How to avoid joy rides selling a high hp used car?

[BMDUBS]

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sounds fair. Are you willing to let us know what high hp car started this discussion?

ess-650 6mt m3

[Team_Mclaren]

I agree with @heavyD , if it's a modded high HP car I'd want to drive them and let them drive as the final step...

[Buster]

I would be neither the seller nor buyer of a "modded" car, so a moot point for me.

[rc2002]

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I agree with @heavyD , if it's a modded high HP car I'd want to drive them and let them drive as the final step...

I agree as well. Driving first gives you a chance to get oil up to operating temperature. It’s not like there will be a bunch of ESS M3’s sitting around for test drives so I would think the buyer would want to try it out. This is usually what I do when I sell a vehicle.

Another factor at play that hasn’t been discussed yet is the age of the vehicle. If the vehicle is stock and 1-2 years old and still under warranty, that’s a different case than a 10 year old modded car with no warranty. Arguably, test drives matter more on the latter.

One thing that I’ve learned when it comes to used cars is that you really need to consider who is buying or selling the car. A lot of times you can weed out test pilots based on their questions or replies.

[BavarianBeast]

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ess-650 6mt m3

I sold one of these 3 years ago. Didn’t allow any test drives. It’s not a Jarez black is it? I’ll buy it back if it was mine. Edit: nvm saw it was e93 and not e92. GLWS! Took me a year to sell mine. Only car I’ve sold that I regret.

[ragu]

In stock form that’s an amazing car, can’t imagine what it’ll be like once this much money is added!

[faiz999]

i dunno, in this case its tough from the buyers POV if they're going to cop a modded m3 and get no test drive. I would def need to "slam' the gears being a manual and make sure I'm fine with the overall feel of the car.

that being said, i can see why OP doesnt want ppl to come over and just take it for a rip considering what he has. inexperienced or overzealous test pilots could damage the car and delay the entire selling process.

i think for this, itd be user specific. if some mature looking dude comes in a manual sports car to come see it, I'd probably be more incline in handing them the keys than if some goober comes down in a camry.

[bjstare]

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i dunno, in this case its tough from the buyers POV if they're going to cop a modded m3 and get no test drive. I would def need to "slam' the gears being a manual and make sure I'm fine with the overall feel of the car.

You are the reason people don't want to allow test drives

[killramos]

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You are the reason people don't want to allow test drives

This thread has done nothing but reinforce my viewpoint lol, not allowing test drives seems to be an effective filter of people I don’t want to deal with.

[BMDUBS]

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I sold one of these 3 years ago. Didn’t allow any test drives. It’s not a Jarez black is it? I’ll buy it back if it was mine. Edit: nvm saw it was e93 and not e92. GLWS! Took me a year to sell mine. Only car I’ve sold that I regret.

I have had a lot of interest on it and its booked in for inspection on Wednesday. If it checks out, it is gone. I hope I do not live to regret this sale as it is a well sorted example with all issues weeded out...

- - - Updated - - -

Absolutely, deposit, inspection and final thing to seal the deal is a test drive. Proven to not be a tire kicker at this point...

[Mitsu3000gt]

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This thread has done nothing but reinforce my viewpoint lol, not allowing test drives seems to be an effective filter of people I don’t want to deal with.

We don't agree on everything but I definitely agree with this. People talking about slamming gears and redlining it with no mention of oil temperature (which you will not have with a rip around the neighborhood) just confirms that I should continue turning down people wanting to test drive. Also in my experience, some people who claim to know how to drive a manual transmission do not in fact know how, and you probably won't find out until it's too late.

[heavyD]

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We don't agree on everything but I definitely agree with this. People talking about slamming gears and redlining it with no mention of oil temperature (which you will not have with a rip around the neighborhood) just confirms that I should continue turning down people wanting to test drive. Also in my experience, some people who claim to know how to drive a manual transmission do not in fact know how, and you probably won't find out until it's too late.

You drive a Honda Civic right? When you go to sell that are you not going to allow test drives?

[Mitsu3000gt]

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You drive a Honda Civic right? When you go to sell that are you not going to allow test drives?

