Private Sale & Insurance for Test Drive

Boots2006

What is the "done thing" regarding selling your own car privately and letting prospective buyers take a test drive?
- the car I'm selling is insured fully comp, so I understand anyone with a car insurance policy of their own can drive it under third party insurance, is it normal to just take the risk & hope that they don't hit a kerb or clip a wing-mirror etc.?!
- obviously I'll be in the car with them for the duration!

Gary ITR

Boots2006 wrote: »

What is the "done thing" regarding selling your own car privately and letting prospective buyers take a test drive?
- the car I'm selling is insured fully comp, so I understand anyone with a car insurance policy of their own can drive it under third party insurance, is it normal to just take the risk & hope that they don't hit a kerb or clip a wing-mirror etc.?!
- obviously I'll be in the car with them for the duration!

It's their insurance policy that matters here not yours. The general rule though is 'you bend it you buy it'

If it's an expensive/high performance car I would ask to see proof of insurance before I let the person drive the car

Esel

It is the other driver's policy that determines if they are insured to drive your car. Unless you have 'open drive' and they qualify under this, of course.

Boots2006

Cheers folks, I hadn't copped that one - presumed it was my own policy that was covering the car ...

bf

Yep - you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. Very few people will have open driving. Best bet is if you can try a large local car park or park & to limit any potential prangs, but most people wouldnt be happy with that kind of test drive

Eoin

bf wrote: »

Yep - you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. Very few people will have open driving. Best bet is if you can try a large local car park or park & to limit any potential prangs, but most people wouldnt be happy with that kind of test drive

If you let them have a feel for driving the car in a car park, and then go for a longer spin as the driver, it may be enough.

When I was selling my car last year, I got two offers from people who were quite happy to not drive it at all, and just be a passenger while I bought them for a drive around the block.

Boots2006 wrote:

Cheers folks, I hadn't copped that one - presumed it was my own policy that was covering the car ...

Not only that, but they will most likely only have 3rd party cover on someone else's (i.e. your) car.

JimmyCrackCorn!

With Open Drive policies does it only cover third party damages. So would the car be considered under this.

Esel

If the policy is comprehensive and includes open drive, the car is covered.

Eoin

It depends on the policy, but I think it would generally be fully comp once the driver is over 25 or something like that. Not too much use if it's for the purposes of a test drive though, as it's still ultimately the owner of the car who will get stung in the event of any damage.

Voodoomelon

Even if the potential buyer has fully comprehensive insurance themselves, they only have third party insurance on your car, so they might as well not have insurance in terms of the repair of damage to your car.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Even if the potential buyer has fully comprehensive insurance themselves, they only have third party insurance on your car, so they might as well not have insurance in terms of the repair of damage to your car.

That was my understanding but i may be wrong. Suggest OP you ring the insurers and find out for definate.

Eoin

There is a difference between open drive, and being able to drive other people's cars.

In general Open Drive means that the policy covers anyone to drive that car and is fully comprehensive cover. So, if someone was test driving the car under the owner's open drive policy, then if they crashed it would come out of the owner's policy.

If they drive it under their own policy, then it would 3rd party cover under their own policy and not under the owner's, but obviously the owner's car is not covered.

Bandara

its a huge risk really, I'm never going to buy a car if I can't take it for a decent test drive, and to be totally honest if on a test drive a dog ran out in front of me and I totalled the car my insurance only covbers 3rd party.

Theres no way I'm buying the car if I can avoid it, I know thats a poxy thing to do to someone & I know its wrong but I'm just being honest. I think a lot of people would be the same. The seller is going to go utterly mental but I'm not buying something that needs 5k of work doing to it.

Eoin

I would hope that there would be legal avenues open to the seller in that case.

Bandara

eoin_s wrote: »

I would hope that there would be legal avenues open to the seller in that case.

I can't see how, I'm driving the car with his/her permission under his supervision, nothing illegal has taken place. I have broken no rules of the road and I have got insurance in place and a full license that satisfies the legal requirements.

I'd say its completely legal to walk away, don't get me wrong here, I'm not proud of this but I think I'd be sorely tempted to, I'm just being honest about it, can you 100% say that if you test drove a car, wrote it off without any fault of yours (ie your not speeding, acting the mick, you didn't make a bad mistake etc), that say the car was worth €25,000 that you would go to the bank get a loan of 25,000 over five years and hand it to the person leaving yourself with €500 quid a month repayments?

Sorry but I think it'd be a hard one to do the right thing on. I think the owner would end up having to say he/she was driving and claim thru their own insurance.

Boots2006

Hammertime wrote: »

its a huge risk really, I'm never going to buy a car if I can't take it for a decent test drive, and to be totally honest if on a test drive a dog ran out in front of me and I totalled the car my insurance only covbers 3rd party.

Theres no way I'm buying the car if I can avoid it, I know thats a poxy thing to do to someone & I know its wrong but I'm just being honest. I think a lot of people would be the same. The seller is going to go utterly mental but I'm not buying something that needs 5k of work doing to it.

Thats exactly what I'm worried about

I might make a call to the insurance co about it tomorrow to suss out open drive temporarily, or adding another driver to the policy for the day. Either way, Hammertime won't be getting a test drive

Bandara

Boots2006 wrote: »

Thats exactly what I'm worried about

I might make a call to the insurance co about it tomorrow to suss out open drive temporarily, or adding another driver to the policy for the day.

they will charge you 70 quid ! and most likely you'll need a copy of their license or at the very least their full details and drivign history.

Your just going to have to take a chance and tell them very directly that there is to be no speeding or fancy stuff. If your not happy with how they are dirving tell the to stop the car and you take over.

eoin_s

eoin_s wrote: »

There is a difference between open drive, and being able to drive other people's cars.

In general Open Drive means that the policy covers anyone to drive that car and is fully comprehensive cover. So, if someone was test driving the car under the owner's open drive policy, then if they crashed it would come out of the owner's policy.

If they drive it under their own policy, then it would 3rd party cover under their own policy and not under the owner's, but obviously the owner's car is not covered.

I don't think this is necessarily true??? The meaning of Open Drive can vary HUGELY between insurance companies this is Quinn Directs explanation;

Quote:
When you are getting your insurance quote, limit the cover to yourself, and the minimum number of named drivers necessary. If you add many named drivers this increases the risk on your policy, and pushes your premium higher. You may choose to have 'Open Drive' on your policy. This feature entitles other full licence holders to drive your car with Third Party, Fire and Theft cover, once they have your permission. This feature however will again drive up the cost of your policy.

A person can also have fully comp on other cars, my dad, is with axa, he can drive any car fully comp.....

Eoin

Hammertime wrote: »

I can't see how, I'm driving the car with his/her permission under his supervision, nothing illegal has taken place. ...

Hopefully there would be civil law options available to the owner, rather than resorting to insurance fraud.

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think this is necessarily true??? The meaning of Open Drive can vary HUGELY between insurance companies this is Quinn Directs explanation;

...

A person can also have fully comp on other cars, my dad, is with axa, he can drive any car fully comp.....

There must be a big difference between policies perhaps, my father had open drive (company car) which meant that anyone who he gave permission to could drive the car fully comp, under that policy. They did not require insurance of their own.

Having fully comp on all cars would be pretty cool.