Most effective way of selling a SORN, uninsured car

AdrianC

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

Some do. Some don't. It's definitely not "nearly always".

And I'd be glad if you would point out exactly where I suggested driving without insurance?

tron05

Thanks all for the advice. On the car, it has been flawless, past 3 years of ownership and i only spent money for generic servicing + wearables like wipers, bulbs. But did spend on replacing all 4 stock tyres and the stock battery (i couldn't believe they lasted 20 years and had the year confirmed on them) just before Covid hit. Also its a petrol.

JustAnotherSaver said:

Advertise car for sale & say in advert it is declared Sorn & theres no insurance on it & wait for those who are happy with that to contact you with their interest? 

Thanks. Teaching this as an option

tacpot12 said:

Change insurer to one that doesn't charge a costly cancellation, or use one of the short term insurance specialists . Declaring a very low annual mileage might also help.  

So far i see cheaper insurance = higher cancellation, fee costlier insurance = lower cancellation fee. Any heads-up on insurance providers with low /no cancellation fee would be appreciated. 

angrycrow said:

I suspect that you will find the valuation of £1500 to be very optomistic. It's a relatively unknown car that is 20 years old. There is one for sale in the entire country at £700 with 69k miles on it. Parkers value range is £235 to £835 max. It sounds like the cost to get it back on the road is about its value. 

Personally I would stick it on ebay and see what you get for it. 

Thanks. Point taken on higher value. I think i might get interested buyers among my friends or friends of friends. But would want to get the MOT in for the next keeper. 

AdrianC said:

An MOT is ~£50, ask the garage to collect and deliver, so their insurance covers. You don't NEED to get it serviced at the same time. This is a good investment anyway - if it fails badly, shrug and weigh it in or shove it on the 'bay for spares/repairs. 

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed - and you can cancel both once it's sold, so you won't end up paying the full annual cost.
If one insurer is expensive to cancel, don't use them - there's plenty of others out there.

Sure, you can advertise it as "needs MOT, can't offer test drive because uninsured and SORNed" - but you'll almost certainly find the hit you take on price will make getting it legal worthwhile.

TBH, I think £1500 is going to prove optimistic. It's a 20yo forgotten, unloved, short-lived small hatch. It was only sold here for a couple of years, and never sold well, so parts availability is going to be an issue. Just 35k on a 20yo car is not exactly a plus point. Anybody who is seduced by the Honda badge will be hard-pushed not to just get a newer Jazz, a far better car.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011126035398
https://www.parkers.co.uk/honda/logo/review/

That's a good suggestion. I can check with service centers that can do collection and drop.. You seem to have pulled out the car's history and have more info than i do. On the value, i just did a search on Autotrader for a similar criteria - less than 50k miles, automatic, petrol, at least 4 seat, exclude cat s/c/d/n and the lowest priced car is 900.  I am hoping new tyres and battery could up its worth to 1k? Might actually get lapped up among my friend circles, so would want to price it reasonably. 

neilmcl said:

What will WBAC offer for it?

325. 😁

Car_54 said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed -

But if it's driven untaxed, isn't the OP also committing the offence (using, or keeping)?

I would get it taxed,  at most would cost me 1 month tax, rest refunded. Insurance would be costly. Also exploring options where i may be able to sell the car within 14 days insurance cooling off period and get the premium back. Not sure on the legalities though on this process or costs. 

AdrianC

tron05 said:

On the value, i just did a search on Autotrader for a similar criteria - less than 50k miles

Don't get hung up on the mileage. 35k on a 20yo car is NOT an automatic good thing.

At 20yo, a car can be utterly knackered regardless of mileage. In fact, <2k/year is usually a pretty good sign there's going to be problems - it's either been sat around a lot unused, or it's had a constant diet of short journeys with a cold engine.

If I were in the market, I'd have that 75k mile 12yo Jazz I linked to ahead of your Logo any day of the week. OK, so that particular one's manual rather than auto... TBH, that just widens the gap in favour of the Jazz, since the box on that will be far more modern-tech. Auto Jazzes are a little pricier, but it'd be worth it.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011025707149

...or...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011015677161
...or a bit more space and refinement...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010235327042

EdGasketTheSecond

williamgriffin said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

I've never had an insurance policy with that clause for driving other vehicles.

Then you haven't read the T&C's

williamgriffin

EdGasketTheSecond said:

williamgriffin said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

I've never had an insurance policy with that clause for driving other vehicles.

Then you haven't read the T&C's

Feel free to show me then. 

Car_54

EdGasketTheSecond said:

williamgriffin said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

I've never had an insurance policy with that clause for driving other vehicles.

Then you haven't read the T&C's

My current policy doesn't have that limitation, but previous ones have. It has always been clearly spelled out on the certificate, not hidden away in the Ts and Cs.

