My beloved Berlingo, bought over 16 years ago and with almost 450,000 kms on the clock is going to be sold to my neighbour. He insists, I tried very hard to point out all its faults (the kms and the err…) all to no avail.
It isn’t due for CT 'till August next year but he says it has to be done, is that right? He seems to think I should pay for that out of the €2,000 I refused to budge from. I don’t agree but they are very good neighbours and I don’t want to make too much fuss but what if it fails? Does that take precedence over the pass it already has?
I know I sound as if I am trying to wriggle out of the sale. Maybe I am.
If a private individual sells a car, it needs to have had a CT inspection within 6 months of the sale date so I think that legally and morally this one is down to you David.
Yep, @David_Spardo the date when the CT was done… must be less than 6 months at time of Sale and it’s down to the Seller to get this done and to pay for it…
this is to ensure the Buyer is aware of the situation of the Vehicle.
the Vehicle doesn’t need to have “passed” but that piece of paper is very, very important… as it will show what has been tested and what (if anything) has “been found wanting”…
Thanks I suspected as much but I thought it might just be more than 6 months to the next one which, of course, is 10 months away.
If it fails and I refuse to pay to repair it, is it automatically then out of CT or does my current certificate still run?
Having quoted €2,000 as a purchase price mainly instead of just saying no, I worry if I have set myself up for a lot of needless expense.
Thanks @Stella I am inclined to go round and say no to a CT and call off the sale.
Just checked and it failed on emission the first time last year and the 2 tests plus the rectification cost €100. What if it fails this time on something else, and costs even more to get through? I either pay even more out that I wasn’t expecting to pay, but also will have forfeited the remaining 10 months before I had to worry again.
You can still sell the car even if it fails the CT, but I’d expect the buyer to use the failure points to negotiate a price reduction.
If you have a friendly local garagiste, you could ask them (as @Mark suggested) to carry out a pre-CT check. Unfortunately it will cost you, but it should improve the likelihood of a first time CT pass.
As soon as you take it for the CT test, the existing windscreen sticker will be removed and destroyed. If the car fails, you will have 2 months to repair it and submit the car for the €20 Contre Visite, and a new sticker will be put on the windscreen showing the date when the two months expires. After that date you would have to pay for a full re-inspection. So no, your current certificate would no longer be valid.
If the car passes you will of course get a two year sticker.
This is exactly what happened to me a couple of days ago. The CT wasn’t due until Feb 25 but I wanted it done early. Unfortunately it failed on a couple of relatively minor things (fuel filler cap and headlight dipped beam adjustment), and so my windscreen now sports a sticker with a date of 20/12/24.
Well thank you severally for that definitive information. So there is nothing I can do apart from explain to my friend and cancel the sale. I have been quite happy with it sitting there, battery disconnected, for occasional use very locally so why should I pay for even a pass while risking greater cost without one?
This whole thing wouldn’t have arisen if I had merely said it isn’t for sale, instead of which I named what I thought was an impossibly high price and it’s come back to bite me.
Surely, if it passes, then the reward outweighs the risk? If it fails then you’re only out the cost of the test as you don’t need to fix it, just sell it to a recycler.
Well you’re going to have to get rid of it some day David and if the price is that high you’ve in effect factored in the CT and even some minor repairs. You won’t have to pay insurance on it any more or worry about further deterioration (probably depreciation is a thing of the past). If I was you I’d let it go.
I had a 2000 Merc 320 SL, an R129 the last of the well built SLs, classic silver, black nappa leather, pretty well since new (the guy who bought it new couldn’t afford it and returned it poste-haste) and we loved, loads of very happy memories, but I sold here about five years ago for the reasons mentioned above. Likewise a little rally prepared mini I had. I now even think it may be time for my late wife’s 306 convertible, which has been a family per for twenty years, to go. I miss the Merc, and the Mini and will probably miss the 306 but there’s no sense in hanging on to them for nostalgic reasons and not driving them. Let others benefit from them too.
Here they are in our “winter wonderland” ten years ago That’s when we couldn’t get out of the drive so I bought the first 4X4 Tiguan to replace a new Golf GTD we’d bought only the year before.
Just wondering… you use the car infrequently…
but, infrequently or not… what will you use when you no longer have that car??
OH got rid of our 406 in 2014 and we thought it was the right move to make… we got a smaller car.
So many times since then… we’ve regretted not keeping it… aaargh.
If there is something wrong with the main car, the Partner, I will have to rely on the kindness and availability of neighbours and other friends. There is no public transport of any kind here and the nearest of anything, shops bars etc, is 4kms away.
Anyway, the die is cast, I saw Mario a few mnutes ago and explained my problem, that at the moment I have a fully working back up car for the next 10 months and maybe longer at possibly small cost, whereas if I let it go to CT and it fails I have only the cost of repair or a white elephant on the driveway. Either way I lose a great deal of what I have.
He looked at the last CT and, of course there were many small ‘advisables’ which though not constituting a fail, might be an indication of more serious costs next year. So, he proposed to pay, instead of €2,000, €1,500 and he will pay all and any costs of the CT. You may think I am daft, but I said no. He understands and we are still friends, and I feel a weight has lifted off my shoulders.
One last thing which I had omitted to mention. The Partner at the moment is a 2 seater because of a cage and other dog space in the back, whereas the Berlingo is a fully operational 5 seater which in 1 minute can be converted to a 2 with dog space. Very useful to have when needing to pick up more than one passenger from time to time.
Why not agree to let him have it in 8 months? Then you don’t lose anything whichever way the CT goes, and you might do someone some good who will make more use of the car.
pretty well since new (the guy who bought it new couldn’t afford it and returned it poste-haste) and we loved, loads of very happy memories, but I sold here about five years ago for the reasons mentioned above. Likewise a little rally prepared mini I had. I now even think it may be time for my late wife’s 306 convertible, which has been a family per for twenty years, to go. I miss the Merc, and the Mini and will probably miss the 306 but there’s no sense in hanging on to them for nostalgic reasons and not driving them. Let others benefit from them too.
That’s when we couldn’t get out of the drive so I bought the first 4X4 Tiguan to replace a new Golf GTD we’d bought only the year before.
