would you pay a $500 deposit to test drive a car?

[saff_cossie]

I have sold a couple of cars (not over here though) and have taken a potential buyer for a drive myself as someone else has said. I have also insisted on the cars that I have bought (other than the dealer one here) that they seller take me for a drive. The reason being, they know the car better than me and can show me what it can do.

I went out with a few cosworth drivers in the UK and some were insane. It also gave me a chance to look around and see if there were untoward smells, sights etc. Paid off both times and I bought the 3rd one.

In answer to the question difficult one. By putting it down you can show you are serious or at least semi serious but on the other hand I wouldnt hand $500 to someone from the trading post who I didnt know.

[Links]

You don't have to absolutely rip a car to know if it's good. Links, by you saying you drove them harder than you drive yours now; remember the saying 'treat others how you want to be treated'.

By driving a car firm, and by ripping the shit out of it makes no differene in giving you an indication of the condition.

Sorry if I gave the impression that I drove all the cars into the ground.. not true at all..

The one I ended up buying, only got a short chance to drive it - and because I knew that I was buying it I chose to take it quite easy, also had 3 of us in the car - and trust me I value my friends lives. Also the person I bought it from was a top guy so I didn't want to kill the car in case I didn't buy it.

If i'm paying $20,000+ for something I want to know that it works from top to bottom, hence giving it a little bit of gas here and there..

Also - this was the first time i'd been driving in turbo's so - my idea of "ripping" is probably quite toned down from alot of the guys on here.. I have huge respect for these cars, as well as other people's property..

- It's a bit like buying a house, you don't buy one that you've only seen the front 2 rooms but know there is another 3 out the back without seeing them, for all you know they could be all fcuked up..

- another thing is inspections - have many ppl looking at buying showed an interest in getting an inspection done, personally wouldn't buy a car without one.

[Links]

Most dealers are happy to let you go for a drive if

a) you sign on the dotted line that you'll pay the excess if anything happens

B) you aren't a shoddy lookin person who is just out for thrills

c) you show a genuine interest and actually know a bit about the cars..

atleast that's what I found, most were pretty decent, depends on where you go - I tended to find that there were similarities in the places that let me drive and those that didn't..

as for private, well - some of them had big dudes in the passengers seats who i'm sure would break me in half if i was a bad driver..

[Bekkyboop]

Yeah - The dealership where i went werent too bad - but the salesman still looked down on me anyway - tried to push me towards the focus

Been to other dealerships with guy friends (where i have known more about cars then them) kinda scared the sales guys when i knew more then what they did !

Yeah links - sounds like a good idea - having the big guys in passenger seat would be a pretty big deterant for being a bad driver.

[WazR32GTSt]

this is pretty stupid i can't believe this thread went on for so long...

who would actually hand over $500 to someone you've never met? ...really? ...seriously??

i thought not... i won't even give one of my mates $500 to hold - what if he lost it?

its one thing to drive the car yourself with the person in the passenger seat, or not let them take the car for a drive if they don't look interested (ie turn up, pop the hood, then ask for a drive), but to ask someone for $500 with no guarantee that you will give it back is just plain rediculous

its the real world out there guys...

[racsov500]

$500 is stupid unless its a real valuable car (like a r34 gtr). Maybe if youve had lots of test pilots then you might..

$50 sounds fair to me. Would you pay $50 to make it look like you going to buy a car, thrash it, then say no? I wouldn't.

[neil_se]

I'm looking at selling my car soon and i certainly won't be letting anyone drive the car unless i can tell they're very serious about buying it or i have a deposit. My car is highly modified, loves to wheelspin, get sideways very easily, and has no insurance, you think the person is going to come up with the money for any damage they cause. Plus i wouldn't want to be passenger in a car driven by someone i don't know, possibly no history of driving powerful cars, driving my car for the first time.

[Phantom32]

u wouldn't let ure mate hold $500 of ure money?

sh*t...u don't trust ure mates very much do you?

I personally wouldn't had over a $500 deposit unless the car was worth more than, say, $45K.

For everything below i think $100 is ok though.

[YO880]

who would actually hand over $500 to someone you've never met? ...really? ...seriously??

i thought not... i won't even give one of my mates $500 to hold - what if he lost it?

Waz, on the other hand.. would you serously hand over a $50,000 (ie. a GTR) car to somebody that you've never met? i know that there are VERY few people (that i have known for a long time) that i would even consider letting them drive my car..

[predator]

u never let them drive it anyway.. u drive, they sit.

[[D4RKS1D3]]

Ok seems that most ppl think that $500 is a bit excessive to pay just to test drive a car.

Of course the deposit is refundable as soon as the car is handed out and I wouldnt be holdin it in my pocket or anything.

Hell, They could even hold it in their pocket, i'll hold the metal bat.

