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Selling a car... Test drives?


Spaff

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I've just put my Celica up for sale, and once the car is MOT'd etc will start to allow viewings 

 

Is it wrong in this day and age to only allow test drives driven by myself, unless proof of fully comp insurance is shown? 

 

Very skeptical about allowing a potential nutter to get behind the wheel, but at the same time don't want to put people off. What do you guys think, reasonable or not? 

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What i've done in the past is take them for a test drive with me driving to show them what it can do, then once back and peel their fingers off the dash let them have a little sedate drive round the block with me in the passenger side so long as their insurance covers them to drive another car not owned by them, and i ask them to bring proof. Usually they are covered on someone elses car but only third party so it is a risk you take or get them to sign something saying they'll buy it if they break it . If someone has fully comp ins it still only covers third party on a vehicle not owned by them 

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2 hours ago, arizona said:

What i've done in the past is take them for a test drive with me driving to show them what it can do, then once back and peel their fingers off the dash let them have a little sedate drive round the block with me in the passenger side so long as their insurance covers them to drive another car not owned by them, and i ask them to bring proof. Usually they are covered on someone elses car but only third party so it is a risk you take or get them to sign something saying they'll buy it if they break it . If someone has fully comp ins it still only covers third party on a vehicle not owned by them 

And that will be 3rd Party- Act cover only.  No cover for damage to 3rd party property (including vehicles)

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Even fully comp doesn't necessarily mean they can drive another car they don't own. A couple fully comp policies I had didn't state that. Others do.   And the car has to have its own policy.  As others said, I'd drive the car first. Descent duration. The get a quiet bit of road and let them try it.  

 

And the boy racer Wannabees have to show money first. 

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As said above sadly a lot of insurance companies no longer give fully comp drivers third party on other vehicles, just something else to catch people out on now a days. Take them out first let them go out if you are happy with you in the passenger seat, but make sure you are in the seat before they are behind the wheel.

 

And your neurology lesson for the day:

Always use your instincts if you don't trust them don't let them drive it, that sixth sense we have from time to time is actually your subconscious telling you something is wrong as it takes everything in unlike our conscious brain.

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i hate selling cars - used to sell a lot years ago - lots of day dreamers and time wasters who will spend half an hour going over the car and test driving it before offering you half the money. last car I sold i was a lot more resistant to test drives and would point out all the faults and be clear that the price was firm - this flushed out a lot of people from turning up and a  fair few on test drives - did end up practically giving the car away in the end because my attitude put off a lot of people. Any one who wanted a test drive I took there driving licence from them first - probably wouldn't do much but at least stops them doing a runner if something bad does happen.

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I've never sold a car before to a punter. They always ended up being scrapped for one reason or another. I sold a motorbike on eBay though and that ended up being to a trader. He came with a trailer and I just let him jump on the bike as he didn't look like he'd run off in a hurry with a YBR125.

Edited by dublet
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On ‎30‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 23:28, Tomb said:

As said above sadly a lot of insurance companies no longer give fully comp drivers third party on other vehicles, just something else to catch people out on now a days. Take them out first let them go out if you are happy with you in the passenger seat, but make sure you are in the seat before they are behind the wheel.

 

And your neurology lesson for the day:

Always use your instincts if you don't trust them don't let them drive it, that sixth sense we have from time to time is actually your subconscious telling you something is wrong as it takes everything in unlike our conscious brain.

I agree. I  have sold dozens over the years and never had a problem. If I thought they were serious I drove first to let them listen for noises, look for smoke  etc Then I would go through haggle phase. If we weren't agreed on price then no drive. If they got to drive I just said three rules,

Please observe speed limits, please check mirror before testing brakes, bend it and you buy it (having checked they had a decent deposit)

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You can get day insurance for when you want to test drive a privately owned car, I have done that in the past if I wanted to drive one. Obviously if you are buying from a garage you are normally covered by the garages insurance. I personally would want proof that they are insured to drive the car and have cover for any damage they happened to do to it, if they had an accident.

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1 hour ago, SBezza said:

You can get day insurance for when you want to test drive a privately owned car, I have done that in the past if I wanted to drive one. Obviously if you are buying from a garage you are normally covered by the garages insurance. I personally would want proof that they are insured to drive the car and have cover for any damage they happened to do to it, if they had an accident.

Technically I can't argue that with a valuable car but most of my sales  have been little better than Dublet's IE shed like.

Now if I was selling BB I would be as fussy as a Dad on daughters Prom night!

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On 9/30/2017 at 14:26, Spaff said:

I've just put my Celica up for sale, and once the car is MOT'd etc will start to allow viewings 

 

Is it wrong in this day and age to only allow test drives driven by myself, unless proof of fully comp insurance is shown? 

 

Very skeptical about allowing a potential nutter to get behind the wheel, but at the same time don't want to put people off. What do you guys think, reasonable or not? 

 

Don't sell it.

In fifteen years from now it will be a desirable old classic worth £20k+ and you'll be kicking yourself up your own backside saying how you used to own one and regret having sold it   :cry:

 

Debs

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Just to clarify when I said proof of fully comp I'd want it for the car itself - not just third party, which I know is a big ask for the average buyer. Difficult one I know but it's a lot of money to lose if anything was to happen, but I appreciate everyone's input! 

 

2 hours ago, Crazy Cat Lady said:

 

Don't sell it.

In fifteen years from now it will be a desirable old classic worth £20k+ and you'll be kicking yourself up your own backside saying how you used to own one and regret having sold it   :cry:

 

Debs

 

Ehhh it's a hard one, it's a lovely standard GT, but I do have a nutty rotrex'd GT as well which I'll be keeping! 

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Its a difficult one, if its a car i dont really care about i give them the keys as long as they dont look dodgy and then say help yourself and i just stand there however i made the mistake before buying a car which i hadnt driven only taken for test drive which was fine until i drove the car home and found the clutch slipping, personally even without insurance id let anyone take my car around the block with me in the passenger seat as chances are they wont be an idiot if your in the passenger seat and if they start doing things you dont like tell them if they want to do it then they can buy the car first 

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id be fussy as hell if I ever sold Tiberius (my celica) - I would probably only sell it on here and let active members drive it if they had 3rd party cover on another car.

 

Ive sold plenty of sheds and shopping trolleys and as long as they have cover I don't care, but I always sit in the car with them and make sure I have my phone on me in case they go all stabby stabby on me

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When I bought all of my cars I just asked the seller to take me a drive. When I sold one I took the buyer out for a test drive driving myself then let them drive it for 5 mins. It's unlikely there would be any problem but to be on the safe side I probably wouldn't advise letting someone else drive because if something goes wrong it's most likely that they only have third party insurance for other peoples cars which wouldn't pay for the car

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