Buyer inspection of a used car

[sir1900]

Just want to get a feel for the varying opinions out there.

I'm selling one of my vehicles (not in my signature) and the buyer wants to take it to the dealership to inspect. All maintenance has been done by either my own mechanic, or myself personally. The only time the dealer did any work to it was recall work.

How comfortable do you feel about letting a prospective buyer take a car you are selling for an inspection? I have nothing to hide, so I have no problems with it for the most part. I've sold cars before and the buyer has never requested an inspection, so this is somewhat new to me.

I was thinking prior to allowing an inspection, to collect a deposit from the buyer in case the dealership isn't paid for the inspection or damage occurs during the inspection.

Another thought I had was to pull the car from the ads, and take it to the dealership or an indy for an inspection, then re-list it.

Thoughts?

 

[eljefino]

Take down their drivers license info and let them have at it.

Then do not budge on price. Get asking price or tell them to GTFO.

They are the whiney types who will haunt your life when a headlight burns out in six months.

If they come at you saying it needs $500 worth of work, get the paperwork from them (it will be stupid stuff like tranny flushes and struts) then say thanks, buzz off. It's a used car, what did you expect?

But the dealer inspecting will take some of the onus off you. They have also already spent money on this car, emotionally committing them.

You are already in the top 20% of sellers by letting them do these shenanigans.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Why would you not allow the buyer to have an inspection performed? If you're that paranoid about it, just go with the buyer when the inspection is done. Quite frankly, if a seller considers an inspection "shenanigans" he's probably selling garbage-those are the ones you should run away from-fast.

 

[JC1]

Let them do the inspection on the car. I would probably go with them to make sure the car makes it back to your place.

 

[Nick1994]

You drive it to the dealership and get the inspection in your name, and he pays for it. He can give you a ride back to your house.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Why would you not allow the buyer to have an inspection performed? If you're that paranoid about it, just go with the buyer when the inspection is done.
Why are you such a negative Nancy? Geez the grumpiest old man in the world. So you'd just hand the keys to your car off to some stranger and let them drive away in it for an "inspection"?

 

[FirstNissan]

I just sold my older Ford Taurus two weeks ago. The selling process this go-round was quite a pain. Several people showed up wanting to take the car to various mechanics and dealers but I knew from talking to them, they were going to negotiate a ton on price. I finally ended up selling to someone who knew a little about cars and did not seem like a waste of time. If the person is willing to pay a dealership to inspect it and not just their friend the mechanic, they might seem legitimate.

 

[cashmoney]

The way I have done this successfully in the past is to fully conclude test driving and negotiations and agree on final selling price and only then you drive the car a local dealer for inspection. The buyer meets you there and pays you in cash for inspection fee before you let service take it for inspection. You both wait for inspection to be completed. If inspection comes back with only minor standard items(and it will) you and buyer complete bill of sale on the spot and next stop is for both of you to go to buyer's bank where you watch him draw a bank certified check (or cash) and exchanges it for your signed car title. If inspection comes back with one or more major items you can renegotiate the sales price or just not do the deal.

If inspection will take to long to set up, or is too far away you can simple say no to that inspection and offer something more convenient to you. Many buyers wanting the car enough will buy without inspection assuming everything else looks totally good.

I personally have bought many used cars but almost always get them inspected. Last time I bought a used car without inspection I got a pretty nasty surprise that would have been discovered via inspection.

 

[sir1900]

I was thinking the same thing.....test drive, negotiate on price, then let the buyer have it inspected. I don't think an inspection is unreasonable. It runs like a champ and the oil was changed 6 months ago and so far has about 600 miles on its current OCI. I am not the least bit concerned that any major items will be found. The vehicle has 48000 miles on the clock. All warranties have expired.

I will more than likely stick to my asking price if the buyer is asking for an inspection before purchasing. I've worked in sales for most of my adult life so I know how these things go when a buyer puts conditions on to a sale.

 

[skyactiv]

I did a few inspections during my time at a Honda dealer eons ago. The inspection was a good idea. Sometimes the vehicle had a recall or a campaign repair that was never done that we could schedule. The often caught things were a timing belt & water pump that needed replaced, coolant condition, brake fluid condition and brakes.

 

[demarpaint]

I'd have no problem with the inspection of any of my vehicles to a potential buyer. Having said that I'd have to bring the car, meet with the guy who wants to buy it, and make certain the dealership knows he's paying for the inspection. I wouldn't let any potential buyer spend half a day or more with my vehicle driving it and getting it checked out.

