase with the seller and collect the car the next day, or a few hours later. That's the way I've been doing it for the last 25 years, and it's worked for many, many purchases and sales.

Taxing a vehicle at point of sale is, as I've said, the only thing that's changed; and that's not onerous at all. I did it a couple of weeks ago on my iPad, on a seller's driveway, in about 5 minutes. A lot less 'faff' than going to a Post Office.

Warwick_Hunt

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You obviously haven't lived very long.

Back in the day, you generally got tax with the car and if not a 'tax applied for' disc in the window would suffice.

Most insurance covered you to drive any car at least for a short period so you could breeze up, view a car and drive it home if you liked it. The insurance would cover you for 'any car' so as a seller you could buy another car and only transfer insurance once you had sold the old one; no requirement to take out two lots of insurance like there is now plus you could just sell the remaining tax to the owner or include it as part of the sale so no-one got ripped off paying tax twice in the month of sale/purchase.

it is generally extremely expensive to take out new insurance and you have to compare quotes carefully and have all the paperwork in place in case you get stopped due to the car not showing on MID; not something easily organised on some stranger's doorstep on a rainy night. Quite onerous I would say and lots of faff compared to how it used to work.

Not legally you couldn't.

borderfox_2

Doesn't pistonheads harness the database of one of the sites I listed??

I have part time dealership insurance so could possibly access via or Manheim but the feedback I'm getting is that they're not what they used to be??

EdGasketTheSecond

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

Not legally you couldn't.

Yes you could. My insurance in the past gave me a certificate to drive any car I owned and in the small print it said just to tell the insurer within two weeks of a change of car. There was a grace period and these things were based on trust, not money-grabbing, technicalities, and legalities like now.

jimjames

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

You obviously haven't lived very long.

Back in the day, you generally got tax with the car and if not a 'tax applied for' disc in the window would suffice.

There is still no need to tax immediately if the previous owner is posting off the form. The car will show as taxed for a couple of days so you at least have time to drive home and sort it out that day/next day.

You still need to insure but that's been the case for at least 10 years. I've not seen anything to show a decrease in cars for sale.

Back to the OP, the other place to look is Facebook Marketplace for private cars. Just do the usual checks as many seem to be of similar quality to gumtree at a first glance - people who pay to put an advert out tend to take a bit more care.