Friendly Inspection

[Zee09]

You see guys here ask if anyone lives near a town to go inspect a vehicle for them often here.

Some new car dealers want a buyers advocate to visit and inspect the new vehicle before shipping.
Some places demand that.

On a new car for that kind of inspection for a close by BITOG member what would you pay them to drive over to the dealer
and do a quick inspection? Or for those here that have done it, what would you require in payment? ( future reference-no pictures-just an ok)

 

[gman2304]

I voluntarily " ran an errand " for a BITOG member who was needing a cabinet hardware part a couple of years ago. The manufacturer was headquartered near me and I was happy to make the 20 mile round trip for him, at no charge. We communicated via PM's and it worked out great for both of us. I was happy to help and he was very appreciative. It's a neat concept!

 

[ls1mike]

I have done it for some people on Facebook that are part of the car pages I am on. Never anyone here, but I would.

 

[Zee09]

Thanks guys.
I do think no matter what the inspector should get some $$$ to defray their expenses
And close by, should be really close

Good on you gman

 

[Trav]

It depends on what they want and how much the seller is willing to let me do. Going over a 4K daily driver and a 60K Jag XKR are two different things.

 

[Zee09]

Originally Posted by Trav

It depends on what they want and how much the seller is willing to let me do. Going over a 4K daily driver and a 60K Jag XKR are two different things.


I understand that- a different ball game for sure.
Here it is a new car and just make sure you check into the dealer and spot inspect the car as new with no dents or bad paint.
Basic look and run.

 

[Trav]

No problem doing that for someone, I wouldn't charge them.

 

[ls1mike]

Yeah I wouldn't charge anyone, I drove a couple hours one way to look at a car for someone. Took the family we had a nice little road trip.
Car ended up being poo.

 

[Zee09]

I'd do it for people here no charge
But if they did it for me and didn't want anything I'd still take care of them.
Lets face it- most of the time you can't even get a family member to do this.

 

[Nick1994]

It would be kind of awkward to receive payment in my opinion. I've offered to look at cars for members on here, and sent a member an oil filter for free too. They wanted to pay for shipping but it was no big deal.

 

[Zee09]

In 2011 I purchased a new truck that was about 200 miles to the dealer one way.
The deal was great and nobody in my area wanted to deal. Nobody was up for the road trip either.

It was super easy. The dealership had a Enterprise rent a car place right on the premises.
I rented a car and the rental place was very local. Drove there and dropped off the car and drove the truck home.

I was going to just get it trucked here but the dealership demanded I inspect it first.

 

[RooflessVW]

It depends on what is asked of me.

Hey swing by "X dealer and check out Y car?" I'll do that for fun.

Want me to bring it back to the house and perform a PPI? I'm willing to do that too if the selling dealer will allow an "extended test drive" - but that time isn't free.

 

[dogememe]

Anybody interested in a free website where you could find somebody to do a PPI? Just something simple where you enter the city or zip code where the car is and then it shows a list of people that might be able to do it, how much they might charge or if they do it for free, what their experience level/qualifications are, and then you can message them through the site to arrange further contact/payment/anything else on your own. There'd be no liability on my end since I would not be vouching people or handling any payment... I could by a domain for $1 for this and have it done a few weeks. If there is interest I could do it. There'd be no money in it for me except for maybe a donation button I don't expect anyone to use LOL but I'm bored and always need a new project...

 

[Zee09]

That would be a great service and I would donate and inspect locally myself.
It comes up often here. Great idea!

 

[Kira]

I like the idea as well.

One possible source of trouble is the level of expertise expected and the level of same available.

Parallel example: I know people who can go to a garbage restaurant or see a garbage movie and walk away saying, "It was a lot of fun" and THAT'S supposed to tell me something?

My friend's son checked out a Volvo V70 near him (200 miles from me). He made a video of the test drive and sent it to me.

I sent him a $20 bill for gas.

I'd definitely ask for gas money.

 

[dogememe]

Originally Posted by Zee09
That would be a great service and I would donate and inspect locally myself.
It comes up often here. Great idea!


Originally Posted by Kira
I like the idea as well.

One possible source of trouble is the level of expertise expected and the level of same available.

Parallel example: I know people who can go to a garbage restaurant or see a garbage movie and walk away saying, "It was a lot of fun" and THAT'S supposed to tell me something?

My friend's son checked out a Volvo V70 near him (200 miles from me). He made a video of the test drive and sent it to me.

I sent him a $20 bill for gas.

I'd definitely ask for gas money.



Alright well I'm gonna start working on it and once I have something at least somewhat functional I'll make a thread in the off topic section about it. Probably at least a week or so.

As for people not being experts, I'm thinking I'll have either a star rating system or a simple thumbs up or thumbs down rating system and/or comment system you can leave on people's profiles. I will manually approve each one so people don't just bash on each other. I don't see what people's motivation would be for taking the time for $0-30 to go all the way to a dealer and fill out a checklist (I'll provide an optional template) just to do a [censored] job at the inspection.

 

[eljefino]

I'd be uncomfortable doing this. I'd do everything but. I'd teach someone in person or online how and what to look for. But the decision has to be his/hers.

I would be a good person to bring in person to veto a cobbled together car that looks okay to the less initiated.

But I would not want to be the sole endorsing force. And if I took money for said inspection and the car turned out to be a turkey I'd feel awful.

In short, I find car shopping fun, I don't want to turn it into work.

 

[JTK]

For a fellow BITOG member I would have no problem doing this.