AdrianC

Car_54 said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

williamgriffin said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

I've never had an insurance policy with that clause for driving other vehicles.

Then you haven't read the T&C's

My current policy doesn't have that limitation, but previous ones have. It has always been clearly spelled out on the certificate, not hidden away in the Ts and Cs.

I've had them before that haven't, but my current (AA) one does... and it's only when you look deep into the Ts & Cs (part of the 30-odd page PDF with the cert) that it says so...

Hey, it's almost like different insurers do different things. Who'd've guessed it?

Homer_home

williamgriffin said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed

NO. If a potential buyer has insurance for 'driving other cars' then nearly always it is a requirement that the car being driven MUST also be insured. It is bad advice to suggest taking a car out uninsured; you could injure or kill someone and be paying the bill for a lifetime.

I've never had an insurance policy with that clause for driving other vehicles.

Every policy I have ever had had since I passed 25 has had that policy , who is your insurer(s)?

Homer_home

tron05 said:

Thanks all for the advice. On the car, it has been flawless, past 3 years of ownership and i only spent money for generic servicing + wearables like wipers, bulbs. But did spend on replacing all 4 stock tyres and the stock battery (i couldn't believe they lasted 20 years and had the year confirmed on them) just before Covid hit. Also its a petrol.

JustAnotherSaver said:

Advertise car for sale & say in advert it is declared Sorn & theres no insurance on it & wait for those who are happy with that to contact you with their interest? 

Thanks. Teaching this as an option

tacpot12 said:

Change insurer to one that doesn't charge a costly cancellation, or use one of the short term insurance specialists . Declaring a very low annual mileage might also help.  

So far i see cheaper insurance = higher cancellation, fee costlier insurance = lower cancellation fee. Any heads-up on insurance providers with low /no cancellation fee would be appreciated. 

angrycrow said:

I suspect that you will find the valuation of £1500 to be very optomistic. It's a relatively unknown car that is 20 years old. There is one for sale in the entire country at £700 with 69k miles on it. Parkers value range is £235 to £835 max. It sounds like the cost to get it back on the road is about its value. 

Personally I would stick it on ebay and see what you get for it. 

Thanks. Point taken on higher value. I think i might get interested buyers among my friends or friends of friends. But would want to get the MOT in for the next keeper. 

AdrianC said:

An MOT is ~£50, ask the garage to collect and deliver, so their insurance covers. You don't NEED to get it serviced at the same time. This is a good investment anyway - if it fails badly, shrug and weigh it in or shove it on the 'bay for spares/repairs. 

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed - and you can cancel both once it's sold, so you won't end up paying the full annual cost.
If one insurer is expensive to cancel, don't use them - there's plenty of others out there.

Sure, you can advertise it as "needs MOT, can't offer test drive because uninsured and SORNed" - but you'll almost certainly find the hit you take on price will make getting it legal worthwhile.

TBH, I think £1500 is going to prove optimistic. It's a 20yo forgotten, unloved, short-lived small hatch. It was only sold here for a couple of years, and never sold well, so parts availability is going to be an issue. Just 35k on a 20yo car is not exactly a plus point. Anybody who is seduced by the Honda badge will be hard-pushed not to just get a newer Jazz, a far better car.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011126035398
https://www.parkers.co.uk/honda/logo/review/

That's a good suggestion. I can check with service centers that can do collection and drop.. You seem to have pulled out the car's history and have more info than i do. On the value, i just did a search on Autotrader for a similar criteria - less than 50k miles, automatic, petrol, at least 4 seat, exclude cat s/c/d/n and the lowest priced car is 900.  I am hoping new tyres and battery could up its worth to 1k? Might actually get lapped up among my friend circles, so would want to price it reasonably. 

neilmcl said:

What will WBAC offer for it?

325. 😁

Car_54 said:

AdrianC said:

Having it insured and taxed will make test drives a lot easier, of course - but many viewers will have their own insurance, and may be willing to take the risk of driving it untaxed -

But if it's driven untaxed, isn't the OP also committing the offence (using, or keeping)?

I would get it taxed,  at most would cost me 1 month tax, rest refunded. Insurance would be costly. Also exploring options where i may be able to sell the car within 14 days insurance cooling off period and get the premium back. Not sure on the legalities though on this process or costs. 

Auto petrols are hard to shift as the fuel economy on them is terrible (especially 20 year old ones) they are cheaper to buy then manuals for that reason 

You also have the added disadvantage of having an unpopular car which didn't sell well and 1k is still optimistic

As others have pointed out you can get a much better car for similar prices without too much searching 

Have you considered advertising it on honda forums to see if there is any interest?

born_again

Sell it for spares or repair.
Be clear that there is no MOT & SORN.
It purchaser drives it away, it's their risk.