Buying a car - Husband selling it

UKSBD

Looking at buying a cheap 2nd hand car, vitually agreed on everything, he is going to bring it to us for final check over.

Asked if it's his car in his name but turns out it is his wifes car.

She won't be coming over with him, so does it matter if it is him who signs the V5?

Is this a problem?

Grumpy_chap

For a private car purchase a sensible element of due diligence is to see the car and the seller at the registered keeper's address, and step into the hallway while the registered keeper signs the paperwork.

This might be the gentleman's wife's car, or it could be a car that belongs to any female.  How do you know the gentleman is the person he claims to be?

Car_54

Grumpy_chap said:

For a private car purchase a sensible element of due diligence is to see the car and the seller at the registered keeper's address, and step into the hallway while the registered keeper signs the paperwork.

This might be the gentleman's wife's car, or it could be a car that belongs to any female.  How do you know the gentleman is the person he claims to be?

Or it might belong to him, but he's a dodgy dealer who has bought the car but not notified the DVLA.

UKSBD

Grumpy_chap said:

For a private car purchase a sensible element of due diligence is to see the car and the seller at the registered keeper's address, and step into the hallway while the registered keeper signs the paperwork.

This might be the gentleman's wife's car, or it could be a car that belongs to any female.  How do you know the gentleman is the person he claims to be?

Thanks for the reply.

It was me who asked him to bring to it to me, rather than other way round, but I can see now that it may have been a bad idea.

His wife (I hope) has just phoned me, and is going to email me proof of id, photocopy of v5 with her name and address on it, and sign a letter saying he can sell it on her behalf.

She was quite understanding about me being cautious.

Should that be OK?

It's only a £2500 car, but is on Gumtreee and I don't know them at all.

UKSBD

Car_54 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

For a private car purchase a sensible element of due diligence is to see the car and the seller at the registered keeper's address, and step into the hallway while the registered keeper signs the paperwork.

This might be the gentleman's wife's car, or it could be a car that belongs to any female.  How do you know the gentleman is the person he claims to be?

Or it might belong to him, but he's a dodgy dealer who has bought the car but not notified the DVLA.

Yeah, I have a bit of a bad feeling about the whole thing now.

He phoned back after she did, saying he wasn't happy sending any proof of ID, also said he's never had this problem before when selling cars, which gave me the impression he's sold a few.

Going to pass on it, thanks both

m0bov

Sounds like a trader I'd run a mile. 

Herzlos

Yeah that does hint that he's a driveway dealer. It could be genuine but there are plenty of less suspicious cars out there.

For future though, try and collect it from the address on the V5 and ask for some ID when the names don't match. If it's a husband he's probably got the same surname and address as the V5.

jimjames

UKSBD said:

Car_54 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

For a private car purchase a sensible element of due diligence is to see the car and the seller at the registered keeper's address, and step into the hallway while the registered keeper signs the paperwork.

This might be the gentleman's wife's car, or it could be a car that belongs to any female.  How do you know the gentleman is the person he claims to be?

Or it might belong to him, but he's a dodgy dealer who has bought the car but not notified the DVLA.

He phoned back after she did, saying he wasn't happy sending any proof of ID, also said he's never had this problem before when selling cars, which gave me the impression he's sold a few.

Going to pass on it, thanks both

I wouldn't necessarily discount it on that. I wouldn't be happy sending over ID and would also say I've never had this problem either but I'm not a dealer. Although I've probably sold 10 cars in the last 10 years, all of them were my vehicles. V5 can be notified online so not an issue with signatures. If it might be suitable I'd just go and see it.

caprikid1

The other thing to do is look them up on Facebook Market place, that will show other cars for sales / history of car sales.

As I always say, buy the seller first then the car, if the seller and the story does not feel right then the car is unlikely to be either.

GrumpyDil

caprikid1 said:

The other thing to do is look them up on Facebook Market place, that will show other cars for sales / history of car sales.

As I always say, buy the seller first then the car, if the seller and the story does not feel right then the car is unlikely to be either.

This. It's amazing how many friends, partners, children one person can have asking for help in selling their car 😂. 

WellKnownSid

Yeah.  My daughter sold a car on AutoTrader recently - very honest advert, £400 spares or repairs as it wouldn't pass an MoT with the very large hole that had developed around the strut top.  She had a call from a guy 100 miles away asking if the car was still available and saying he was only 30 minutes away.  He duly turned up and eventually the deal was done at £360 ("it needs so much work, brakes, engine, oil leak, coil springs, drop links, it's going to be a project car but we're on a really tight budget").

Six hours later the car was polished up and pictured outside somewhere which looked like a stately home, put on Gumtree for £1,000 ("selling my beloved car, genuine reason for sale as got a company car, beautiful condition, no issues...") and clearly sold that day (for the second time)...