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Advice for selling a Car after bereavement

U

unclefz

pfm Member
Due to recent bereavement we now have an unwanted car to dispose of and I was looking for advice as to how best to move the car on.

The car is no longer registered in my late Father in Law's name (via 'Tell us Once' Government Berevement system) and therefore unfortunately is no longer taxed either.

As the car isn't taxed (or 'owned via V5), it can't legally be driven on the road and his car insurance will be cancelled too.

The car is presently at his home address and we live about 40 minutes away from there with no means of moving it to us for example so as to advertise it and be in a position to receive viewers more easily as we both still work full time.

In order to sell the car to someone like the dubious 'webuyanycar' type outfits, or indeed garages etc., it would require to be driven to them which obviously is presently not possible.

The car is in generally very good order but there is some damage to the front bumper around the front at the front underneath (fairly minor) and some deeper scratches on the side of the bumper where he unfortunately failed to notice a low bollard in a supermarket car park. This was a low speed incident when reversing out I believe.

This is a very low mileage car (<18k) one owner from new 1.6 Automatic and was first registered in March 2014 (2014 reg).
Apart from the above damage the car has been well maintained and looked after with FSH.

The car is presently fitted with 'Jeff Gosling' hand controls which were professionally fitted for him due to increasingly poor feeling in his feet although with these type of hand controls the car can still be driven using the pedals. I.E. it isn't hand controls only. Their fitting is also easily reversible with no damage to interior trim etc.

Any suggestions as to how to sell this car easily without having to register it to someone in order to tax it first and therefore making it a 'two owner' car would be most welcome.

As this isn't a full blown 'For Sale' advert (surely that would be in the wrong place)? I have left some of the Car details out such as make / model and general location.
 
I presume probate has been granted on his estate and you are an executor of said estate.
 
You could have the car registered in your name; get some short term insurance, have it Mot'ed if necessary. If it is damaged the re-sale price will be effected particularly if you use webuyanycar or similar.

Given it is currently unable to be driven a trade sale would be your best (only?) option. Not sure how there being no registered keeper would impact that.
 
Ring many of the 'we will buy your car' companies and they will come and collect it if they feel they can see a vehicle modified in this way.

You will get bottom book value and they will probably knock some more off for the damage.

Or register, insurer, MOT it and sell it privately - you may get a grand more give or take (hard to value as you havent left any model details etc) - if its worth the hassle, do it, if not, don't.
 
The second hand car market is pretty hot at the moment, you should get a decent price, even from the car supermarket places - WBAC etc.

Personally for the least hassle I would find a recommended local car dealer (ask on here by location), they will happily buy it and collect it (trade plates) assuming you don't need private sale prices.

You could try selling it as a hand control car, might get a bit more money, maybe see if there are forums for motability etc. Would probably need to register the car to yourself and sort tax and insurance etc for that route.
 
Cav said:
You could have the car registered in your name; get some short term insurance, have it Mot'ed if necessary. If it is damaged the re-sale price will be effected particularly if you use webuyanycar or similar.

Given it is currently unable to be driven a trade sale would be your best (only?) option. Not sure how there being no registered keeper would impact that.
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Unless the OP is the legal owner, they cannot sell the vehicle. As Bob McC states, the OP needs to have been left the vehicle and granted probate to have the evidence in place they are the legal owner.
 
We ended up with surplus cars when both my father in law and my father died, with one being a small BMW and the other a Bentley. We insured and taxed both of them as both needed a bit of tidying up and a service before being sold. We actually ended up keeping the BMW (a 1-series) and using it as my daughters car for a while as it was much lower mileage and better overall condition than most cars available 2nd hand. The Bentley was relatively easy to sell privately, but it wouldn't have been if it wasn't legally driveable.
 
Seeker_UK said:
Unless the OP is the legal owner, they cannot sell the vehicle. As Bob McC states, the OP needs to have been left the vehicle and granted probate to have the evidence in place they are the legal owner.
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A very good point, funny the things we don't consider. We had a neighbours house sale delayed months due to a query (not even a problem as such) about probate.
 
Seeker_UK said:
Unless the OP is the legal owner, they cannot sell the vehicle. As Bob McC states, the OP needs to have been left the vehicle and granted probate to have the evidence in place they are the legal owner.
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Yes, I know. I had the same issue with my late brothers car.
 
unclefz said:
Thanks for the comments so far.
The car is MOT'd and ready to drive.

I had considered issues relating to probate (my wife is an executor of the will btw) and there appeasr to be conflicting information out there but this appears useful
https://www.bereavementadvice.org/t...h-and-informing-others/what-to-do-with-a-car/

This is not an expensive car either, far from it as it is a Hyundai model.
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Your reference is directly contradicted here

https://www.devlaw.co.uk/site/wills_solicitors_bristol/administering_an_estate/
 
Nothing on the DVLA site contradicts the need for probate.

There are too many imponderables here.

Is his estate below the probate threshold?

