• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Selling car. Ride along with test drivers?

J

jtvang125

Diamond Member
How many of you ride along with the person? If not, do you just make a copy of their DL? Why if you have no way of making a copy? Do you hold on to it or take a camera picture of it? Sorry for the noob questions.
 
jtvang125 said:
How many of you ride along with the person? If not, do you just make a copy of their DL? Why if you have no way of making a copy? Do you hold on to it or take a camera picture of it? Sorry for the noob questions.
Click to expand...

I trust my gut.... but I generally I just ask them for their keys when I give them mine.

If I sold one of my play cars, no doubt I would be riding along. There are just too many things that one needs to be aware of when driving them.
 
I don't bother but then I'm not selling expensive cars and I have their car.

I had one guy freak out when I test drove his car by myself. I was test driving a car in Cincinnati which I don't know at all and took the car up on a 4 lane to test it at speed. I got off at the first exit expecting to be able to get right back on and back to his house but you couldn't get to the on ramp from that exit. Took me around 15mins to get back to the interstate. I forgot my phone in my car and the guy kept calling me to figure out what was going on and was about to call the cops when I showed back up lol. I bought the car.
 
onza said:
Bring gun + ride along.
Click to expand...

Did this last time with one of my prospective buyers, the guy just gave off weird vibes even though he came in a nice SUV pulling a car trailer and all.. He ended up being a total douche and I sent him on his way.

The guy that actually bought my car was a super nice average guy, rode along with him as well! (minus the ruger) lol
 
Short story:

Looking at a 2 door Yukon earlier this year, ad made it look real good so my friend and I drove about an hour to take it for a test drive. Upon arriving, vehicle was rusted and the interior was pretty shoddy. Well, price wasn't too bad so we said "can we take it for a test drive". Guy hops in the backseat and the whole time I'm driving and asking questions like "why don't the brakes work" or "why does the front end feel like it's completely out of alignment" he's just rattling off BS answers out of his ass. I had planned on stopping and doing a thorough investigation under the hood and under the car, but having him tag along gave me no good opportunity to do so and I ended up promptly leaving after the ride.

Bottom line: if you're going to ride along with someone, know that your "ride along" could potentially end up discouraging the person from buying it as it makes it look like you have something to hide or that you don't trust the person you're about to do business with. If I know someone doesn't trust me, then I don't feel comfortable doing business with them either.
 
Last edited:
I always ride along but I encourage the test driver to thrash or do whatever floats their boat, so the car can live up to their expectations. I also always sell mint cars so I am never worried about someone nitpicking my shit. My cars are well taken care of and have no problems when I sell them.
 
I always rode along. Answer any questions that they have, but don't talk otherwise, just let them drive. A good test-driver will usually tell you what they're going to do before they do it, although most don't (Now I'm going to try a panic stop to check the brakes...now I'm going to make sure that it accelerates smoothly...).
 
ghost recon88 said:
Short story:

Looking at a 2 door Yukon earlier this year, ad made it look real good so my friend and I drove about an hour to take it for a test drive. Upon arriving, vehicle was rusted and the interior was pretty shoddy. Well, price wasn't too bad so we said "can we take it for a test drive". Guy hops in the backseat and the whole time I'm driving and asking questions like "why don't the brakes work" or "why does the front end feel like it's completely out of alignment" he's just rattling off BS answers out of his ass. I had planned on stopping and doing a thorough investigation under the hood and under the car, but having him tag along gave me no good opportunity to do so and I ended up promptly leaving after the ride.

Bottom line: if you're going to ride along with someone, know that your "ride along" could potentially end up discouraging the person from buying it as it makes it look like you have something to hide or that you don't trust the person you're about to do business with. If I know someone doesn't trust me, then I don't feel comfortable doing business with them either.
Click to expand...

No offense intended here, but why wouldn't you do this if the owner was present? The owner isn't your friend, don't worry about putting him off. This is a business deal, nothing more, nothing less.
 
Vic Vega said:
No offense intended here, but why wouldn't you do this if the owner was present? The owner isn't your friend, don't worry about putting him off. This is a business deal, nothing more, nothing less.
Click to expand...

This, and I'd be more than happy to assist in any way assuming i'm not trying to pass off a lemon.
 
Vic Vega said:
No offense intended here, but why wouldn't you do this if the owner was present? The owner isn't your friend, don't worry about putting him off. This is a business deal, nothing more, nothing less.
Click to expand...

Gillbot said:
This, and I'd be more than happy to assist in any way assuming i'm not trying to pass off a lemon.
Click to expand...

Problem is the guy was trying to pass off a lemon 😳 Engine oil was smoking with only "80k miles" and he claimed it had never been in an accident when carfax said otherwise.... yea if I had been a little more serious going into the test drive, I probably would have still checked that stuff, but by that point, save a miracle, there was no chance I was buying it.
 
I probably checked out over 20 Corvettes before I bought my used one back in 92. There were about 5 that I no interest in just after looking at them but of the 15 or so that I wanted to test drive I think only 3 or 4 owners let me go alone......and I was 40ish at the time. I like to go with a potential buyer just to explain some of the quirks and answer any questions they might have.
 
Sorry but if you aren't handing me asking price in cash, then its still MY car and I'm on the hook for however many thousands in damage some random person could cause, insurance or not.. I'm coming along.

Every car I've bought the owner came along too, I expected it and had no problem with it.
 
When I sold my Daytona Shelby, I rode along, and told the drivers only WOT the car when he has both hands on the steering wheel.


He liked the feel and bought the car.



I do ask the owner/sales guy first before I WOT the car I test.
 
Last edited:
When I went to look at our Sport Trac last Summer (2001, ~140k miles on the clock), the guy handed us the keys, told us to take it off by ourselves for a while, and encouraged us to take it on the highway.

We drove around for about 20 minutes, pushed it a little bit, but didn't abuse it. It shifted smoothly, drove nicely, and was ridiculously clean inside and underneath. When we got back, he pointed out every problem with it that he was aware of - small area of peeling paint on the roof, shocks were shot, needed tires, and the thermostat weeps a little bit when warm (turned out to be a common issue with the 4.0L SOHC). He literally did not want us to overlook anything.

I ended up buying it, and I haven't regretted it at all. The fact that he was confident enough to let us take it for a drive on our own, and even encouraged us to test everything out and push it a bit put me at ease.

Someone who wants to be right there to give some BS explanation for why their clunker occasionally doesn't start or reasons why it can't be taken on the highway or anywhere over 20 MPH is a big red flag for me. Similar to the people who have a "mint car, runs and drives PERFECT... but the battery is dead so you can't test drive it." I bet if you showed up with a fresh battery they'd shit themselves.
 
CurseTheSky said:
Someone who wants to be right there to give some BS explanation for why their clunker occasionally doesn't start or reasons why it can't be taken on the highway or anywhere over 20 MPH is a big red flag for me. Similar to the people who have a "mint car, runs and drives PERFECT... but the battery is dead so you can't test drive it." I bet if you showed up with a fresh battery they'd shit themselves.
Click to expand...
This.

I've seen people sell a car with a major problem but "It's like a $30 part I just haven't gotten around to putting it in". Yeah, right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top