Should You Sell A Vehicle To A Friend Or Relative?
Most of us have sold a car, motorcycle, or other kind of mechanical vehicle at some point. Some of us have even sold such items to a friend or family member, maybe with mixed results.
I have buddies who won't even entertain selling something like a car to someone they know because of fear it will break and there might in the end be some kind of bad blood. I'm on this fence with this thought, depending on who wants to buy from me.
I'm a full disclosure guy, so if I'm selling something, the buyer will be made fully aware of everything I know might be an issue with it. I am as open and honest as I would hope someone I'm buying from would be with me. Sometimes though, no matter how honest you are, people still can get upset when something breaks right away.
I encountered this with a couple year old and really truly like new camper I sold to a stranger. He had issues a couple of months later with the fridge and nonstop called me all upset, like I somehow knew it would be a problem for him. I even patiently tried to walk him through troubleshooting it, and somehow I was still the bad guy. So back to the point of selling to friends or family, is it a good idea? Because mechanical things can break at any time.
For me it all depends on what I'm selling and it's condition, and also how well I know who is interested in buying it. I had a truck before that I knew was going to have issues in the near future and refused to sell it to a friend, even though I disclosed everything, I knew they wouldn't have the ability to fix it cheaply and it might cause bad blood.
I recently sold a 2002 motorcycle to a friend. It had been in an accident with some cosmetic damage, but even for it's age has a lot of life left in it. I also know he's mechanically inclined to fix anything a bike of that age might throw at him problem wise. In this case it was actually easier selling it to him rather than someone from the general public as we both trust each other and aren't out to play games or swindle each other. I have a handful of those friends and family members I would sell to, or buy from, because of the mutual respect levels.
So my thoughts on selling a vehicle to someone you know are to go for it if they are on that same level of reasonable as you are. If you have any doubts of doing it though because of how they can be, it's probably best to pass on selling to someone close to you, even if that in itself might cause some relationship heartburn.
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