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.

Um, I had a project car when I was 16-17 -- 16 year olds typically have more time than money, therefore a project is perfect for them.

My uncle had it happen with a battery and spare tire once.

Back in the 70's, someone took one of his cars on a test drive, and never returned. The car was found a few hours later on blocks in a abandoned parking lot missing the Cragars it had.

As did I...however, common sense isn't too high in that age category.

That didn't really happen like that did it?

As long as they have someone over legal age sign the bill of sale, I would sell to them. Discrimination due to age isn't right -- how would you have felt if some old fart told you "I don't think you can handle the project, boy?"

It actually did. Guy flipped out over something that was pretty trivial and wouldn't have bothered me on a test drive. Running through the gears at high RPM should be expected, if only because that's when bad synchros make themselves known.

I nearly always will take a prospective purchase to redline at least once to make sure the engine is sound. I have had several people get all pissy about it. I probably would ask permission to do so now to avoid such a reaction.

And you didn't kick his puny AZz after he kicked in your door?:confused: I am very disappointed in your story.

He kicked the door, not kicked it in, then ran into his house. I was already moving so he didn't get much of a good kick in. Last thing I needed is for him to have time to go home and get out a gun or something.

Rental car = insured by credit card = not worth the trouble. If it were MY car perhaps I'd have been more mad, but I was too busy laughing at the time.

16 year old...Usually the Parent is the Bank, and parents can get very pissy after the fact.
I have specific instances in mind; like when it involves a 16 year old girl and a clueless parent looking for "reliable transportation".... But they think your rusted out, worn out 1963 Mercedes is "cool" or your vintage British motorcycle would be great "economical transportation".
And the Parent asks.... "is this car/motorcycle reliable for my precious baby girl?"

Man if you're gonna tell an internet tough guy story you gotta learn how to end it!:P

"Yes. It's a reliable way to make sure that she won't grow up mechanically clueless like 95% of white-collar kids from American parents these days."

I seriously hope that one day, when I return to the forum in the morning, that you will not have permanently departed us.

You can only get away with such behavior for a limited amount of time..........until you do it to the wrong person.

Yeah, that happened quite a few years ago. If he wanted to go stalk me over a test drive where I did nothing wrong, he'd have done so already (plus he didn't know my actual address since I had a license with an old address, and I knew his).

............obviously you didn't learn a damn thing from the episode............

Not to test drive cars without bringing along a MMA-afficionado friend with a strong Russian accent.

wow, the most ive ever run into is repeated incidents with people who come to look at cars saying they can drive a stick and cannot. Several incidents I made them get out and switch, and one incident I had some sharp words for a kid who had the gall to claim there were clutch issues after trying to put it in gear without depressing the clutch.

Though mostly I ride with them unless its some ratty old truck im getting rid of that not much can go wrong that hasn't already.

.............not to get into verbal altercations with unknown persons with uncertain weapons.............

trivial?

if you are buying a used car, im usually pretty gentle on a test drive. Just because the car was designed for something doesn't mean it can do it. I favor a gentler treatment as nearly as much info can be collected about the car.

As a similar trivial example, I once went to look at an early 90s escort GT (the one with the mazda engine and 5-speed, pretty fun) and the seller said "look what it can do" as he initially drove it out of the drive way, and redlined it trying to burn rubber. well somehow in his violent stick handling, he managed to kiss the reverse gear at about 4k, and blew 4 holes in the transmission.

I still bought it, but for about 300 bucks then. replaced the tranny and drove it for a couple years, very nice little coupe. The guy screwed himself by pounding on it in the test drive, making the car worthless.

^^ better him blowing it up testing it than you. I tend to like to do the testing for others, unless they seem very trustworthy. Even then, I am riding shotgun.

If it's got bad syncros (like my Jetta has), I don't want it handed back to me worse if they don't buy it.

You mean to say: Their "collateral" was A 2012 Jeep in our driveway...."

You have no way of knowing who owns it or if it is mostly bank owned, etc, etc.

