Hi all,
How do you deal insurance-wise with people wanting to "test drive" a car you are privately selling?
I would not want someone driving my car without them being comprehensively insured, and putting them on my insurance will cost money, which could be wasted if they're just a tyre-kicker/dreamer.
Any ideas?
Mike
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This question has been covered before in previous threads.
Try doing a search.
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I did try a search but maybe I'm using the search facility wrong, it didn't return anything helpful. Typing private sale test drive into the search box returned a whole lot of irrelevance. Maybe it's down to the search engine's tendency to do
(private or privation or privateness or privates or privative or privations or privately) and (sale or sales) and (test or tested or testing or testings or tester or tests or testers) and (drive or driving or driver or drives or drivers)
that causes the poor results?
Mike
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I did try a search but maybe I'm using the search facility wrong, it didn't return anything helpful.
Enter "insurance" in the 'Subject' box, and enter "private" in the 'Message Body' box. Select "Discussion" in the other box and away you go.
Couple here, but I haven't fully read the threads, so may or not be relevant.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=14962&...f
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=14534&...f
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=8930&v...f
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I did try a search but maybe I'm using the search facility wrong, it didn't return anything helpful.
mab23: I suspect you used the wrong search-facility rather than the other way round. The problem you describe arises when you use the "search" button at the top instead of the "forum-search" button on the right!
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"Search" vs "Forum Search" - I see my problem now!
Thank you!
mike
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Do the test driving yourself. Never a good idea to let strangers into the driving seat unless you are very sure.
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When I sold the Xantia recently, the chap's wife sat in the car whilst I drove it. It was her that was going to drive it more than him anyway. He had to look after the toddler.
I took the car through all the gears and drove it as I normally would. I offered her a drive around a large empty layby but she thanked me and declined. When we got back, the chap did deliberately stall the car using the clutch to test this out. I had no objection to this, as if this did ruin the clutch, then quite frankly it wouldn't have been up to much anyway.
One way around this arguement is to find a reasonable empty private space that you can use. Drive the car there, allow the buyer to drive just to test the gearbox, clutch and brakes at slow speeds <30 MPH, then you drive it back. However, unless the buyer can prove he is able to cover himself fully comp (depending on the value of the car), then that would be the ONLY option I would consider.
If the buyer is concerned about handling at high speeds, allow them to feel the steering wheel when you're driving it on the road - if they place a hand on the wheel whilst you are holding it, they should feel any steering vibrations through it.
IME if there are any handling/driving faults with the car, such a test drive should pick them out.
Another possibility is to agree that the buyer is responsible for the car whilst driving it. If he has the TPO extension on his policy, he has the option of lodging the asking price with you in cash. That way, if he breaks it, he buys it! Any arguements about breaks etc being faulty can be swept up by requiring he satisfies himself that the car is STD before he travels at speed.
When I sold the Lada for £100 the buyer wanted to have a go in that. If he had written off the car, he would have been more than happy to give me the £95 asking price! As it was he bought it anyway.
Good luck with your sale!
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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When I sold my Mondeo privately earlier this year I had this conundrum, I didn't want someone uninsured having a test drive of my £7000 vehicle, but I also didn't want to put prospective purchasers off by refusing a test drive.
As it turned out, the couple that bought the car were quite happy being passengers with me driving, I took them to the emptiest bit of industrial estate I could find, as I was sure they'd want a drive but they were happy just to spectate.
I must admit that I personally would never buy a car without a good test drive, privately or from trade.
PP
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I suspect that this is one of those areas that Insurers could be persuaded to take an enlightened view.
For example, I remember the clause that usually appeared forbidding drivers to take passengers for financial gain. Although this was obviously aimed at dodgy minicab drivers, it stopped people from legitamet car sharing and simply taking petrol money. Now we find that this stance has been softened to allow car sharing.
Although insurers will want to avoid joe public dealing on the cheap, I would hope that with the number of people trying to sell their cars privately, that insurers would consider allowing prospecive purchasers to drive at the same cover enjoyed by the policy holder. A simple measure such as a copy of the driving license could ensure that the buyer is qualified to drive a vehicle of that type. If like me you don't have a photocopier, you would just need to ask the buyer to make one available.
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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just ring your insurance company and get it done over the phone when they turn up for the TD. If they're serious they wont mind paying for it, but knock it off the price if they buy the car.
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