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Old 31 July 2020, 11:17 PM
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Hawkins 1995
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Default Test drive advice

Hi guys I'm currently selling our sti prodrive style bug in the add I have stated test drive by our self like I got a kid messaging us he was fine with everything willing to travel 3 hours to look at the car thought I would mention about test drives done by myself which is in add anyways and my phone didn't stop going off from him. Even though he already saw on the add.

My question is how do you fell about letting someone you never met drive your modified car I can understand where he coming from but don't want him to crash it thinking he's the next best thing

If I did let him drive it what should I get off him frist driving licence etc
Old 31 July 2020, 11:35 PM
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Flat4x4-again
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Anyone who is really serious about your car would be prepared to get insured or have you drive them first.

Unless they are a trader, assume that they have 3rd party only insurance for driving someone else's car or none at all.

Your car, your terms.
Old 31 July 2020, 11:38 PM
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Vxr2010
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one he probably won’t have insurance to cover the car , two if he is so interested take him for a drive and see how things go , always accompany and don’t let the keys out of your hand , i’ve heard test drivers ask to swap sides then off they go leaving you standing there , or people swapping keys with out you realising then car is off again , not saying he is not a nice guy but treat with a lot of caution as my friend did not and insurance would not cover it said it was his fault
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Old 01 August 2020, 02:04 AM
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Hawkins 1995
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Cheers boy yeah he's been moaning on Facebook about us so told him to keep his money as he recokes I'm hiding a problem are you able to get temp insurance that cover mods for future people who want to test drive

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Old 01 August 2020, 04:51 AM
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Hawkeye D
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When I got my Spec D the owner at the time insisted I took a fully comp insurance certificate to show him. I was fine with it, as if I didn't buy the car I would cancel the cover (but pay an admin fee of about £40) It's just safer for the buyer / seller and keeps everything above board. It didn't make me feel obliged to buy the car, it just kept everything legal for test drive purposes. No insurance, no test drive, simple. This process separates serious potential buyers from the tyre kicking time wasters.

I agree with it personally, and if I was to sell my car, I will do the same. The hardest thing at the time was getting a faxed copy of the certificate, they didn't email certificates back in 2012, and a faxed copy cost me an extra £10 I think it was. I got the faxed copy just in time at work and flew to Edinburgh from Gatwick the next day.

You could let him drive it, but what if you're at traffic lights and the car gets rear ended....then what? A whole can of worms.

Also, if he buys the car then you know he's already insured to drive away once he pays for the car. I understand it's maybe frustrating for a potential buyer, but it's not like a cheap run about 1.2 Corsa, it's a performance car. So no, I wouldn't let anyone test drive mine who is isn't fully comp insured, it's just not worth the risk these days.

I would also insist they tax it before driving off, so I'd get a refund of any whole unused months of tax, and they drive off with 6 or 12 months fresh tax. May sound harsh, but it's the law. There are way too many people driving around out there with no tax, or no insurance....or both.

Keep it transparent, keep it legal.

Old 01 August 2020, 07:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Hawkeye D
When I got my Spec D the owner at the time insisted I took a fully comp insurance certificate to show him. I was fine with it, as if I didn't buy the car I would cancel the cover (but pay an admin fee of about £40) It's just safer for the buyer / seller and keeps everything above board. It didn't make me feel obliged to buy the car, it just kept everything legal for test drive purposes. No insurance, no test drive, simple. This process separates serious potential buyers from the tyre kicking time wasters.

I agree with it personally, and if I was to sell my car, I will do the same. The hardest thing at the time was getting a faxed copy of the certificate, they didn't email certificates back in 2012, and a faxed copy cost me an extra £10 I think it was. I got the faxed copy just in time at work and flew to Edinburgh from Gatwick the next day.

You could let him drive it, but what if you're at traffic lights and the car gets rear ended....then what? A whole can of worms.