Im definatley not goin to let p-platers drive anymore unless their accompanied with their parents.

I think I might just start doing the drivin instead now, and if some one is genuinely interested, then i'll tell them too come back another day and then they can test drive it themselves.

Good too hear the imput.

paul

[WazR32GTSt]

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I think I might just start doing the drivin instead now, and if some one is genuinely interested, then i'll tell them too come back another day and then they can test drive it themselves.

i think you've come to a good decision there...

[wrxkilla]

yeah thats how ive always done it

I do the driving, and then if they go away see if they have the cash etc, then ring up and say they want want want.

tell em to bring a deposit for teh sale and test drive away.

[Silver-Arrowz]

Nope! Fair enough you get tyre kickers but that's what comes with selling a car privately. If your not convinced they're genuine then drive the car with them in the paasnager.

Before I brought my previous car, the GTR, I was looking at a S15. Being 21yo, the guy said that for me to get a test drive, I had to show him I was financially capable of buying the car first, then he'll let me test it. I didn't say one word to the idiot and turned around and walked out on him. Other Nissan dealers didn't shun me that bad but the general idea was "go home and bring your dad" or "yeah right, keep dreaming".

Afterwards I went to the Mazda dealer close by and asked about a new MX5. He guy didn't even talk money first. He asked me when I wanted to test drive one and went about arranging it asap. They looked at me as a human being. Unlike Nissan who think they were God or something.

I'll never buy car from any Nissan Australia. Sorry but the S15 is no Ferrari for them to demand something like that.

[NZM.031]

when i was looking for my 33, there were a few that wouldnt take me for a drive, and a few that took me for a drive... most of these were stock as... when i was talking to the guy who i bought the car off that i wanted to drive it before i bought it... and wasnt driving 3 hrs to have a look at the car then leave.

he was going to let me drive it by myself, he was giving me directions of places to go. i wanted him to come along though, didnt feel right driving by myself.

he drove me out to the homebush stadium, big open roads and loads of empty unused car parks and then let me have a drive.... i was satisfied and bought the car straight away

if he had have asked for a deposit, i would have paid it for sure... cash in hand though... so that if i didnt like the car, i could get my money back straight away...

i dont see the problem with paying for a drive though, if your serious, you have the money anyway... i also think that a reasonable price for a drive might be 5-20% of the sale price...

$900 on the spot for a test drive for a $90000 GTR

but i wouldnt buy a car unless i got to drive it... how else are you going to know whether its what you want or not...

im thinking of getting something different for drifting, either a 31 coupe or a cefiro. ive driven a modified s13 and didnt like it... ive driven a modded aus 31, but never an import 31, and ive never even sat in a cefiro...let alone know what they drive like.

for most people, they cant take a risk with buying a car like you can with buying a different brand of orange juice...

cheers

Linton

[IOWNU]

HELL NO!

Sif you'd give a $500 deposit to drive a car, I'd go and buy another, straight out.

I've sold a few cars, I've always let people take them for test drives, if you have half a brain, you can work out whether a buyer is serious or not (i got to the point where once I find out that a potential buyer is a time-waster, i literally park the car and leave) Time wasters will see more negative points than positive "thats dented, thats rough, whats' that" where as proper buyers will say stuff like "it goes well, little bit rough, but shouldnt be too hard to fix etc.......so try and identify proper buyers before hand.....

If they damage the car.......well you take the money off them before you let them go, take them to an ATM, their parents, whatever.........if they still can't come up with the goods....I'll let you use your imagination

[slow13dude]

Seriously, you can rent a car for $50 a DAY. $500 for a 10 minute thrash around the block is EXTREME.

[usuckpoo]

I reckon a deposit is pretty dumb and pointless

seriously $500 dosent weed out the tire kickers from the real buyers.

If u r looking at the $500 as a form of damage insurance...think abt it, if he does crash ur car, its gonna be alot more than $500.

Personally i've driven enough cars to know how roughly all of them feel like. And you dont have to necessarily drive it to know how it feels, sitting in it will give u 90% of the picture, power delivery, handling, and so forth, the only 2 things u cant tell from t he passenger seat is the steering and the brakes.

so just volunteer to take them for a spin round the block should do.

[Links]

Justcars policy covers your car if you are in the passengers seat while taking your car out and selling it.. which is good..

[pentae]

A lot of people here are seriously missing the point. The fact is your putting down 500 to drive the car, you take it around the block then you get your 500 back if you dont want to buy it.

neil_se: Sounds like a good plan mate, but it will be different when you realise you've had your car for sale for a GREAT price for 3 months and you finally get that phone call.. you might think differently about handing over the keys. I only *just* managed to get 12.5k for my absolutely *immaculate* '92 sr20det manual s13 k's (3", tints, viper etc) after it sat for sale for months, and this was last year, which was very cheap for that car but its a buyers market.