The car you are thinking of I sold last Summer. I ended up in a multi-offer situation that quite honestly I was not expecting at all, and I had more than one offer to purchase sight unseen. The person who bought it didn't care at all about a test drive.

Certainly there is more opportunity for extremely high HP cars to be damaged in a test drive if things get out of control, but regardless of the car's value, I want to avoid things like:

- People driving it hard without oil temp
- People destroying the clutch
- People 'slamming gears' / power shifting
- People not going over dips/curbs/bumps at an angle and ramming the front end into the ground (it's amazing how many people just yolo every road feature they encounter)
- People tailgating another vehicle kicking up rocks, etc.
- People crashing it
- People ramming a wheel into a pothole
- etc. etc.

All things that would either cost me money or negatively affect a future sale, and all things easily avoided by not allowing other people to drive. Admittedly I am probably way more picky than the average person, but that is what I am comfortable with and it's served me just fine so far.

When I sold my two S4's (one modded) I did not let anyone drive them. Both were easy to sell and went to the first person to actually show up in person. I've also sold various cars for friends/family and I've never had an issue disallowing people to test drive either. When I sold my Wife's old 1998 Altima for $2500 I didn't even let them drive that because the buyer literally just got their driver's license that week, and they had no issue with that under the circumstances. So until I run into some difficulty selling a particular vehicle with the test drive being the reason for said difficulty, I have absolutely zero incentive to let other people drive as there are only downsides to it.

[Hallowed_point]

Granted, I've only sold sub $15,000 V8/4 cylinder turbo stick shift cars but I've never experienced any issues with joy riders etc. I find that you can weed 99% of them out during the initial negotiation process over Kijiji. I find it hard to believe that someone would go out of their way to waste another enthusiast's time like that with a private sale. Endless Kijiji messages and requests for photos/trade for a lifted 1995 Jeep Cherokee that's a given. But those types are usually filtered out pretty quickly. At a dealership, sure lot's of time wasters who just want to burn tires or redline a stick shift car. My experience has been the first person who comes to see the car buys it after confirming they are serious and I've always let them test drive with me in the passenger seat once they show me a driver's license. If someone told me no test drives, I don't even know what I'd say. If they've made it that far in the process, you haven't done a very good job confirming that they are a serious buyer imo.

[gpomp]

You guys let people test drive your cars? I don't even let people sit in it! What if they got it dirty or something?

[BMDUBS]

Now here the next question, the buyer wants to wrap up the deal after the car gets inspected tomorrow. I work until 4pm and I would need to meet him and still allow a test drive from there to close the deal so this will be after 5pm. I can assume he will pull a bank draft in advance but will likely close the deal after the banks are closed.

I am concerned about the bank draft and fraud that can happen. Last car I sold I went to the bank with the buyer and he had the draft drawn up right there in my name so knew it was authentic and cashed right away. Any precautions I should take in this case? I know drafts can be cancelled after the fact. All tips welcomed!

[ExtraSlow]

Drafts are hilariously insecure and easy to fake. Make him give you 5k cash and meet him the next day at a bank where you can watch the teller make up the draft for the remainder. Or if you absolutely must do the deal after hours, do it in a police station, and take photos of his drivers license and face together and separately inside there. That doesn't actually provide much security, but will spook most scammers.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Only read a few words but...
THERE IS NO SECURITY STANDARDS IN BANK DRAFTS, AT ALL. THERE IS NO WAY TO CHECK THAT A BANK DRAFT IS REAL.

[ExtraSlow]

Bank drafts are many times less secure than an envelope of cash.

[SKR]

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Now here the next question, the buyer wants to wrap up the deal after the car gets inspected tomorrow. I work until 4pm and I would need to meet him and still allow a test drive from there to close the deal so this will be after 5pm. I can assume he will pull a bank draft in advance but will likely close the deal after the banks are closed.

I am concerned about the bank draft and fraud that can happen. Last car I sold I went to the bank with the buyer and he had the draft drawn up right there in my name so knew it was authentic and cashed right away. Any precautions I should take in this case? I know drafts can be cancelled after the fact. All tips welcomed!

Go to the bank before it closes, then do all your other shit. He can hang onto the draft until everything is done.