Some people boggle the mind
 

We're selling a car for a friend (we live on a main road, while the only thing that passes his house are squirrels). Someone set up a test drive with him and came to take it out for a spin. They were gone awhile, which I thought was a good sign, then came back and said they planned to make our buddy an offer.

We get a call about an hour later from our very confused friend. He said, "They offered me half of what I'm asking because they said the seat bolts are missing and there's no coolant in the radiator." Having JUST ridden in the car ourselves the day before to get it up for a run, we were thinking the guy was just making something up to low ball our friend.

So I went out to check, and wouldn't you know it...the gall dang son of a *#!@# actually removed the seat bolts from the passenger's seat. I am dreading what I'll find under the hood with the fluids.

I have sold 8, maybe 9 cars out of my drive. I've had a couple dozen people do test drives of those cars and this is an absolute first for me. Seriously....WTF is wrong with people!?

...to be honest, it's almost MORE offensive that he thought he could pull it off. Makes me wonder just how dumb I seem to people.... Hands down the most unusual experience I've had selling a car. Thought it was worth a share!

Are you saying the fellow snuck back and removed the bolts from the seat to create a negotiating point?

It is getting more and more often that I say "just as you think you've seen everything."

The number of idiots and thieves is growing at an alarming rate.

You let a stranger come and drive the car without one of you in it? Did you ask for some collateral?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I guess that practice will now stop; I hope you've learned your lesson that people are sneaky, stupid and will take advantage of you if you let them.

Their "collateral" was their 2012 Jeep in our driveway they left with the keys in it while they were gone. Kind of wish they had stolen the car outright...our pal would have gotten a significant upgrade! LOL

Yep, that's what it certainly seems like to me. I can't think of any other reason they'd do that, unless they had a powerful and immediate need for four 13mm bolts! We know for a fact the seats were fine the day before. *shrug*

WTF?????????????????:confused:

more then likely they did these dirty deeds while on the extended test drive.i had a guy test drive a 67 chevelle i had for sale.we lived out in the country on a paved road so off he goes.about 20 mins later he shows up with a huge whaling dent in the drivers door.seems he underestimated the power of the small block 400 in the car and put it in the ditch and hit a pole.i was only asking 700 for the car and this bozo was so poor probably the only thing he had was a name.so i basically said i wanted 700 for the car and had another guy coming later to look at it.anything i got under 700 he was paying for.and turns out the next guy bought it without even driving it.so he lucked out.

I would not let someone just take the car for a drive without me in it, for this very reason. Who knows what else they did to it.

In todays world unfortunately it is better to go along on a test drive with a prospective buyer. The two episodes mentioned previously on this thread are minor to what can occur otherwise.

I try to not dwell on the area but it is impossible to fix stupid. Too many prospective buyers fit that mold all too well. Plus with so much car flipping going on raises even more concerns.

On the flip side, a few years ago, I test drove a Miata with the owner. Little limp-wristed guido flipped out when (after the car was fully warmed up), I accelerated hard and shifted at about 5-6k RPM from 2nd gear to 3rd getting on a freeway. Redline is 7k and I shifted well before -- I didn't do anything it wasn't designed to do. Refused to sell me the car at any price because "you got no respect."

My last words to him were, "HAHAHAHA, I hope it seizes up on you tomorrow, you little prick," whereupon he kicked the side of my rental car. Guy looked like a 3/4-scale version of Joey Buttafuoco -- hilarious.

This did cross my mind but any more effort expended for tampering would have been further used or mentioned as well to get the price downward. People with questionable ethics are too lazy in general.

Also to consider. Say I need a new battery. So I go test drive a car and switch batteries or whatever. Some idiots even try to break cars on so called test drives or want to see how fast it will go. Can leave you in a hell of a situation if they just leave a scene and you did not really even know who they really were.

My episode of the week. Told a young fellow staying with us that he could use the Honda 100 dirt bike when he got tall enough for it. Got it out of storage and it started and ran but not quite right as the needle valve was not closing tight enough.

So I told him it needs a laquer thinner bath to dissolve and burn the dried gas residue in the carb. So when you get back we can drain the tank and get some thinner into the carb.

When he comes home the bike is on a trailor. I asked him why. He said a couple of guys took the carb apart to clean it out. They seemed to know what they were doing. At this point he passes me a tube that they broke off inside the carb. This is just great.

We have moved on from a laquer thinner soak on an intact carborator to a probable major carb internal situation. All I told him was I would now get to the bike when I had time but if the tube is broken off flush with the casting another carb may be required. Plus the competent guys that tried to help you would not have a replacement gasket set on hand and we have no Honda dealers in our area.

Fortunatly when I looked up the parts layout of that carb it was the overflow tube they snapped off. May be fixable but will not know until I get In there. I did not want to over react and get the episode out of proportion. Even though it pissed me off somewhat. He meant well and had no intent plus he learnt something.

My cheapest out is a Chinese aftermarket carb from china for 22.95 including mailing. But I am concerned about the jetting and quality. There would also be no parts available for it. New Honda carb is about two hundred delivered. Other used Honda carbs are a bit of a crapshoot. Will cross that bridge when I get the original carb apart and if it is not repairable.

I have personally seen the battery theft on test drive job with the elderly neighbor, He usually calls me for any car help.

He says the car wont start, battery is flat. When I bring out the jumper cables I look at the battery and find an ancient everstart battery with fresh hand marks on it, cradle missing etc. I was the one who replaced his car's battery with a NAPA battery 6 months ago.

Then he tells me that as he was selling it a person took it for a test drive and when he came back the car wouldnt start.

How cheap can one get, stealing batteries??

Yep. Absolutely lesson learned here. We live in a small, rural town. Low crime, everyone-knows-you kind of deal. I guess we just didn't see the real world creeping in. Ah well. I had bolts that fit, and it looks like he just removed a hose clamp from the bottom hose of the radiator and drained it as one was missing. It's holding coolant just fine now and I can't see anything else wrong.

I don't know how many test drives I've been on, but I've never had the seller ride along with me. Sad that's what it's coming to.

After letting a "mild mannered school teacher" Test drive a restored MGB; I could hear his boy-racer antics 3 blocks away as he flogged & over-revved my poor pristine car with fresh rebuilt engine... Mr. Mild brings it back with smoking tires and very hot engine; frickin joyrider says he'll "think about it"...:mad:
Now I ride with prospective buyers to answer questions, and point out features & flaws and controls etc. They don't seem to mind, and appreciate the ride along. I leave them alone with their loved ones so they can talk about it after the drive. No pressure, I don't care if anyone buys my car; I just want them really want it.
I will discourage car/buyer mismatches. (Collector car, project or motorcycle for a 16 year old or clueless person) I don't want them calling me later complaining that I swindled them somehow.