"I'm selling it for a friend" sounds like a favour. On a used car it's the line that removes the one person who could answer for the car from the conversation, before you've asked a single question. Sometimes that's all it is: a mate helping out, a family sorting out a relative's car. Sometimes it's the cover story for a car that isn't theirs to sell.
The good news is that telling the two apart doesn't take any special knowledge. It takes three questions and a look at the log book, and a genuine seller won't mind any of them.
What is the "selling for a friend" car scam?
It's a private sale where the person selling isn't the registered keeper and says they're selling on someone else's behalf: a friend, a relative, a late father, someone working abroad. The story explains away everything that would normally worry you. The name on the log book isn't theirs, they don't know the history, and there's no one to come back to afterwards.
That's exactly why it gets used. The same story covers a stolen car, a car with finance still owing, a car on cloned plates, and a trader selling cars as a private individual. None of those people wants to be the name you can find later.
Is selling a car for a friend always a scam?
No, and treating every one as a scam will cost you a good car now and then. People genuinely sell cars for a parent who's stopped driving, for a relative who's died, or for a friend who's moved away. What separates the genuine ones isn't the story, it's whether the person the story is about can be reached.
A genuine "friend" sale has the keeper somewhere in it. You can speak to them on the phone, the log book shows their name and address, and the viewing happens where the car lives. A scam keeps the keeper permanently out of reach: abroad, in hospital, too busy, "doesn't do phones".
| Genuine | Worth walking away from |
|---|---|
| The keeper will talk to you, and their name matches the log book | The keeper can't be reached, ever, for any reason |
| The viewing is at the address on the V5C | The viewing's in a car park, a lay-by or "near the station" |
| The seller can show you the log book | The log book's "been sent off" or is "with the friend" |
| The story about the car matches the records | The friend's "had it for years" but the log book was issued last month |
| Payment goes to the registered keeper's account | Payment goes to the seller, a third party or a "holding account" |
| No deposit before you've seen it | A deposit to hold it, or a courier to deliver it |
What can go wrong if you buy it anyway?
It depends which story the friend was covering for, and two of them are much worse than the others.
The car's stolen. Under section 21 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, "the buyer acquires no better title to the goods than the seller had". Someone who isn't the owner and has no authority from the owner generally can't pass ownership on, so the car goes back to whoever it was taken from and you're left chasing a seller who's vanished. How to check if a car is stolen covers the checks that catch it.
There's finance on it. This one's less brutal. A private buyer who buys in good faith, without knowing about the agreement, is generally protected by Part III of the Hire-Purchase Act 1964 and keeps the car. But "generally protected" means letters, evidence and a lender to argue with, and outstanding finance on a used car explains where the protection stops.
It's a trader in disguise. A business selling cars has to sell them of satisfactory quality, and a private seller doesn't. A trader posing as somebody's friend is selling you a dealer's car with a private seller's comeback, which in practice is almost none, because you'd first have to prove they were trading. A dealer posing as a private seller covers the tells.
It's on cloned plates. The registration belongs to an honest car somewhere else, so every check on the plate comes back clean. Only matching the vehicle identification number on the car to the one on the log book catches it.
What should you ask a seller who's selling for a friend?
Three questions, before you travel:
- Whose name is on the V5C, and can I speak to them? A genuine seller says yes and gives you a number. Anything else is your answer.
- Can I see the car at the address on the log book? That's where the keeper lives and where the car should be.
- How long has your friend had it? Then check the answer against the date the latest log book was issued, which the free DVLA vehicle enquiry shows on any registration. "Years" against a log book issued last month doesn't fit.
A friend who can't answer the history questions isn't automatically lying. But the history questions are where the money is: when the cambelt was done on a Ford Focus, whether the known faults on a VW Golf have been dealt with. If the only person who knows is the one you can't speak to, you're buying without the answers.
Check the history before you hand over money
A Provenance Check covers the four things no free lookup includes: outstanding finance, theft markers, insurance write-off category and recorded mileage discrepancies.
Run a provenance check →What should you check on the log book?
The V5C records the registered keeper, not the owner. The Department for Transport has said in as many words that buyers often mistakenly believe it's proof of ownership and that it isn't, so a log book in a friend's name proves nothing about whether the seller can sell the car. What it can do is catch the obvious frauds:
- The name and address should be the keeper you've just spoken to, and the viewing should be at that address.
- The serial number shouldn't fall in the ranges of blank log books stolen from DVLA, which GOV.UK publishes, and the document should carry a DVL watermark.
- The VIN on the log book should match the one on the car, character for character.
The V5C logbook check goes through all three properly. And if there's no log book at all, stop: DVLA advises that you shouldn't buy a vehicle that doesn't have one.
How should you pay if you go ahead?
To the registered keeper, by bank transfer, at the viewing, with a receipt that names both of you. Not to the friend, not to a third party, not to an account the seller says is safer. If the keeper genuinely wants the money, they'll give you their account details; if the seller won't let you pay the person on the log book, that's the whole story.
And never pay a deposit on a car you haven't seen. "Selling for a friend" plus "they're abroad" plus "pay a deposit and I'll send it on a transporter" is the full shape of the deposit scam, and no genuine seller needs your money before you've seen the car. Facebook Marketplace car scams goes through it and the shipping story in full.
Which of these checks can a report do for you?
Some of the most important ones, and it's worth being straight about which. We don't hold records nobody else has. Finance comes from the lenders, theft markers from the police and write-off records from the insurers, and every paid check draws on those same registers. What we add is the reading: the advert, the official records and the seller's story put side by side, so the bit that doesn't fit stands out.
| What you need to know | What answers it |
|---|---|
| Is the keeper's story consistent with the log book? | The free scan checks the date the latest log book was issued against what the advert says about ownership |
| Is there finance, a theft marker or a write-off? | The Provenance Check |
| How long has the current keeper had it, and how often has it changed hands? | The Provenance Check's keeper history, with the date of each change |
| Is the keeper really who the seller says? Is the VIN right? | You, with the log book and the keeper on the phone |
For a car being sold for a friend, the Provenance Check is the one that does the job, because the two outcomes that cost you most, theft and finance, are exactly what it looks for, and it puts each change of keeper on a dated timeline, so "my mate's had it for years" meets the record. Those results are scored into the report's verdict rather than listed underneath it, and it includes the full Smart Check, so the known faults for that model and the questions to put to the seller come too.
What no check can do is tell you who's standing in front of you. A clean record on a cloned car belongs to the honest car the plate was copied from, which is why the VIN on the car and the keeper on the phone stay your job.
So what should you actually do? Before you agree to a viewing, run the free scan on the advert and the registration. It reads the advert against the official records, including the log book date, and gives you a verdict, free. If the story still needs testing, the free report upgrades to a Provenance Check on the same link with nothing re-run, so the finance, theft and keeper history arrive in the same report you already have.
