Selling your second-hand car
New option offered by nationwide car sales chain
A NATIONWIDE car sales chain has become the first in France to offer simply to buy people’s second-hand cars rather than take them in part-exchange.
AramisAuto, which has 16 branches, offers to give a rough price estimate for cars less than 10 years old on its site www.aramis-auto.com in a few minutes (older ones may be bought, but you need to visit in person) and if interested you can visit a branch for a definitive one. A purchase offer, valid for seven days, is made and you can be paid in cash.
A spokeswoman said: “Firms always offer to take cars in return for people buying one of theirs, so what we are doing is unheard of. Otherwise you had to sell your car in the press or on the internet on sites like www.leboncoin.fr”.
She added the firm would take cars without a contrôle technique (French MOT test) and organise sale paperwork.
If, on the other hand, you want to sell your car in the traditional way, you need to choose where to advertise and deal directly with potential buyers, as follows:
- The car has to have passed a contrôle technique in the previous six months.
- You need to work out a suitable selling price. A trusted way of doing this is to use www. argusauto.com/cote (on the site of the best-known car sales magazine).
- You may wish to take out a temporary insurance policy called a garantie mecanique or garantie assistance réparation. This, similar to the guarantees provided with new cars, is transferred to the buyer and reassures them they will have free repairs for a set period if there are any mechanical or electrical problems.
- Hand over: the Carte grise (formally, the certificat d’immatriculation), on which you write the buyer’s details and sign and date it; a vehicle sale form (déclaration de cession d’un véhicule, which can be found at: http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/R20300.xhtml), keeping a copy yourself and sending one to the prefecture; photocopies of proof of your identity and addres; a certificat de situation administrative, which proves the car is not subject to any legal or financial restrictions (apply at the prefecture or, if there are no particular problems, print off a simple version at https://siv.interieur.gouv.fr/map-usg-ui/do/accueil_certificat
Although it is common to see cars parked on the roadside with sale notices in the windows, this is illegal unless you have previously applied for a licence for holding a vente au déballage (an outdoor sale) from the prefecture or mairie. It is punishable by a fine of €90-€375.
