[The_AK]

When selling your car, what steps do you take to avoid test pilots?

[GabAlmighty]

Feel em out with your intuition

[lowside67]

What kind of car do you have? Half the time I see people going "NO TEST DRIVES, NO TEST PILOTS, NO LOOKING AT MY CAR WITHOUT CASH IN HAND" it's when they are selling a shitty clapped out 89 240SX or a family car like a TSX that nobody wants to joyride for no reason... be reasonable, is your car actually one that somebody would take time out from there day, drive all the way out to your place, and pretend to want to buy it, just to take it for a drive with you in the passenger seat?

Mark

[AVS_Racing]

or you drive them around??

[Yodamaster]

Test driving a car is a rather important part of buying one, you can't expect people to buy a car without making sure it drives straight for god's sake.

[duy-]

I don't take any steps to avoid test drives, as a matter of fact I'd want them to drive it for themselves to feel out the car and so there's no surprises later. never had test pilots being the issue, if they're serious enough and ask the right questions, spend the time to come out and inspect it, the last thing on the list is the test drive. if they seem like a total tool, tell them no test drives.
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[meme405]

Like someone above said, unless you have a reason to suspect a lot of people will want to test drive your car for shits and giggles, I dont see why you would need to do anything besides feel the person out to see if they are serious.

I could understand if you had an GTR, or SLS or any other high end super car, or even a tuned high HP car.

Somehow I dont think someone is going to waste their time coming to meet up, and going through all the motions to have 5 minutes of fun in a toyota camry.

[BBMme]

A deposit would help, at least it shows that they are serious
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[320icar]

Don't give them the keys? Pretty simple.

Edit: make sure they aren't an idiot before you even let them get close. From the bmw world, I've known friends who were selling vehicles. Gave the looker the keys to start it up (not test drive it) and they redlined it in park and blew the transmission. Moral of the story is, use your gut feeling before handing over the keys
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[i-vtecyo]

For me when i was selling the MR2, i would only let people who brought a deposit test drive the car otherwise i'd take them around in it.

[lowside67]

Gave the looker the keys to start it up (not test drive it) and they redlined it in park and blew the transmission.
Err... that's about as likely as losing the floorboards out on your Eclipse during a 10 second drag race as a result of blowing the welds on your intake manifold.

IE never.

Mark

[The_AK]

Don't give them the keys? Pretty simple.

Edit: make sure they aren't an idiot before you even let them get close. From the bmw world, I've known friends who were selling vehicles. Gave the looker the keys to start it up (not test drive it) and they redlined it in park and blew the transmission. Moral of the story is, use your gut feeling before handing over the keys
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Car Falls Apart FAIL - YouTube

[Gridlock]

Anytime I see in an ad, "no test pilots"...sorry, its always in CAPS, "OMG, NO TEST PILOTS!!!!" I think one thing...dick.

It puts the perspective on your car in a completely different light. Now I'm looking to see what the big deal is...and 9 times out of 10...it doesn't measure up.

When you are selling a classic Pantera, and you have a goofy looking kid standing in your driveway with pants that are too big...guess what? He has no intention of buying your car.

Use logic.

What else?

Go with them. No one is going to light it up when you are sitting in the passenger seat.

Oh, its a 2 seater? No worries...I can go with you, and I can go around the block with 15 of your friends here, even the expert mechanic and after you can trade notes. But my ass is planted in the car if its leaving.

You are selling a car, and I'm trying to buy it. If you want to treat me like a crook, then I don't want to buy your car.

[Bouncing Bettys]

What do you have against test pilots?
http://i.imgur.com/MzCBB.jpg

[Great68]

Chuck Yeager was a fucking boss.

Back on topic, when I sold my last couple of cars I went so far as to offer them a test drive without them even asking for one. I mean, why not? It helps solidify the sale and price. Of course, I'd never let a stranger drive one of my cars without me in it.

I'd never buy a car that I can't test drive first.

And like everyone else says, use your common sense. Unless you drive something super rare and/or expensive, you're just being a douche by not allowing test drives.

[Lomac]

Don't give them the keys? Pretty simple.

Edit: make sure they aren't an idiot before you even let them get close. From the bmw world, I've known friends who were selling vehicles. Gave the looker the keys to start it up (not test drive it) and they redlined it in park and blew the transmission. Moral of the story is, use your gut feeling before handing over the keys
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:lol

How do you blow a transmission when the car is parked? :suspicious:



On topic: Unless you drive some super fast, super rare car, you don't really have to worry about test pilots. However, if someone simply walks up to you and asks immediately for a test drive without asking about any repairs or other information about the car, then just say no. If someone is truly interested in buying the car, they'll try to get a feel for the shape it's in even before they ask to take it around the block.

If I see an ad that states "no test drives without cash in hand," I pass it by. There's no way I'm going to buy a car without test driving it, and I'm not going to carry thousands of dollars around in my pocket. Buying a car is a bit more involved than seeing something online and saying, "I'll take it!" I was looking at a BMW E36 328is a couple months back. The owner actually took me to a secluded industrial park and told me to beat the shit out of it during the test drive. That alone almost made me want to buy it. :lol




edit: Are you wanting to prevent test drives in general, or just people who want to drive the car solely for the sake of driving it?

