Just like the title said. I'm selling my inlaw's car (they moved to another country). My neighbor came up to me while I was preping it for pictures. She found out that I was selling and wanted to get the first dib.
I was just wondering if any of you have good or bad situation after selling to your next door neighbor? So far we get along fine, I just don't want any unexpected events after the sale (if I decided to sell to her )
Thanks for input.

 

I can't think of any pros, but there are a bunch of cons. The obvious one is if anything goes wrong she goes right back to you. She'll also expect a deal since she's your neighbour.

 

I say negative as well. I sold my 92 Accord to my uncle. We agreed on $2100 and I listed all the little nicks. He drove it back and called my mom to tell her that repainting will cost $900, so he's going to give us $1200. WTF, you know?! My mom didn't have to face to tell him no, so I called him and went pretty harsh on him. Eventually he caved, since it was him being uber shady anyway. We've never been called up for the holiday dinners ever again. That's actually a for me, but I suppose if you did like them, it'd suck.

 

just tell her that as far as you know there is nothing wrong with the car, but you recommend that they take it to a mechanic to have it checked out before making the decision to buy it. if she says it's not necessary to have the mechanic check it out, then just tell her that that is her choice and if anything goes wrong with it afterwards, you won't be responsible for it. the bottom line is to make it 100% understood between the 2 parties that the car will be sold as is, and that once sold you are relieved of any and all responsibilities.

 

And if you're lucky and it turns out it is a fine car without problems they'll thank you for the deal.

 

totally.

 

Just tell her you can get $X for this car and if she cannot match it or come damn close, then you will have to sell it to someone else since your in laws really need the money.

 

The only pro is the ease of making a quick sale. Almost all cons to me. You're going to hear about every little maintenance issue.

 

Thanks for all your replies. Those are some great input. We did talk a little bit about release of liabilities. She totally understand that once sold it is now the responsibility of the new owner if anything was to go wrong. But I like the idea of recommending her to get a mechanic to look at it before she makes the decision. I'll need to keep my options open. But thanks again guys.

 

If you do, proceed as if you didn't know her - I always had people I sold my cars to sign a short document saying they were purchasing such and such car at such and such mileage in AS-IS CONDITION from such and such person and as of this date releasing the selling party (ie: me) from all liability now and in the future.

Essentially, I'm buying this car from you, it's my responsiblity after I buy it and I'm not going to go back to you to fix this ding here or this ding there, I'm buying it as it stands today and that's that.

If you want to knock a bit off of the price as it's a neighbor that's up to you, but as far as any of the paperwork or legal stuff goes, I'd proceed as if it was a stranger. If she doens't take it to a mechanic that's her own damn fault, for me that's STANDARD procedure when looking at used cars, whether off a lot or a private party.