Selling bereaved persons car

cornwall60s

Hi - I wonder whether somebody would be able to provide a bit of helpful advice!

My Father-in-Law recently passed away and I am executor of the will, so I'm currently in the process of dealing with all the admin that goes with that. Mother-in-Law is still with us, but not capable of such things, so I'm currently drowning in a sea of paperwork. I've not long since had to do this due to my wife's untimely passing, so it's not unfamiliar to me.

One thing I'm getting very confused about however is selling his car. I've read various bits online (including here) and have even spoken to DVLA, however I'm still very confused on what I need to do...

Current situation is:

- The car is off the road and sitting on the drive

- I've cancelled his insurance, and not currently taken out any of my own insurance on the car

- I've completed the Tell Us Once form, but I can see that DVLA is still showing the car as taxed

- I have the V5C paperwork, with the car still in FIL's name

I'm now very confused on what I need to do next to sell the car. I have a neighbour who may be interested in a private sale.

- MIL doesn't drive, so presumably I need to take her out of the equation entirely

- Do I need to transfer the ownership to me before I can sell it? DVLA seemed to suggest I don't, but I got a bit confused about this

- Do I need to take out tax/short term insurance on the car in my name before I sell it?

Help! I may well be overcomplicating things, but any advice on the best way to approach this would be very gratefully appreciated!

mluton

You can sell the car on behalf of the late owner, new keeper will fill in the info on the V5C slip.

Car doesn't need to be tax, MOT'd or insured for sale, this is on the new owner once purchased.

I purchased my great uncles car, couldn't even find the V5, so we filled in a V62. In theory anyone can sell anyone's car and register anyone's car.

AP3

I did this recently. Just sell the car and give the new owner their bit of the V5. You don't need to inform the DLVA, as that'd covered by the "tell us once" service. New owner to tax and insure before driving it away.

mebu60

If the neighbour doesn't come through I sold my deceased best friend's car to Motorway and a good friend also sold his deceased brother's car to Motorway. Both vehicles were SORN'd. They collected in both instances. Other online car buying companies are available. 

p00hsticks

Yes, I've had to do this and found it the most confusing bit of handling the estate. As others have said, you don't need to transfer it into your name , you can sign as executor of. 

I ended up selling via Motorway as I don't drive and needed it to be collected (they loaded the car on a flatbed so it didn't need to be taxed or insured). One hiccup was that the when the guy tried to do the transfer online it wouldn';t let him as it seemed that the DVLA had removed the ownership of the car online (?) after me using the Tell Us once service - luckily they accepted that I did have authority to sel lthe car as I had the V5C and we ended up having to do the transfer the old fashioned way via post,. 

DavidT67

By using the Tell Us Once service, DVLA will have cancelled the road tax and will send a refund cheque to you, but note the car now has no registered keeper and thus can't be either Taxed or declared SORN, it's in limbo. 

You probably should have continued with the insurance, but informed the company of the situation, as if anything befalls the vehicle now you are solely liable.  You shouldn't let anyone test drive it on the public highway unless they have trade plates affixed, since it's not taxed or insured.

Motorway may want grant of probate if vehicle is valued over £10K.  CarWow were more relaxed on that.  Are you the sole executor? If so payment to any account in your name will be easy, if there are multiple executors, they may want to split the payment.

Ancedotally I found CarWow to have more established / reputable dealers than Motorway, which seems to attract more low end traders.  It's vital that you are 100% accurate in describing the car, it's condition, even minor scratches, stone chips, etc. and it's service history, to avoid get knocked down on price at time of collection.

The sale price won't be as high as a private sale, but is quicker and more convenient, with less risk.  If you want to pursue a private sale, I'd recommend registering the car in your name, taxing and insuring it, so it can be test driven by perspective purchasers.

cornwall60s

Thanks everyone. This is all really useful! I did wonder if I should have kept the insurance running, but nevermind, I canr change that now... 

MCT56

Before you sell it It would be sensible to get a value for the car from a website such as Parkers. Other sites are available. You can see a free valuation there or pay a small fee for a bit more accuracy. If the neighbour is a genuine buyer and can pay and remove the car without delay that would be an easy option. Any doubt and you'd probably be best getting company as mentioned by others to buy and collect it. Just ensure that you get the V5 completed before it leaves your possession and you have the money in your hand - or bank. I wouldn't bother insuring it if it's just sitting in a driveway but you need to weigh up the risks. I have a car in my driveway, it's SORNED, not taxed, not INSURED or MOT'd, but it's not worth a great deal. I believe there's a thing about having to have continuous insurance these days if a car is not SORNED.