[keifun]

Agree with most of you guys here. Those selling their cars with "no test drives" or "no test drives without cash in hand" are generally douches that are selling their riced out 4-banger rice rocket anyways. I just look past those posts.

[freakshow]

I've known friends who were selling vehicles. Gave the looker the keys to start it up (not test drive it) and they redlined it in park and blew the transmission. Moral of the story is, use your gut feeling before handing over the keys
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No, the moral of the story is that your friends were trying to sell a bunk car. If you redline the engine, then the transmission blows.. you were scamming them.

[320icar]

If anyone of you knew anything about older 5 series bmw's and the shitty gm unit they used, it is sensitive to certain scenarios of dumbass redlining.

I should never assume anyone on revscene actually knows fuck all about cars
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[punkwax]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/300x300/38694112.jpg

[Great68]

If someone got in my car and started redlining it for no reason, I'd punch them in the face and throw them out of my car.

[FerrariEnzo]

Feel em out
Fixed!

If they wont let you test drive them, dont let them test drive you! :badpokerface:

[JesseBlue]

how about ask for their license? it'll have their address there..

[lowside67]

If anyone of you knew anything about older 5 series bmw's and the shitty gm unit they used, it is sensitive to certain scenarios of dumbass redlining.

I should never assume anyone on revscene actually knows fuck all about cars
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Are you for real? No matter how shitty of a GM-produced transmission was in the 5 series, there is no load on the transmission when the car is in Park. Redlining a car when it's parked isn't good for anything but will not blow a transmission up, give me a break.

Sincerely,
Somebody who knows a little about older BMWs

[dared3vil0]

Wouldn't redlining it in park be the same as redlining it in neutral...? I just don't see how transmission damage is possible when, ya know, the transmission isn't really doing anything?

[Phil@rise]

I've owned over 30 cars in my life and have never bought one I couldnt test drive unless it was so cheap it didnt matter if something was really wrong with it.

[The_AK]

How about letting someone drive your car but they choose to beat on it, anyone ever experience that? Few days ago some older woman tried to drive my car and was redlining questioning defuq to do. Told her car is not for her after pulling the keys out.
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[hk20000]

Columbia Chrysler's policy is that if you are looking at a certain kind of car, we don't talk prices until you get to do a test drive with us at least. No point grinding on prices and then the customer come and tell us they want to walk because there is not enough grunt or other nuances that price cannot fix.

[boostfever]

Are you for real? No matter how shitty of a GM-produced transmission was in the 5 series, there is no load on the transmission when the car is in Park. Redlining a car when it's parked isn't good for anything but will not blow a transmission up, give me a break.

Sincerely,
Somebody who knows a little about older BMWs

maybe it was in N and the guy put it in D when it was still at high-revs.

[riley_]

You can usually tell immediately if someone is genuinely interested in your vehicle or they're just here to go from a test drive. When I sold my vehicle I had the "No test pilots" line in my ad as well but I still had 4-5 people that came just to take the car for a spin. But to be honest, as long as the interested party isn't redlining the car and driving it like they stole it then I don't have any issues.

Just to be stern when you feel like your car can potentially be damaged and respectfully say no.

[lowside67]

maybe it was in N and the guy put it in D when it was still at high-revs.
While that could do some damage, it is in no way consistent with 320douche's story that while the car was stopped, in park, redlining it somehow blew the transmission.

Mark

[- kT]

blown tranny from redlining in park - i lol'd pretty hard
if you're gonna make something up, at least try to have it make sense? :pokerface:
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[The_AK]

blown tranny from redlining in park - i lol'd pretty hard
if you're gonna make something up, at least try to have it make sense? :pokerface:
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Maybe it was an automatic, person but the car in drive and held down brakes while attempting to redline?

That might actually be plausible... might

[Lomac]

I've owned over 30 cars in my life and have never bought one I couldnt test drive unless it was so cheap it didnt matter if something was really wrong with it.

Yeah, I've only bought one car sight unseen and without test driving it. Only reason I did that is because I bought it as a parts car and didn't give a rats ass about how it drove. Every other time, however, a test drive was necessary. A car can look and sound good, just idling in the parking lot, but driving it can reveal a lot of different things that can go unnoticed when it's just sitting, including CEL's that the owner tried to clear before you came by.

[UFO]

I've always offered to take people out in the car, then only let them drive it if I assess they are very serious, one of the latter steps in the sale process. I've never owned sold anything rare or exotic, odds are those people have taken similar cars out for drives so they are familiar with what to expect already.

My bigger issue is WHAT IF an accident were to occur with the test driver driving being at fault? It would be on my insurance, my premium would take the hit, and I would have a car that has damage on it at the worst time possible (when trying to sell). And obviously that driver would no longer want to buy the car, just makes the situation more difficult. Part of the hassle of private sales. But like I said I've never had any issues selling my car privately this way. I just price my cars low enough that there's always good interest, but still more than I'd get back from trade-in.

[alf]

if you want to sell your used car, your going to have to deal with test drives!
if i don't get to test drive a used car, i will not buy it, plain and simple
yes its possibly a waste of your time, but if you don't want the hassles, then just trade in your car to get a new car, much faster and don't have to deal with a private sale