Selling a car privately, car has no NCT and being sold as seen - what to

[JP1234]

My car failed it's nct 2 weeks ago, the actual fail reason was the airbag warning light did not illuminate when the engine was first turned on. ( one of the new tests they do) After getting it inspected, we discovered that in fact the whole airbag system had faults and had been completely disconnected to avoid the warning light flashing! As I am not working and have no need for the car ( it was only a second family car) have put it up for sale. I put on the ad about the NCT and airbag, including a copy of the last nct report showing it passed all the other tests. Taking into account the cost of repairing or replacing the airbags I advertised it cheap.

I got a couple of queries yesterday and one of them is coming round tonight to have a look at the car. He has been texting me a lot of questions about the car, all answered honestly, apart from the airbags the car is in good shape, runs well and has low mileage and I have agreed the minimum price I will accept (even lower than advertised) with the potential buyer. I get the feeling from his questions he will be looking for reasons to drop the price further which I am not prepared to do.

As neither of us has ever sold privately before is there anything I need to be on my guard about. So far I know I have to
Accompany him on a test drive ( both me and husband will go with him!)
Ask for ID ( told him I want to see this before selling)
Fill out the registration form and send off to shannon with his details on. I know not to give him the form!
Have told him no cheques, cash only so just need to check the notes.
Complete a bill of sale which we both sign and get a copy of.
On the bill of sale I have put Car Reg and description, my name and address, amount being sold for, left a space for his details. I am also thinking about putting on this that I have pointed out about the NCT and airbag and the car is being sold as seen.

Have I covered everthing, or is there something glaringly missing that I should do.

 

[Boyd]

Last time I bought a car privately I paid with a bank draft rather than cash. How do you plan to "check the notes"?

 

[JP1234]

Well I used to do a lot of cash handling in my job so am pretty good at spotting forgeries...not a perfect plan I know.

I thought about taking a bank draft but was warned they too can be forged and as I have no way of contacting the bank to verify it thought that too might not be such a great idea.

He is driving from Cork to Wexford so I am assuming if he is buying the car he will want to sort it out tonight rather than having to come back to collect another day.

 

[Boyd]

Well, I was in Dublin and delivered the bank draft to the person in Mayo. He gave me the keys while the car remained where it was until the draft cleared.

 

[Padraigb]

You should be aware that a seller is liable if a vehicle sold to anybody other than a dealer is not safe. That, to me, means that the airbags are an issue.

 

[callybags]

You should be aware that a seller is liable if a vehicle sold to anybody other than a dealer is not safe. That, to me, means that the airbags are an issue.

This does not make sense.

It is no more unsafe than a car that doesn't have airbags fitted.

 

[JP1234]

You should be aware that a seller is liable if a vehicle sold to anybody other than a dealer is not safe. That, to me, means that the airbags are an issue.

Thanks for that. In your experience, if I making him aware of the airbags and asking him to sign on the bill of sale which also points this out and he is happy to purchase does that still make me liable? I am slightly worried now as I don't want to sell if it means I would still have liability! The car should not be driven anyway as there is no NCT so that would have to be addressed before he could take it out on the road.

I should say, when it failed the NCT the reason given was a visual/aural defect, nothing specific about the actual airbags, we only found that out after!

 

[Boyd]

The car should not be driven anyway as there is no NCT so that would have to be addressed before he could take it out on the road.

How do you plan on bringing him for a test drive then?

 

[JP1234]

Well, I was in Dublin and delivered the bank draft to the person in Mayo. He gave me the keys while the car remained where it was until the draft cleared.

I will just have to see (a) if he decides to buy and (b) how he intends to pay, if he wants to pay by cheque or bank draft I might use your idea! It's not like he doesn't know where I live!



How do you plan on bringing him for a test drive then?

OOPS! hadn't thought of that! ( told you this was all knew to me!)

 

[Katelyn]

I bought a car recently and paid by bank draft. My husband and I met the seller in the Bank of Ireland (at his request) and hubbie got the bank draft there and then. The seller was happy it was genuine as the bank could verify it and he handed over the keys, car and documentation over to us there and then. Once that was done we made our way to the nearest post box and posted the vehicle registration certificate.

 

[JP1234]

How do you plan on bringing him for a test drive then?

OOPS! hadn't thought of that! ( told you this was all knew to me!)

I was looking into this, it failed on a visual defect and has to be repaired and retested by 18/04 but does not say it is unsafe and should not be driven There is nothing specific about what happens in these circumstances, I know if you have a letter confirming your test is booked that covers you so I would imagine/hope the same would apply here!

Edit to add - just found this on the RSA website, about half way down relates to Dangerous Fails
http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Licensed-Drivers/About-Your-Car/NCT/



Katelyn - why did you post the registration certificate, I thought the seller was supposed to do that?

 

[Katelyn]

Katelyn - why did you post the registration certificate, I thought the seller was supposed to do that?

Sorry I should have been clearer. We posted it together iykwim. He came ready with an envelope stamped and addressed, we signed the documentation while in the bank and there was a post box right outside the bank where we posted it to Shannon. Had there have been no post box handy he would have held onto it and posted it in the nearest one.

 

[Padraigb]

This does not make sense.

It is no more unsafe than a car that doesn't have airbags fitted.

That's not a defence that would give me confidence is somebody travelling in the car was injured when an airbag did not deploy.

Thanks for that. In your experience, if I making him aware of the airbags and asking him to sign on the bill of sale which also points this out and he is happy to purchase does that still make me liable? I am slightly worried now as I don't want to sell if it means I would still have liability! The car should not be driven anyway as there is no NCT so that would have to be addressed before he could take it out on the road....

The relevant legislation is here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1980/en/act/pub/0016/sec0013.html#sec13.

I have no experience to offer, but it's not always easy to get a person to sign away legal rights: the courts tend not to take a sympathetic view.

The situation is starting to look a bit messy for you, as you are reluctant to have a buyer drive off in a car that has no NCT.

 

[Leo]

There are other threads here detailing scams where drafts have initially cleared bank checks only for issues to arise some weeks later. Result here is vendor loses everything.

Read the Key Posts, everything you need to know is already covered there. check this one out in particular.
Leo

 

[JP1234]

Thanks PadraigB!

I noticed in the legislation sections 2 and 3, and have in the bill of sale added some wording pointing out the car is without NCT and needs repairing before being used on the road, I should hope that covers me if he buys.

but yes, it is looking messy, I am quietly hoping he doesn't buy now, especially as I got a call from our mechanic about an hour ago offering to pay the minimum I was asking for. Unfortunately it was too late to put off the potential buyer as he was leaving Cork at 3.3

 

[JP1234]

Thanks Leo - I don't know how I missed the key posts! D'Oh.

Well the buyer came and bought it. He was happy enough to sign the bill of sale and with the airbags. Paid Cash, filled in and signed the change of ownership form, took the key and is coming back Sunday to collect!