when a potential buyer comes around to look at a car I have for sale, I have always just chucked the potential buyers the keys and said go for it. After going to check out a car at a car yard the other day and being asked to give them a copy of my license before test driving, I couldnt help but wonder if any private sellers take any precautions before handing over their car keys to potential buyers. Any thoughts.
shaun16,
Dec 27, 5:08am
my brother bought a car the other day, it was only a $1400 car, i jumped in the passengers seat, and then to my surprise the owner jumped in the back and came with us. personally when i've sold cars, i've just let them take them themselves, however theyre usually cheapish cars anyway.
flitt,
Dec 27, 5:22am
Yeah, I'll certainly take precautions if I have suspicions. Probably not if I don't.
thewomble1,
Dec 27, 5:40am
I had to sign an insurance form as well as the car dealer photo copied my license and then came in the car while I test drove it.Another time the dealer copied my license and came for the ride. Thought the insurance signing was going too far.
friendly_prawn,
Dec 27, 5:42am
thats probably a simple solution. jump in the car with them. Problemo solved.
friendly_prawn,
Dec 27, 5:42am
talking about private sellers.
familiadude,
Dec 27, 5:48am
I always go with them. when we went to look at a starlet in rotorua we met them in the mcd's carpark and we said oh yeah we want to go for a drive and I said do you want to come with us they replied oh na its alright
unbeatabull,
Dec 27, 6:25am
I go with them if car allows, have sold 2 seater cars before where I have just held the keys to their car instead when they have roadtested.
intrade,
Dec 27, 6:34am
well you never let them drive the car on there own you always go with em as you dont know if they go down the road and do burnouts then come back and say sorry dont like it. or worse just dont even come back at all.
ginga4lyfe,
Dec 27, 6:36am
I always jump in the passangers seat myself. the car is a valuable item. and the police are slack at best. so why not take extra precaution!
male_timaru,
Dec 27, 7:11am
Certainly do FP- even go with them - or even (in most cases for younger guys) take THEM for a drive as i have no insurance for under 25's anyhow - and they sign a form stating if they are driving it that if they crash they pay!
morrisman1,
Dec 27, 7:14am
I often have friends ask me to check out a car for them and when doing so I always ask the seller if they want to jump in the back. If they want to then thats fine but if they dont then at least I have offered and that I think would give them some assurance that their car wont be thrashed. There is little point thrashing a car on a test drive, especially if you are serious about buying.
friendly_prawn,
Dec 27, 9:04am
cheers for the replies guys. seems I have been to trusting in the past. I will follow advice and jump in with potential buyers.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 27, 9:12am
True story. I went to test drive a car a few weeks ago from a dealer. Just said I was "Jazz" from the message boards and the dealer chucked me the keys. I said, "do you want a copy of my license or anything" to which the reply was "we know who you are".
horsepower7,
Dec 27, 9:31am
i would never let some one test drive my car without me in it, itl end up as a joy ride for them, i think it depends on the car tho.
flybye_in_a_rx7,
Dec 27, 9:57am
depends on the car really, if it was say turbo or vtec i would go with them but allow them to have a feel of the power, as long as they arent doing burnouts etc. but if its just a general cheap car then i let them go on their own. and i always check their license first, might pay to let insurance know that you'll be letting other people drive your car, they might have advice/requirements from you. i never bothered calling insurance though
mugenb20b,
Dec 27, 10:00am
For me, it depends on the person and their attitude. In most cases, the buyer's wife stayed behind while hubby road tests the car. But, the last car I sold was to a 20 year old apprentice builder, so I thought I better go with him. Well, the d!ckhead couldn't drive for sh!t, kept bunny hopping the car when gear changing, and not looking at the road. So out of interest, I asked him for his licence, but told me he lost it due to getting caught for drunk driving. So I made sure the ownership got changed on line (as I live in a rural area), printed a few copies of the receipts and off he went with his newly acquired car.
kazbanz,
Dec 27, 11:49pm
Ok I am a dealer so I ALWAYSgo on test drives with potential customers. Now theres actually two reasons for doing so. One is the odvious security issue but the secondis a bit less odvious. If you are with the buyer you can show them the particular features of a car and discusspotential issues with them. A sterio that is suddenly "booming full volume"and they cant work out how to turn oit offcan really put someone off a car.and they might not by themselves discover that one feature that they just go wow over.
m16d,
Dec 28, 12:09am
Hmmm. Jazz from the message board. I must try that one next time I want a test drive.
richard198,
Dec 28, 12:32am
Yeah, I would actually welcome the owner being in the car with me if I was buying. There's no disadvantages I can think of unless the owner didn't stop talking!
owene,
Dec 28, 12:49am
So what if the car they leave is one they took for a test drive earlier on in the day! And then your is left as deposit on a thrid test-drive. It's a game in the UK for spotty-nosed youth with nothing better to do - see how many test drives they can rack up in one day.
tgray,
Dec 28, 1:05am
I usually just swap keys and let them go, but after witnessing first hand the 'atrocious' lack of skills of one particular test driver (he crashed and wrote the car off within 15 mins of buying it) I will go with them from now on.
sw20,
Dec 28, 3:26am
When I sold cheaper cars I just took the keys of the test driver. When I sold the Clio I went with the buyer, mainly due to him not knowing the roads where I lived.
jason18,
Dec 28, 8:50am
Im sure no one is going to steal you bike F_P. Altho you would look great being doubled!
friendly_prawn,
Dec 28, 9:06am
lol jason.Maybe I should add a note, chick buyers only.
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