The inspection is two fold, one is the buyer wants to make sure he's getting a good car. Two is expect more haggling. You can save yourself a headache if you don't want to do anymore haggling and tell the guy you're firm on the price if everything checks out. That will flush him if he had thoughts of haggling after the inspection. As mentioned the haggling is done before the inspection, not before and then again after.

 

[mclasser]

When I was selling my car, the buyer wanted a PPI done. He made an appt with a local shop of his choice, I showed up with the car, we waited together, car checked out and he paid for the inspection. I drove the car back home and later on that evening he bought it.

No biggie.

 

[JTK]

Yeah, I would absolutely only do this after a sale price is negotiated and the buyer agrees and signs something saying he IS buying the vehicle contingent on the inspection. I would have to drive the vehicle to the inspection location. No way I'm letting a stranger do this while the vehicle is in my name in today's world.

 

[SatinSilver]

I took my 99 Accord into the dealer and asked them to do an inspection since I was going to sell it. The car was a regular visitor there for maintenance including the timing belt service, rear main seal replacement, alignment, etc. So they did a complementary one and even changed the oil for me. The only thing it needed was a rear light bulb for a few bucks that I knew about. It was nice having a print out from the dealer to show along with service records. Esp for a car that was 10 yrs old with 166k miles.

I dealt wtih a few odd balls then the perfect buyer arrived with his college aged daughter. He was a Honda owner and they complemented the car and said it was worth everything dollar I was asking for it even though I priced it above kbb pp value. The guy even pulled the dipstick and smelled it. They mentioned a number that was a reasonable one and the dad said his daughter saved up half the amount. He and his wife were coming up with the other half so hard not to accept their offer. They gave me the amount in 100's. Plus he gave me ride to the dealer.

 

[Kestas]

I experienced that once. I was a student selling to a college student on campus. She arranged to have me take the car to her mechanic. Smart girl. She used the results as a bargaining tool for price negotiation. It didn't rub me the wrong way, since I expected some negotiation. She saw the car was in rather good condition and we agreed on a fair price. The mechanic even praised me for having done an excellent rustproofing job on the car.

 

[FZ1]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
When I was selling my car, the buyer wanted a PPI done. He made an appt with a local shop of his choice, I showed up with the car, we waited together, car checked out and he paid for the inspection. I drove the car back home and later on that evening he bought it.

No biggie.
This^^^^

 

[ecotourist]

I would not buy a used car (out of warranty) without a PPI. So when I'm selling a car I can't object to a PPI.

But the buyer has to be reasonable. In one case a potential buyer took my car (an 18 year old Volvo in excellent running order) to my own specialist repair shop and came back with a list of the cost to repair every minor thing (all of which I had disclosed) and every bit of potential maintenance (for example, changing the diff fluid) and then insisted I reduce the asked price by the entire amount. That reduced the dollars coming to me to far below a fair value. As far as I was concerned the (declared) deficiencies had already been priced in and I told him to get lost.

As far as I'm concerned, a PPI is to identify major problems (engine, transmission) and potentially expensive repair items.

I lost the sale and the purchaser lost out on the cost of the PPI and one of the best cars I've ever owned. I decided if I was going to give it away anyway I might as well "give it" to a friend, so I offered it (for about half what it was worth) to a friend who needed a safe car to teach 3 teenagers to drive. All 3 learned to drive in it and were very upset when the parents decided (5 years later) that it had to go to make room on the driveway. And of course it was still in good running order. I wouldn't be surprised if they sold it for a profit.

 

[KitaCam]

Alternatively, there are mobile inspectors that will come to you.

 

[Kuato]

Agree with going with them or taking it there yourself.

Most people are honest, but if they're not the time for the fake inspection will give them a huge head start.

 

[69GTX]

No way as a buyer would I be signing any contract contingent based on inspection results....unless the dealership finds absolutely needed on the car, including fluids. You can't possibly put in every eventuality in such an "inspection" deal. And if a mechanic can't find stuff that is needed on a 40K-100K mile car, they need more training. There's always something not up to snuff.

I've bought a couple dozen used cars over the years, never new. About 2/3 of them with private parties. Sometimes I had the vehicle inspected and other times I didn't. Usually on those ones I didn't, a $250 or bigger repair bill was right around the corner. So it generally pays to have a qualified mechanic inspect it on your behalf. On those couple dozen cars I've sold, no private party ever once asked to take it somewhere for an inspection. I was usually 100% up front with EVERY flaw on the car I was personally aware of. Nothing was left out. Those were some long laundry lists...lol. If it bothered them to hear the truth, the car wasn't for them in the first place. And no one ever came back later on and said "you didn't tell me that...." No one has ever done that to me in return though.