Paying car seller and vehicle collection conundrum...

[Martin Kol]

Hi guys, Im actively looking for my first Kit Car and hoping to make a purchase in the next few weeks/months.

One slightly disheartening thing is that most of the best deals i have seen have been many miles from me, i live south of Bristol. As i am a little unconfident about driving a new 7 Type for 4 hours down the M1/M5 etc ive been looking into car transporter companies.

My question is has anyone had much experience with these and if so how did you find a trustworthy one? , ( I spoke to Andrew at Zoom and he cant deliver this far south) secondly if i am viewing a car and want to have it collected later, how do people go about paying the seller? i would be a bit nervous paying someone the full amount or even a deposit and then walking away without the vehicle!

Anyone done this recently, any thoughts?

[Foz]

One thought - if you have a car with a towbar (or know someone who has) it is fairly cheap to hire a car trailer for the day and collect it yourself.  You only need a relatively lightweight trailer as the car is unlikely to be more than 700-800kgs - I used to hire one quite often, when taking mine to trackdays.

 

[wanderer]

One for sale in Somerset on Robin Hood kit car site presume that's near enough

[Martin Kol]

can you link me to that one Wanderer, im not sure if ive seen it?

[Martin Kol]

3 hours ago, Foz said:

One thought - if you have a car with a towbar (or know someone who has) it is fairly cheap to hire a car trailer for the day and collect it yourself.  You only need a relatively lightweight trailer as the car is unlikely to be more than 700-800kgs - I used to hire one quite often, when taking mine to trackdays.

 

yep i had considered that option, my concern would be that if the car was a long distance away i wouldn't want to take a trailer just on the chance i would actually buy it and if i subsequently went back for a second time with the trailer that may well end up costing more than using one of these companies?

[Martin Kol]

1 hour ago, wanderer said:

One for sale in Somerset on Robin Hood kit car site presume that's near enough

can you link me to that one Wanderer, im not sure if ive seen it?

 

[wanderer]

It was on nwkcog site but also on Robin Hood kit car Facebook page

[Martin Kol]

2 hours ago, wanderer said:

It was on nwkcog site but also on Robin Hood kit car Facebook page

ah gottit...thanks

[Martin Kol]

..does anyone have any thoughts about handing over money and then the walking off without the car, pending a later collection , conundrum?

 

 

[Grim]

I wouldn't pay in full before collection, but would leave a deposit of a few hundred.

[geordie40]

I sold my SuperSpec at beginning of the year (during lockdown) to someone from Weston Super Mare and he saw it on line via video etc and paid a deposit then saw the car a few weeks later and paid the full amount via bank transfer at which point i handed all documentation over to him and then he arranged for a vehicle courier to collect a week or so later.

At the end of the day Its all down to if you feel the seller is trustworthy & honest and Ive found most people are. 

I know I was the seller so a little different to your position. 

[brumster]

10 hours ago, Martin Kol said:

..does anyone have any thoughts about handing over money and then the walking off without the car, pending a later collection , conundrum?

I mean if, for some reason, you absolutely had to do this over just a deposit, I would at least get a signed receipt with suitable wording explaining what had been paid for, and maybe even use a mobile phone to video the transaction between yourself and the seller, just for safety. But really - why would anyone not take a deposit, just to secure the car and show your intention to buy it was genuine, and then release the car on final payment at a later date?