Insurance for test drives

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 31 Oct 2004 10:07
Insurance for test drives - Felix
Hi,

I'm about to try selling my car privately, and I'm confused about the advice I've read about insurance when a potential buyer's taking my car for a test drive.

As long as the buyer's got comprehensive cover on his car, they ought to have 3rd party cover to drive my car, so if he runs someone over he's covered. But what about the more likely scenario of an accident causing damage to my car? I read in an earlier thread about buyers who'd struggled to obtain cover on a car they wanted to test drive. So what's the best thing to do? I could add them as a named driver to my policy for an hour or 2, but surely I shouldn't incur the risk myself of paying out excess and damaging my NCB? Should the liability be with the buyer, and if so how do I protect myself if the buyer refuses to accept liability - I was wondering if it was worth getting the buyer to sign a bit of paper accepting liability for any damage that occurred, or would that be OTT?

I'm particularly paranoid about this, because it's a very nice car (4 yr old 5 series) that might attract, how shall I put it, interest of the wrong kind. Also it's an automatic, and I've read all the warnings about left foot braking and accidents resulting from people being unfamilar with autos. But I don't want to put off serious punters.

Any constructive suggestions greatly appreciated!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 31 Oct 2004 10:11
Insurance for test drives - Robin Reliant
Before you let them drive it, take the full purchase price from them and let them test on an "Any damage caused and you buy it, agreement."

Common advice when selling motorcycles.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 31 Oct 2004 10:23
Insurance for test drives - Felix
This isn't meant to sound sarcastic, but should I really expect someone viewing the car to come armed with 10 grand in cash? That doesn't sound very practical. This might be OK if I were to warn punters that a test drive was the last stage in the buying process, i.e. if it went OK they would commit to buying, but that might be rather offputting.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 31 Oct 2004 10:38
Insurance for test drives - David Horn
It cost me 40 quid to extend my insurance cover to allow any person to drive the car for a period of one month.

Problem sorted.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 31 Oct 2004 10:49
Insurance for test drives - v8man
I've sold motorbikes on the cash up front principle and believe me if they are interested they will turn up with cash. Tyre kickers and test pilots will be excluded on this basis meaning you will only get genuine buyers turning up.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance