When can private car sales resume under lockdown?

You recommend waiting until the lockdown is over before trying to sell a car privately. At what stage during the Government road map out of lockdown for England do you think private selling may become feasible?

Asked on 22 March 2021 by Drayton

Answered by Georgia Petrie
Tough question as the roadmap stages each depend on the R number and the like, so the dates could move. The roadmap also isn't that specific at the moment. That said, if we look specifically at the wording for step 1 of the roadmap, it says: "The ‘stay at home’ rule will end on 29 March but many restrictions will remain in place. People should continue to work from home where they can and minimise the number of journeys they make where possible, avoiding travel at the busiest times and routes."

To me, that would perhaps mean you can have a potential buyer round to buy a car even if it isn't essential - but you have to then decide if it's worth the risk and how you need to safely go about with the sale (social distancing, masks, only meeting outside etc). Test drives with you both in the car would be a no-go as long as social distancing between households needs maintaining. I'm afraid we can't be more specific as the roadmap itself doesn't actually go into much detail and is very business-focussed - i.e. which types of businesses are considered essential/can or cannot open.

As the dates approach, we'll hopefully get some more clarity from the Gov and relevant bodies that we can then publicise for consumers who want to know about buying and selling cars, visiting hand car washes, getting non-essential work done etc. At the end of the day, the goal is to reduce the number of people in the hospital with Covid and to prevent the spread of the coronavirus - so you just have to ensure that you're following the current Covid guidance and legislation.

The Gov roadmap is here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-respon...y
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