Also, if he buys the car then you know he's already insured to drive away once he pays for the car. I understand it's maybe frustrating for a potential buyer, but it's not like a cheap run about 1.2 Corsa, it's a performance car. So no, I wouldn't let anyone test drive mine who is isn't fully comp insured, it's just not worth the risk these days.

I would also insist they tax it before driving off, so I'd get a refund of any whole unused months of tax, and they drive off with 6 or 12 months fresh tax. May sound harsh, but it's the law. There are way too many people driving around out there with no tax, or no insurance....or both.

Keep it transparent, keep it legal.
I agree with this - and it's what I've always done myself when acting as a buyer. You'd need to get insurance sorted a day or so in advance, as otherwise you can't tax it nowadays (AFAIK), and also it's not 100% straight forward to get insurance for something like a subaru on the day anyway (especially if using a broker).

When I sold my bug estate, the buyer came from Wales on the train, showed me his insurance certificate and we went on a test drive (me driving first, then him).

When I sold my Evo, a young kid (I say kid - early to mid 20s probably) came from Somerset with a car trailer. I took him out for a test drive, and he didn't even want to drive the car, so I did all the driving. When we got home, we sorted paperwork and off they went. I suspect he probably hadn't sorted insurance yet, hence the trailer, but at least he came fully prepared with that in mind, and he asked all the right questions and I did all the the braking tests, accelleration tests, swerved side to side etc that I'd do myself.

If someone turned up to buy the car, hadn't sorted insurance even though it had been discussed previously or been mentioned in the ad, then I don't think I'd feel confident in letting them drive myself. It all depends on circumstances, though - some people I'd probably feel confident letting them drive with 3rd party insurance, whereas others I'd think "hell no!"
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Old 01 August 2020, 08:53 AM
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The tax situation , as soon as you tell the dvla, which you can do on line now if you want to , that there is a new keeper then the dvla take a month of the refund for admin and refund the balance , temp cover insurance and other like companies out there could be used , but if something did go wrong would it be fully covered , insurance companies do have a reputation of rowing quickly to the shore in certain circumstances , i use A plan via marker study and they were good when an 86 year old rammed me and spun me out , the dash cam being critical or they would have gone 50/50 even though it was clearly their fault , other side argued it until they were shown the footage 3 weeks after footage sent they said it was it’s not our fault ?? but we will pay in full 10k £ later
Old 01 August 2020, 09:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Hawkeye D
When I got my Spec D the owner at the time insisted I took a fully comp insurance certificate to show him. I was fine with it, as if I didn't buy the car I would cancel the cover (but pay an admin fee of about £40) It's just safer for the buyer / seller and keeps everything above board. It didn't make me feel obliged to buy the car, it just kept everything legal for test drive purposes. No insurance, no test drive, simple. This process separates serious potential buyers from the tyre kicking time wasters.

I agree with it personally, and if I was to sell my car, I will do the same. The hardest thing at the time was getting a faxed copy of the certificate, they didn't email certificates back in 2012, and a faxed copy cost me an extra £10 I think it was. I got the faxed copy just in time at work and flew to Edinburgh from Gatwick the next day.

You could let him drive it, but what if you're at traffic lights and the car gets rear ended....then what? A whole can of worms.

Also, if he buys the car then you know he's already insured to drive away once he pays for the car. I understand it's maybe frustrating for a potential buyer, but it's not like a cheap run about 1.2 Corsa, it's a performance car. So no, I wouldn't let anyone test drive mine who is isn't fully comp insured, it's just not worth the risk these days.

I would also insist they tax it before driving off, so I'd get a refund of any whole unused months of tax, and they drive off with 6 or 12 months fresh tax. May sound harsh, but it's the law. There are way too many people driving around out there with no tax, or no insurance....or both.

