How to sell a car privately?

Supersonos

I've never sold a car, I've always part-exchanged.  I'm planning on advertising on Auto Trader (and maybe eBay?).
But how do I then physically sell the car in the current climate?  Anyone wanting to buy it would surely want to drive it.  Social distancing means they'd have to test drive it on their own which probably means I'd not see it again.  And how does insurance work with test driving anyway?

fred246

The last time I sold a car gumtree seemed to work. That was totally free. I also did Auto Trader which was very cheap but just looking it is more if the car is over £1000. Ebay seemed expensive and I was worried about paypal. I wanted cash not paypal. So I avoided ebay. The buyer was happy with me driving him but I guess you're not supposed to do that now.

mobileron

I believe you cant purchase  a car with paypal,anyone confirm this.

fred246

I am no great ebay/paypal expert. My wife had sold some items. She asked for cash on collection but people had paid with paypal. She reckoned that ebay was so obsessed with paypal that she couldn't remove the paypal option.

shaun_from_Africa

mobileron said:

I believe you cant purchase  a car with paypal,anyone confirm this.

You can purchase a car using PayPal but a sensible seller wouldn't accept payment this way.
Although there is no PayPal seller or buyer protection for vehicles, it's still possible for a dodgy buyer to reclaim their payment by doing a credit or debit card charge back.

shaun_from_Africa

fred246 said:

I am no great ebay/paypal expert. My wife had sold some items. She asked for cash on collection but people had paid with paypal. She reckoned that ebay was so obsessed with paypal that she couldn't remove the paypal option.

Your wife is correct.
When selling most items on ebay, you must have PayPal as one of the accepted payment options and you can't remove this even for goods that are being collected.
I think it's only the listing of vehicles, property and services that allow for PayPal to be removed as a payment option.

Supersonos

Thanks for all the eBay advice.
Any advice regarding my actual question about test driving would be great.

motorguy

Supersonos said:

Thanks for all the eBay advice.
Any advice regarding my actual question about test driving would be great.

Tricky one RE: test driving.  I guess you'd have to hope they turn up in a car and with someone else and that they stay.  I guess you just have to try to gauge people.  

Facebook Marketplace is exceptionally good for selling, but you will get a load of "is this available" messages to which you will reply "Yes" and then you'll hear nothing from them.  But those that do follow through are usually fairly genuine.  

I've sold my last 3 cars on Facebook marketplace - prices of £3,000, £8,000 and £16,000 so not just cheapie stuff.  I had each car on Autotrader and gumtree at the same time and it was only really facebook that yielded any results.

shaun_from_Africa

Supersonos said:

Thanks for all the eBay advice.
Any advice regarding my actual question about test driving would be great.

I suppose that you could insist that the prospective buyer/test driver brings along their UK driving licence and passport and allows you to keep hold of them until they return with the car. I know that even this isn't foolproof but if they have nothing dodgy planned, I can't see they they would not agree to it.
You also need to make sure that you see a copy of their insurance documents to ensure that they are covered to drive your car, bearing in mind that if they are, it's probably going to be 3rd party cover only. It would be even safer to get them to phone their insurers whilst you are there and get them to confirm to you that they will be covered.

Rolandtheroadie

Sold a motorbike a few years ago, the buyer was on the ball.
 Turned up for a test ride with proof of insurance and left me what I was asking for the bike whilst he went out on it. 

Nicky_S

Take them on a test drive while you are driving, do not let strangers to drive your car! People with comprehensive insurance may have cover to drive other cars, so you could ask for a valid insurance certificate along with a valid driving license, but you cannot be certain all are legitimate and most importantly in case of an accident or motoring conviction (like speeding) they are unlikely to take responsibility or pay for the damages. Most people buying privately are fine with the owner driving. I always sold and bought cars privately by direct bank transfers as paypal payments can be fraudalent and can appear in pending state then get cancelled. First ask for a small payment (e.g. £50) sent directly to your account, confirm it's received, then ask for the remaining amount, which ensures the payer would already have your details to avoid sending thousands to the wrong account. Do not fill out the V5 ownership transfer form before the funds appear in your bank. As for advertising your best bets are the  well known sites like auto-trader, ebay, gumtree, which won't be cheap, but you can also try some free advertising sites like theCarAdvertiser.com as well.