Sold my car to a guy I'd never met via bank transfer ...

[ambuletz]

Went with my uncle to view an escort diesel estate. He didn't like the car much but it was cheap. Seller seemed to be selling mutliple cars from his home. Drove it home (10minutes away) and noticed it was overheating and leaking. 'Private' seller took it back without a problem.
We went onto AT once we got back home, found xsara he liked, went to view it (15min away) honest IT guy, was selling as he had a new mondeo. Car didn't start so we had to head back home to get the leads. Came back to jump start it, car was mint apart from the flat battery. Guy agreed to cut price in half, bought it and drove off in it. He never had an issue with the car for years.

[numtumfutunch]

I sold my Renault 5GT Turbo for 7.5k to a nice lad from the local fairground

He paid in £5 and £10 notes

I counted out a random selection to 2k and then got bored
Thankfully the bank were cool on the total

[cidered77]

Sold wife's A5 after credit crunch enforced redundancy in 2008 - got a bank transfer for £32k because guy needed to do something relative to the tax year, 4 days before i could get the car to him. Had't seen the car and didn't know me from Adam.

Very nice guy too- but remember it taking ages to get back from portsmouth on the train...

[DonkeyApple]

So, rather unexpectedly, the key to selling cars is to trust a foreigner with a bag of cash. Who'd have thought.

[roystinho]

Bought a Clio V6 blind before. In fact I never met the dealer as I was away so had it delivered to a friends house, though the person is very respected in the Renaultsport community for providing excellent cars which is why I had no qualms with the transaction.

[lukefreeman]

I went down to see my .R in person after winning on eBay and stupidly forgot wallet.

Just gave the lad an iPad as deposit there and then, paid the rest online transfer 2 days later as he had some bills to pay......then collected vehicle 20 days later as I wanted to pick it up after I had finished my dissertation for uni.

[rejn]

I sold me 560SEC a few years ago to a guy from Ireland. He flew in with his bag of cash as arranged and drove off in the car.

Better than that, though, I'd not realised that one of my daughter's teddy bears was on the back sear of the car - when the buyer got home his wife realised the importance of said teddy and posted the bear back along with a lovely letter explaining how teddy had been on a boat and a brief holiday to Ireland.

[LotusOmega375D]

My most recent one was selling my wife's boggo hatchback to a local Polish family. It was all concluded mega quickly: they called before I even knew the ad had gone live and arranged to view. They then collected and paid cash a couple of days later and brought with them a packet of Polish chocolate desserts and a 1 litre bottle of Vodka, as a thank you! Apparently selling a car is like losing a family member in their society. I can agree with them on some of the special cars I've owned, but not that particular one!

[ChasW]

Sold my sister's Honda Prelude to a Portugese student who was going immediately on a road trip around Europe. Turned up with cash, £1050, and drove off to Dover!

[Asterix]

I forget how easy it is to sell a car in the UK.

It's a proper fking ballache here in Dubai.

[sam303]

Asterix said:

I forget how easy it is to sell a car in the UK.

It's a proper fking ballache here in Dubai.

Why's that then? I ask as a friend of mine has recently moved to Dubai. I may even have a stint there at some point myself.

[Asterix]

sam303 said:

Asterix said:

I forget how easy it is to sell a car in the UK.

It's a proper fking ballache here in Dubai.

Why's that then? I ask as a friend of mine has recently moved to Dubai. I may even have a stint there at some point myself.

You have to get clearance letters from banks if you've had finance, the banks are ste, slow and you have to pay for the pleasure. If the person buying is doing so with finance, which they often do, then you have to take the car to be valued by either the bank or a main dealer of the Marque and get a certificate at someone's cost - then you have to do the registration change over where the vehicle goes through a test and can sometimes fail on the daftest things, then you have to sit about for ages while the registration get's changed over.

It's a royal pain in the nutsack, but we all have to do it so...

[sam303]

Asterix said:

sam303 said:

Asterix said:

I forget how easy it is to sell a car in the UK.

It's a proper fking ballache here in Dubai.

Why's that then? I ask as a friend of mine has recently moved to Dubai. I may even have a stint there at some point myself.

You have to get clearance letters from banks if you've had finance, the banks are ste, slow and you have to pay for the pleasure. If the person buying is doing so with finance, which they often do, then you have to take the car to be valued by either the bank or a main dealer of the Marque and get a certificate at someone's cost - then you have to do the registration change over where the vehicle goes through a test and can sometimes fail on the daftest things, then you have to sit about for ages while the registration get's changed over.

It's a royal pain in the nutsack, but we all have to do it so...

Interesting... thanks Asterix.

By the way I loved your books when I was a kid.

[Bill]

[Dr G]

Same; I'm always honest, direct and realistic when selling privately. Never had an issue.

[Asterix]

[BlackGT3]

2008 - B7 RS4 Estate sold via ad on PH. Chap came to view, agreed to buy it and returned the followed day with a bankers draft.
2010 - I sold our LR Discovery 3 to a fellow PH'er, understand he still owns it. He enquired, sent a deposit, came up by train, saw the car was as described, we went to the bank to transfer the money and he drove away a happy man.
2013 - Discovery 4 sold to North Staffs cars as their bid was with in 250 quid of what could be achieved in a private sale and was a very easy transaction.
2013 - BMW 118d - Sold to a fellow PH'er - came to view, agreed the sale at asking price and left a deposit. He returned the following week, transferred the money and drove away very happy with the car.

Every car I have sold has been via a PH ad. There are a couple of others in addition to the above. both easy transactions.

[anonymous-user]

I haven't had too many cars but the last sales and purchases have all been through PH Classifieds and it's been a quick and hassle free experience. It would probably be my first choice when the next sale & purchase comes around. I don't work for Hearst Publishing btw.

[geeks]

Sold a Twingo GT via ebay unseen, guy paid a paypal deposit the second the auction finished without having seen the car but had telephoned me before and asked all of the right questions. I collected him from the train station in my other car as we agreed the engine must be cold when he arrived to see if it smoked on start up. Drove him to my house, he popped the bonnet, poked around, admitted he knew naff all about mechanics of a car but basically wanted to check the engine was ice cold as agreed. Started it up, we went round the block whereby i encouraged him to give it some revs to see if it smoked under load and to see how nippy the little 1.2 turbo was. He smiled ear to ear drove to my house, paid the cash balance (3k from memory) and off he went, only two hours after he left I realised I had left my phone in the car!!! He posted it back to me the following day.

Good buyers do exist, as has been said though you have to sort the wheat from the chaff!

[no-worries88]

I usually seem to attract the idiots.. one question i was asked when selling my Supra a few years back was "im after a car that pops and bangs, does it do that?"