Selling/disposing of vehicles

[AIBU76]

Hi all. How does it work to sell or give away or dispose of vehicles, namely car, motorbike and caravan after your relative has died? Can I not do anything until I have grant of probate? No will.

Nope, not until you have probate and only if you are a beneficiary, if there is a will it shouldn't take too long. If there isn't a will, its going to take longer and the vehicles will form part of the estate.

In practice there is nothing to stop you doing what you want with them.

Better to get them sold rather than leave them hanging around.

We passed my mothers old car over to her friend and neighbour after her death where it went on to be useful and working not moldering on the garage

Did you do that before probate? There's no will so I need to go through the process of becoming administrator and then gaining probate. If I have to wait then I need to spend £££ in storage fees

I updated the v5c with a transfer at £0 value into my name of all three of my late DH’s vehicles then sold two and gave one away.

Used the Motorway.com platform and all went very smoothly. Very reassured to have an intermediary between the seller and me. I was concerned that some burly person might show up and just snatch the keys. Or try to pay in cash with false notes.

As his widow and sole beneficiary, I figured who was going to stop me. If no beneficiary wants to claim the car, It would be a lot easier for you to do probate knowing the value of the cars and not needing to store or insure.

good luck.

Thank you. How did you update the v5c into your name? I dont think I can do this.

Can you get hold of the existing V5C amongst the deceased’s effects ? If so, fill in section 2. Transfer my vehicle to a new keeper (not a dealer)

if you can’t find it, and can get to the deceased’s address, you can apply online for a replacement which will be sent to their address. If you are administering the estate you do need access to their ‘stuff’ so. Of collect it from there.

Unlike land and bank accounts there is really nothing to stop you disposing of vehicles

If they were worth a lot of money then that might be different but in most cases they are not

We have literally this morning had my Dad’s car scrapped. We used a reputable scrap dealer who had dealt with it before. I thought I’d have to transfer it to me first but he was able to do it directly. We’ve been issued a Certificate of Destruction which apparently links to the DVLA. He called us late this afternoon and made us check on the gov.uk website and the car no longer exists so it definitely works.

I now need to send the DVLA his driving licence.

Oh and we haven’t got probate yet. But I’m joint executor with my DH and the sole beneficiary (only child of only child parents) so we were told to just get rid of it. We got £200 which we will obviously declare on the probate form.