Selling a car privately - what to watch out for?

fred990

Used Carwow a few months ago. The dealer paid almost what I would have listed for privately. All done in a few days. 
They collected the car on a transporter, barely looked at it, started the engine as an afterthought. The most interest on the day was the wheels (potholes I guess).
Money transfer was instant. 

Wouldn't hesitate to use them again. WBAC/Motorway were quite pushy by comparison. 

sheslookinhot

Watch out if two or three people turn up. I’ve heard when you show under the bonnet, other are squirting oil up the exhaust pipe. Giving the appearance of car burning oil.

Alanp

I think there’s been a few posts on here about after the car has been sold, the seller then contacts you to say their is a major defect and they would like their money back or money off, of course there’s nothing wrong with the car ( providing you have advertised it correctly) so be careful of that, I’m not sure if you can get them to sign a note saying  “ sold as seen” anymore..

chrisw

I agree with others on here to get a few quotes from the car buying sites. You can get a good idea of what they will offer from the online quotes and maybe allow for a couple of hundred knockdown. There are often local buying sites as well.  I ended up selling mine through Autotrader instant sell and I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have got a better price privately.

Mutton_Geoff

Alanp said:

not sure if you can get them to sign a note saying  “ sold as seen” anymore..

I absolutely do this, even if the buyer is a dealer.

This is the text I use:

"The purchaser acknowledges receipt of the above vehicle in exchange for the sum of £xxx being the price agreed by the purchaser with the vendor for this vehicle.

The vendor confirms, to their knowledge, there is no outstanding debt, loan or other security against this vehicle.

It is understood the vehicle is sold as seen and approved by the purchaser without any representations, warranties or conditions express or implied by the vendor whatsoever."

I date and time the signatures and give the buyer a copy.

Payment always by bank transfer. When one buyer had their payment held up for a security check by his bank, his phone showed the money gone but not yet in my account. I didn't let him take the car until two days later when the money showed up in my account.

motorguy

bluelad1927 said:

Have you looked at selling on WBAC or the like. Appreciate that they pay less but I personally wouldn't be keen on selling a 7k car privately.

Personally, i wouldnt be keen on losing £2,000+ to hand it to WBAC.  Oh and then when you do turn up have them go over it with forensic precision whilst sucking their teeth and knocking £££s off their quote.

Sod that.