If you want to test drive a car, go ahead. If you want to beat the car, buy it first. NFW would I lest you flog on my car before I get paid. If the thing blows up, you'd walk away and I own a glorified boat anchor. So kudos to him for standing up to a jerk.

If wishes came true, 90% of the people I know would be on the other end of a meat grinder so it is just words.

Miatas have certain known coil/ignitor problems that tend to only show at higher RPMs. If it can't run at 80-90% of redline for all of a few seconds, I don't want it, because it won't stand up under my driving. Freely admitted, I have a lead foot and make no apologies for it.

I've seen a returned computer at Best Buy. It wasn't working because someone took out the CPU and returned it.

You give me a signed statement that I provide that says that there are no warranties expressed or implied.

Happened to someone who sold an ATV to a minor. Father came back later and said the contract of no warranty was null and void because the kid was too young. Sell to an adult and have them sign a "No warranties expressed or implied". I don't think a minor's signature is legally binding.

The parents would. I'm not sure if a minor could be held to understand such a contract.

And if you break something or crash the car, who pays? Would you offer to fix it? I'd be fine if you want to bring it to a shop for a full test. In fact, to all my buyers, I suggest it. After you agree and money changes hands, I am not entertaining ANY returns or arguments.

THAT is fair enough. If he doesn't give permission, you either take it as is and bargain from there or walk. Crooks were EXACTLY why the dealership in town where I lived refused to work on cars and only for commercial trucks.

Guy comes in, flogs the car on the dyno, it breaks and he blames the shop for reckless handling.

I'm not paying for a mechanic to "run tests" on a car that I can do myself. I've been on mechanic test drives, and they do the same thing: run the car through the lower gears at a brisk RPM short of redline.

There was no danger of crashing (I got up to all of 55 mph merging onto a 4-lane) or breaking anything (not as if I held it anywhere near redline for any length of time), assuming the car was well maintained as the owner attested it was. If I broke it, I had enough in the bank to buy about 20 cars of that price :)

Exactly. You don't sign it because I don't sell to minors. Only an adult can and will sign it. I'm all for a professional to check it out but once you are satisfied, money changes hands. After that, I don't know you even if the car doesn't make it out of the driveway.

the difference is that most shops have insurance. If they blow the motor or something catastrophic happens that is a direct result of how they treated the car, then at least the owner knows that for the most part, a reasonable deal can be struck to replace or repair or refund.

with a random test drive by joe public, you can bet that most people would be pissed that you did that with their car. I agree, the car should be able to do that, but my response as the owner would be the same as others. Once you own it, you do what you want with it, while its mine and you are driving it as a courtesy, then you should be a little more careful with someone elses car.

Most cars should be able to do a 180 degree parking brake skid, or roll completely over without crushing the roof. I don't see you doing either of those things during a test drive though. :D

I give all sellers the option. If they want to test it themselves, fine. FYI, my idea of a test is compression test, fluid checks, etc, etc. I have codes scanned just in case you removed the bulb.

So you say but again, all you have is words. I don't have the cash and if you want me to trust that you are honorable enough to pay for it and not try to weasel your way out, you must really think I am that gullible. What next? The check is in the mail? Look at the OP and tell me you think I should trust you to pay up should you break it or that you even have the cash to pay. I suppose you are a Nigerian Prince in disguise too?

The issue is that he believes that everyone should trust him and his honor to do the right thing. Looking at what we have in the world, that would be stupid. Maybe he will do the right thing but I sure as hell wouldn't bet on it. As they say "The race is not always to the strongest and swiftest but that is the way to bet.".

I did fluid checks. Compression is irrelevant -- you can generally tell bad/uneven compression by how the car runs. As far as removing the CEL bulb, it's designed to light up when starting, so a removed bulb is easy to see.

No one else has whined to me about driving the car slightly hard, and I've test drove quite a few cars. This guy did, and lost a sale at full asking price for his trouble. No great loss, and still a lot cheaper than paying a mechanic $100 a pop to test drive 5-10 used cars before I found "the one." I'm very cheap, but also very picky.

Though making up and carrying a fake auto mechanic's business license might be a good idea in future :)