Did he leave a will that stated what happens to his assets ie I want all my assets sold and the money distributed etc. Or did he leave the car to anyone in particular.

when I was executor on 4 occasions it was made quite clear nothing could be got rid of before probate was granted.
 
I know it's not the focus of the thread but it might be worth revealing the model and the price.
 
Bob McC said:
Nothing on the DVLA site contradicts the need for probate.

There are too many imponderables here.

Is his estate below the probate threshold?

Did he leave a will that stated what happens to his assets ie I want all my assets sold and the money distributed etc. Or did he leave the car to anyone in particular.

when I was executor on 4 occasions it was made quite clear nothing could be got rid of before probate was granted.
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OK, just to get things straight here the car is only being sold so it doesn't sit there for months with all that that entails plus the MOT is getting shorter at the same time. His wife also doesn't want it 'hanging around'.

As for the will, its straightforward as it was a joint will with his wife so that everything goes to the surviving spouse, there is nothing for anyone else whatsoever.

The lady in question is 86, doesn't drive and has had nothing to do with any interconnected technology or indeed any of the bills etc. so we have had to sort an awful lot out including moving her to a new retirement address as she is not safe on her own in a large house and also proceeding with the sale of her house.

Any proceeds from a sale would go to her but via escrow. Nothing is getting paid out.

As for probate and the estate. The gentleman in question was a retired bank manager and so had set things up so that they were both on titles etc. so the estate will end up being small but we are not certain at this point how small.

However, information as to what stocks / shares might or might not be in his name only has been applied for but this is hugely and frustratingly slow and so probate is waiting too. 6-12 months has been the quoted timeframe for sorting things out even though this appears (to a layman such as myself) to be relatively straightforward.

This thread was about advice as to how to go about selling a car without tax, with damage and fitted with hand controls not about the legal aspects but thanks to all that have so far responded.
 
roman said:
I know it's not the focus of the thread but it might be worth revealing the model and the price.
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The car is a Hyundai ix20 1.6 Active Automatic.

This a 'for sale' thread as such as I dont think that would be within the forum etiquitte. Merely asking for advice.

As to price I know what its worth generally speaking but there are some aspects which will of course depress the price. The price ends up being what someone wants to pay for it so its like anything else secondhand.
 
unclefz said:
OK, just to get things straight here the car is only being sold so it doesn't sit there for months with all that that entails plus the MOT is getting shorter at the same time. His wife also doesn't want it 'hanging around'.

As for the will, its straightforward as it was a joint will with his wife so that everything goes to the surviving spouse, there is nothing for anyone else whatsoever.

The lady in question is 86, doesn't drive and has had nothing to do with any interconnected technology or indeed any of the bills etc. so we have had to sort an awful lot out including moving her to a new retirement address as she is not safe on her own in a large house and also proceeding with the sale of her house.

Any proceeds from a sale would go to her but via escrow. Nothing is getting paid out.

As for probate and the estate. The gentleman in question was a retired bank manager and so had set things up so that they were both on titles etc. so the estate will end up being small but we are not certain at this point how small.

However, information as to what stocks / shares might or might not be in his name only has been applied for but this is hugely and frustratingly slow and so probate is waiting too. 6-12 months has been the quoted timeframe for sorting things out even though this appears (to a layman such as myself) to be relatively straightforward.

This thread was about advice as to how to go about selling a car without tax, with damage and fitted with hand controls not about the legal aspects but thanks to all that have so far responded.
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Fine, just as long as you realise executors are personally responsible for the fall out for not complying with the law regarding probate and for any consequent financial problems this could cause the estate.

As you have described above you do not have the authority to sell the car.
 
Bob McC said:
Fine, just as long as you realise executors are personally responsible for the fall out for not complying with the law regarding probate and for any consequent financial problems this could cause the estate.

As you have described above you do not have the authority to sell the car.
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Thanks for your answers and thoughts both here and above. I am not intending here to be rude by the way and all information is gratefully received.

As there is so much conflicting information around both here and elsewhere, I decided to speak directly with DVLA on the probate issue.

As I have stated earlier in this thread, the 'Tell us Once' Government service https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once was used to tell the Government departments about the bereavement for this DVLA and other matters. This is how the logbook has been changed officially (but obviously not the paper version yet) to state there is presently no owner and the remaining road tax has already been refunded. The relevant section for new ownership etc. of the V5 needs to be completed and passed on / returned to DVLA.

DVLA have no issues with the car being sold on, transferred or scrapped and there is no need to wait for probate.

I asked twice on the probate issue and the definative answer from DVLA is there is no problem selling / scraping / passing it on within the family etc. as long as the 'interested party' (my mother in Law) has said this is what she wants which is indeed the case. There appear therefore to be no legal issues with a sale.

I hope therefore that this snippet of information is useful to others although I would always advocate checking first.

Most of the sites that I have seen which tend to say 'Whoa there boy you need to check in with us first as we can advise' are from solicitors / solicitors web sites who no doubt want to get their grubby paws on some 'easy money' for their (expensive) 'advice'.

So, any other ideas / thoughts about the actual task of selling it with the constraints listed in the first post?
 
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