Selling to friends and family

[Bellow]

The chap interested in mine is after a certain spec and condition of 211, and he is struggling to find a good one, he knows my car and everything ive done to it in my ownership and it fills his spec well.

Its a little early for me tbh to sell as was planing on next year, Think i may pass on the opportunity.

Really appreciate the above replies

You have it, he wants it - just deal.
Point out that it is a used vehicle with no warranty and if/when he accepts that premise, no problem.
Or would you rather see him potentially get rooked by a less than scrupulous vendor selling him a lemon?

 

[219]

Quick anecdote;

My dad sold his good work mate a Datsun Cherry in the late 80's, my dad is handy with a spanner so always took care of his own cars and wouldn't dream of selling anything with any type of fault.

Anyway, the radiator cracked over a year later and his work mate asked him to pay to get it fixed! I always wind him up about it, never fails to hit the target.

I recall having that experience as well , I can recall this friend who is known to be a bit 'tight' buying a MK II Ford Escort , my sister's ex company car which she got the option to buy at three years old when due for replacement , and a year down the line it needed a piece of the exhaust replaced for the MOT and he came on the phone labouring the point and how much it was going to cost . My sisters employers had sold the car in good faith and with a new MOT at the time , so he had no comeback .

He was from Edinburgh though .

 

[Charles Morgan]

Fortunately none of my friends or family want 20 year old basket cases, especially when they know of most of the failures to proceed.

 

[KennyN]

I have sold a few cars and bikes to friends and workmates and never had any issues with the sale, they buy the vehicles because they know me and know that it has been looked after and any work carried out has been done properly.

If anything had happened to the vehicle after the sale then the purchaser is mature and understanding enough to know it was just "one of these things" and there has never been any "comeback" or issues in the short-term after the sale.

Kenny

 

[j.schmeltzer]

Slightly different twist:
My younger son is Down Syndrome and in a care home 150 miles away. They kindly bring him to visit every month. They were using an old Ford Galaxie that needed scrapping and I was concerned about safety. When my wife got a new car, we donated her Renault Scenic to the home. 4 years old, 35K, auto, air, excellent car.
He came in it a few times then another old banger appeared. "Where's the Scenic?"
"Oh, So-and-so was driving it and the engine made a funny noise and he tried to get it back to the house and it stopped." Seized, low on oil, scrapyard. That's the trouble with "pool" cars, nobody takes responsibility for them. This time it was ME that was upset but really couldn't say anything.

 

[Deleted96908]

Do any of you, or have any of you peeps sold a Mb or any other car to a friend or family member?

I've got someone interested in mine but his a cracking chap and i hate anything to go wrong.

Mine is 100% but i couldn't handle it if something went petong lol

I used to give all my 'old' cars to the extended family until I got sick of complaints as to why X wasn't given the car instead of Y.

Friends you can choose, but family etc, etc.

 

[fab1975]

About 10 years ago during a casual conversation I made one of my best friends aware of my intention of selling my 5 years old Xantia and buying an Audi A4. As soon as he heard my asking price, he told me that he would have liked to buy it, since he knew how "peculiar" (i.e. pedantic) I was with cars and he knew how well kept my Xantia was.
At that time I thought it was a win-win situation, especially because it saved me all the hassle of having to sell my old car privately, as well as taking precautions when receiving payment from a complete stranger.
The car was mint, with FSH as well as new tyres and I would have never thought he could have been disappointed with it. I felt therefore very sorry when he told me 6 month later that "my" trusted Xantia had failed MOT because of a faulty handbrake and he had to pay over £200 extra to get "my car" fixed. He never asked me for any refund or contribution (not even vaguely) but I always felt guilty about it, even if I had never had any problems whatsoever with the handbrake.
For about 2 years this handbrake thing was like the elephant in the room every time we talked about cars... until he moved abroad and sold the Xantia to a common friend of hours, who managed to keep it for 2 more years without any issues before treating himself to a used 7 series BMW.

I am not sure of what the moral of the story actually is, but I felt relieved only when my friend sold the Xantia to our common friend. Selling a car privately to a stranger can be an absolute pain, but at least you know that by the time all the money is in the bank and your old motor has left your driveway, that is the end of the story and there is no room for any moral implications.

 

[Piff]

I wish I knew that rule before

Me too

 

[zipdip]

I agree,I do not like selling to a friend or relation ,the only time I did I knocked off £600 against any problems and told them so,but I got the you know your old car well the rad went last week,to which I replied and so you repaired it with some of the £600 ,but it is not a good idea.

 

[MB-Graham]

Guess I'm not getting your car then Gav lol

 

[merc85]

Umm I'm sure you will find or may even have found a cracking car before I'm even ready to part with mine.

 

[gadget1960]

Been there & done that ! and in my defence ... all my cars leave my ownership in as good a condition you will find for year, mileage, etc:
Infact ... I've made a massive loss on every car I've sold purely because I like to sort every detail while it's in my ownership and therefor never get anywhere near what I've spent on it.
I'm not into cars to make money, just like to fettle. (my loss .. your gain).
And still they want to bitch and whine over the most insignificant thing.
My advice .... don't do it.

 

[moonloops]

Fortunately none of my friends or family want 20 year old basket cases, especially when they know of most of the failures to proceed.

I think your older than 20

 

[Charles Morgan]

Watch it...

 

[kungfupanda]

I've always hated selling to friends and family in the off chance that if the car went wrong, I'd feel bad about selling the car to them in the first place. Plus they usually know at the beginning what such a good deal I got and they'd try and chip me down on price!

 

[John]

I'd sell my car to a family member or friend.

In fact, where I work, a chap there wants to buy my car if I ever sell it.

It's a safe transaction and they can hear the truth about the car (subject to the selling party's morality!).

If they come moaning to you should it break down, tough sh*t that's life. Tell them to pi55 off!

You aren't a main dealer or independent dealer offering a warranty and "peace of mind".

Better that then they buy a proper shunter and end up broke.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

I have bought from/sold to friends and family, and been given several cars over the years. Some years ago a friend was offered £250 for his Audi 80 sport in p/ex for a new car. I offered him £500 , he insisted I take it for £250 and "make a few quid". I t-cut , polished and hoovered it.Another friend (who knew how much I bought it for ) offered me £600. He kept it for about a year, then sold it for £850.
On the other hand , my wife gave our daughter her 6 year old Fiat Seicento. She had it from new , but after suffering a stoke ,was no longer to drive a manual gearchange car.My daughter had the car a couple of years , and sold it ( cheaply ) to a cousin . About a year later , the cousins dad said to me , rather pointedly , "the clutch is going on Maggies old Fiat" . I gave him the name of a local clutch replacement centre , and said " I hope it doesn`t cost you too much".
There are points for or against , but at least buying from someone you know , you have at least a little knowledge of how the car has been looked after.

 

[Blowpipe]

Buying for family is even more fraught. I sourced a decent Corsa for my nephew at a good price, knew the history of the car as it was owned by a good friend and had been very well maintained. My brother lives abroad so was out of the process.

My brother coughed up the readies, nephew rocked up and collected the car only for it to later fail to engage reverse at his destination. Fixed the following day after recovery for a hundred quid; mentally I knew fingers were being pointed at me for weeks after for supplying a duff car.

I later found out that when the car was being collected my son and his cousin had literally smashed the car into reverse as they hadn't worked out the gearstick had a 'lift' collar to engage said gear….