How is the second had car sale market now?

am.jovial

Dear forum members,
I have a used car of 2011 - Hatchback - Petrol - Manual - 42,000 Miles.
I am out of UK and stuck in another country. I have vacated my flat with the help of a friend (and prevented going broke with rent and bills). Car also is moved to friend's place.
I am not sure if and when I will be returning to UK.  Considering this scenario, please could the experts here advise me.
1. My breakdown cover is still on. Do I continue it. Costs about 15£/month
2. I will be informing the car insurer about the situation (car is at different address, someone else's place etc)
3. I am also trying to sell the car so have placed ads on FB Market place, Shpock etc. But, I have not got much response. I guess the situation is due to covid-19 lockdown. Yet to place ads in other places. I want to sell but at reasonable fair price (it is not a panic sale !). Any idea if the second had car market 
Thanks for your time and any suggestions.

 

Herzlos

People aren't driving much so demand is right down. Coupled with the "selling on behalf a friend outside the UK" thing you'll really struggle, since that's a common scam and people won't touch it with a bargepole.

That said, a 9 year old hatchback isn't going to be worth much anyway.

How long are you stuck out of the UK?

RichardD1970

TBH you hear of so many scams about buying cars with "owner abroad" or "selling for a friend" I'm not surprised you're not getting much of a response.

[Deleted User]

£180 a year on breakdown cover is absurd so you should cancel that for a start. 

kmb500

If you aren't getting any response it's because your list price is too high. What you think is a "fair price" is irrelevant if no one wants to pay it.

In my opinion, used car values have not really decreased, not as much as I expected them to during this pandemic. At least not on the cars I have been keeping my eye on over the last few months.

Car_54

Deleted_User said:

£180 a year on breakdown cover is absurd so you should cancel that for a start. 

Agreed. But if it's an annual policy paid by instalments it may not be possible to cancel mid-year.

strawb_shortcake

Used car prices near me remain ridiculously high in my opinion, £4-5k will get you a 10 year old car often with high mileage. These are advertised prices so not sure how much wiggle room there is for negotiating

am.jovial

Herzlos said:

People aren't driving much so demand is right down. Coupled with the "selling on behalf a friend outside the UK" thing you'll really struggle, since that's a common scam and people won't touch it with a bargepole.

That said, a 9 year old hatchback isn't going to be worth much anyway.

How long are you stuck out of the UK?

May be till corona is over and that may be an year or two. And, by then any remaining reasons to visit UK may be gone too !
I am not aware of this scam. But, we can do anything required to prove that this is a genuine sale (video call with owner - who was a respected employee of a UK public sector etc) ?
It should fetch about 4000£ if online quotes are right. 

Herzlos

The scam usually involves an owner who has had to go overseas in a hurry and needs to sell their car. The seller obviously isn't at the address of the owner, and there's usually something about delivery after payment and it turns out the car doesn't exist.

The obvious way round it is to fill out the paperwork to make your friend the legal keeper, and have them sell it themselves. Currently all the car buying places are shut so they'd be relying on a private sale and that may be slow at the moment. You should be able to sell it in any market if the price is right.

What's the car? What are similar ones asking for?

am.jovial

I am able to sell the car to a motor trader.
So,
- They checked the car,
- made payment,
- transferred the ownership online,
- we got the email from DVLA,
- gave the keys 
- they took the car. 
Also, we are trying to "Tell DVLA that we have sold the car" but the website is failing after few steps. Also, it works only between 7 am to 7 pm (Wonder why. crazy !!)

Now, I think I need to :
1. cancel the car insurance and ask for refund. I am not planning to buy my next car soon.
2. cancel the breakdown cover and ask for refund. 
3. Cancel the car tax ( and cancel direct debit ) 
4. Retry to inform DVLA that car is sold.

Anything else I need to do please? 
Will I get the remaining car tax ?
How can I check online and confirm that car is not in my name?
Anything else I need to do ? 
Thanks for your time and help.

AdrianC

am.jovial said:

Also, we are trying to "Tell DVLA that we have sold the car" but the website is failing after few steps. Also, it works only between 7 am to 7 pm (Wonder why. crazy !!)

Worked fine for me at about 6pm yesterday. Once the keeper change is done, you get an email through almost instantly. A cheque for the remaining VED (complete months) will follow within a week or so.

As far as the timings go, it's entirely likely that DVLA's systems do a lot of overnight batch processing.