Keep it transparent, keep it legal.
That's true mate tbh he never really gave us time to think on it he just spammed the hell out of me sending msg after msg like even sent a picture of his bank account haha then said I must be hiding stuff in the end told him to keep his money I'm 50/50 if I want to sell anyways
Old 01 August 2020, 09:50 AM
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Hawkins 1995
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Originally Posted by Henrik
I agree with this - and it's what I've always done myself when acting as a buyer. You'd need to get insurance sorted a day or so in advance, as otherwise you can't tax it nowadays (AFAIK), and also it's not 100% straight forward to get insurance for something like a subaru on the day anyway (especially if using a broker).

When I sold my bug estate, the buyer came from Wales on the train, showed me his insurance certificate and we went on a test drive (me driving first, then him).

When I sold my Evo, a young kid (I say kid - early to mid 20s probably) came from Somerset with a car trailer. I took him out for a test drive, and he didn't even want to drive the car, so I did all the driving. When we got home, we sorted paperwork and off they went. I suspect he probably hadn't sorted insurance yet, hence the trailer, but at least he came fully prepared with that in mind, and he asked all the right questions and I did all the the braking tests, accelleration tests, swerved side to side etc that I'd do myself.

If someone turned up to buy the car, hadn't sorted insurance even though it had been discussed previously or been mentioned in the ad, then I don't think I'd feel confident in letting them drive myself. It all depends on circumstances, though - some people I'd probably feel confident letting them drive with 3rd party insurance, whereas others I'd think "hell no!"
Yeah that's what puts us of tbh mate don't get us wrong it's only 380 bhp but if he's never had experience driving a modified cars like. If it was our daily the fiesta more then happy to let him drive it end of the day I said would take it on a long test drive with ourself driving as need the oil to warm up before putting foot down and if there was something wrong with her why would I let you come to our house like.

Most annoying thing was he msg us for ages wanted a video of the car underneath pictures etc happy to send then when he mentioned about coming down I though I would double check he knows about test drives then he spammed us like hell saying im not some kid and I thought if you sore us you would let us drive I don't know what he's like at driving like
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Old 01 August 2020, 09:58 AM
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Yeah, I saw the thread on Facebook too

Stick to your guns - it's your car, and YOU are legally responsible for letting someone drive it without insurance.
Old 01 August 2020, 10:03 AM
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Hawkins 1995
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Originally Posted by Henrik
Yeah, I saw the thread on Facebook too

Stick to your guns - it's your car, and YOU are legally responsible for letting someone drive it without insurance.
Haha yeah he didn't like it when people said they wouldn't and his story keeps changing frist he said about temp then all a sudden he was going to get fully insurance don't think the kid knows himself like I'll let him keep his money he sent a screen shot with 15k in his bank haha
Old 01 August 2020, 01:31 PM
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if it turned out he wasn't insured and had an accident or stopped by Plod then its YOU who will also be liable as the keep of the vehicle and you will potentially get done for no insurance
Old 01 August 2020, 03:59 PM
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Originally Posted by stockcar
if it turned out he wasn't insured and had an accident or stopped by Plod then its YOU who will also be liable as the keep of the vehicle and you will potentially get done for no insurance
Exactly - two blokes in an Impreza. Police = interested.
Old 04 August 2020, 10:09 PM
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When I buy private, I always view, let them drive and agree to return with cash and fully insured and both agree that I will leave the cash with them and take a short test drive, any problems with the car I get my cash back, any accidents or such and iv already bought it. You can tell most you need to know while someone else is driving if you ask them to do any tests you want done.
When I test drive, round the block will do, I can tell what I want to know shortly after pulling off the drive you dont need to treat it like a track day.
Old 04 August 2020, 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Croney
When I buy private, I always view, let them drive and agree to return with cash and fully insured and both agree that I will leave the cash with them and take a short test drive, any problems with the car I get my cash back, any accidents or such and iv already bought it. You can tell most you need to know while someone else is driving if you ask them to do any tests you want done.
When I test drive, round the block will do, I can tell what I want to know shortly after pulling off the drive you dont need to treat it like a track day.
That's what we said to him tbh mate but he would only leave a deposit
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