If I sell my car to a friend, but still use it. Can bailiffs still take it?

Yes

If the enforcement power is a High Court writ, the issue of the writ to the bailiff binds the property in all the debtors goods.^[1]

If the enforcement power is not a High Court writ, then the debtor being given the Notice of Enforcement,^[2][3] binds the property in all the debtors goods.^[4]

The effect of binding the property in the debtors goods means that any sale or transfer is disregarded, and the bailiff can still take and sell them to pay the debt.^[5]

The exclusion to this rule is when the buyer or acquirer bought the goods honestly and without knowing they were bound goods.^[6]

If the car is sold, regardless whether the debtor still drives it, for example, a logbook loan was taken out and the bill of sale was given for the car, the car cannot be taken, provided you can show the sale took place before it became bound goods.

In 2015, a deputy district judge did get round this rule, and said the sale of the car was a "sham",^[7] but there has never been any enforcement regulation enabling a deputy district judge to defeat the law in this way.

If the address on the enforcement power is not the current address for the debtor, then that is evidence the Notice of Enforcement was not given by post,^[8] and the bailiff cannot take control of the car, or the owner may make a third party claim to recover it.^[9][10]

^{[1] Paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[2] Paragraph 7.1 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[3] See Bailiff did not give a Notice of Enforcement
[4] Paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[5] Paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[6] Paragraph 5(3) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[7] Deputy District Judge Rowland, Croydon County Court, Larnyou vs. LB Croydon & Newlyn Plc. 2 July 2015
[8] Section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978
[9] Civil Procedure Rule 85.4
[10] See Making a third-party claim to controlled goods}