Private Sale Test Rides

[Az]

The GSXRs going up for sale next month and I'm aware that it's my responsibility to ensure a person test riding my bike is insured to do so.

If I was to type something up along the lines of "I am riding your bike with the appropriate insurance and license. If I damage the bike I will pay £X,XXX in exchange for the bike" print it off and have them date and sign it before test riding, does that carry any weight legally?

[notbike]

No idea if writing something up like that would hold any weight legally but one approach you could use is taking full asking price in your hand while they're on the bike, on the agreement that if they drop/damage the bike you walk with the money.

[V2]

It probably would if they signed it infront of an independent witness. However if signing the paper doesn't hold weight legally then I doubt a verbal agreement and cash in hand would work either, I mean how hard would it be for them to crash your bike then claim they just asked you to look after the money and you have now stolen it.

[J.M.]

Tell them to bring with them their insurance certificate that states they're allowed to ride the bike. Keep a hold of it whilst they're riding, with the full cash in hand, and check their licence before allowing them out?

Take note of driving licence number, or name and address, so you're not screwed if speeding fines drop through your door.

You could always use https://ownvehicle.askmid.com/ to verify that the reg on the insurance certificate is actually insured, so that they haven't just used a fake certificate.

I'm not sure how much weight a piece of paper would hold when for all intents and purposes you could have printed it off after they've crashed and signed it yourself in order to protect yourself.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[Polarbear]

I won't allow it. I'll take them on the back but that's it.

When I was selling my 1800 GoldWing I had people come see it and ask for test rides. I had no idea of their riding experience, they could have just had a moped and no experience of handling a 350kg barge.

If they don't like it, tough, I'll just wait for someone else.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[mysterious_rider]

Agreed. Dont allow. Theres no need really.
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KAWASAKIIIII

[Tierbirdy]

The whole "no test rides" thing is something that bugged me about bikes, when I was looking for my first big bike after passing my test, trying to find one I could test ride was a nightmare...

Saying that theres "no need for a test ride" I wouldnt buy a car without test driving it, and I wouldnt buy a bike without testing it either... too many things that you might not notices as a passenger, is the clutch knackered and slippy as fuck? Are the brakes made of cheese? How responsive is it? How does it feel cornering? Does it bog down at higher revs? All things that the person who owns it could know and hide on a test ride if the buyer is pillion on it.

The list goes on and on. Especially in private sales where once youve handed over your money, if it turns out to be a total lemon its a case of "too bad, tough shit, sold as seen"

I can see the potential problems, but if Ive got their full details, copy of their insurance cert and driving licence, and full asking price in cash, then I'd let someone test ride mine. Which will probably weed out 99% of the timewasters and "Ill give you £200 and a staffie puppy mate" scrotes, a legit buyer would probably be fine with those requirements.

[mysterious_rider]

[Rogerborg]

[G]

I've been caught out before with letting the other person show me the vehicle worked.
I was not caught out when I did take a bike for a test ride the engine gave up mid-ride. (Despite the claims, it had obviously been a race bike in the past, not a tarted road bike.)

If it was a vehicle worth anything, I would consider taking a written confirmation that everything was mechanically fine on the vehicle, presuming it's someone I'd have a chance of getting money back from in court.

However, more sensible I'd suggest is to negotiate the price and so on, then hand said money over for sale on condition of a satisfactory test ride.

I wouldn't hand "full asking price" over, because that suggests I do have the full asking price ready to give them (regardless of whether I do or not is a moot point.)

[Tierbirdy]

[Pie-Roe]

I normally get them to leave cash deposit and show me their insurance certificate. Take a quick photo of this and driving licence.

Don't let a wife or friend be deposit, or keys to another vehicle.

I normally have a friend about, and where I have a garage, I have the bike and spares out of the garage and moved down two garages, because I'm paranoid they might come back and steal all my shit
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[mysterious_rider]

[stevo as b4]

No reason why you cant meet in Asda's car park if you have all the documentation and paperwork/history/logbook with you.

I agree with Rog about sussing out buyers that I would feel happy to throw the keys at and say take it around the block. I've had sellers treat me this way, and feel like I should return the trust.

As for test riding there's a few issues.

1, I like many other half sensible clued up people will know from just looking at a vehicle if it is worth my time buying. I'm looking for everything to check out right, and looking at condition and signs of care or abuse etc. I think that by the time you really looked at anything properly and poked around, you know without driving/riding it that its any good or not?

I suppose if your only ever buying shabby neglected cheap shitters for not much cash, you could get caught out in this way, but anyone that buys a £500 vehicle and does not expect to throw 1-2times that price into it to keep it going is a damn fool anyhow.

2, Test riding is both a good and bad thing.

It would show up if the bike or car starts and stops and all the basics like clutch/gearbox and brakes are working well enough to be useable. It might or might not show up stuff like warped discs, noisy wheel bearings, clunky transmissions, or smoke/noise/overheating.

You can't suss out accident damage very often from test riding, and you cant be sure if the chassis is straight and it all tracks correctly.

Then there is the how do you test ride question?

I've only ever taken bikes or cars for a quick 2-5min ride around the block. Most people this is what they do. As test riding is about making sure your happy that the vehicle works, not trying to make up your mind if its the type of car or bike for you?

There's the school of thought that says test riding should be extensive and prolonged to test every area of a vehicle to its limit to see if there are hidden faults or signs that things are failing/fading etc. You cant do this very well and cant really do it on the road either.

Also you buy anything second hand with the thought that it might need stuff doing to it or faults fixing during your ownership. While you might reject a car or bike if it's an obvious lemon or there's a job that needs doing which will be expensive or time consuming, faults are there for haggling and to give you reasons on why it's only worth XX amount of your cash.

Anyone that turned up to my house to buy anything, without going through a methodical process of why this or that needs doing and knows how much things cost, would piss me right off. IMO you don't haggle or say whats your best price without some leverage or bargaining points. If I'm selling something that's 100% perfect and beyond fault I don't expect 'No one ever pays asking price so what will you take cash mate'.

[G]

[stevo as b4]

Fair comments, but paperwork is paperwork.
If you have the V5, all the keys, old MOT's and a stack of history like MOT's, Tax discs, receipts and a vehicle with valid frame/engine numbers, then I'll happily buy from you at Asda, instead of sitting in your kitchen at home with a coffee.

There are ways around everything I do accept that, but using the notion that you brought from the sellers home address as proof of validity does not carry much weight to me.

[P.addy]

I've never really been too careful with test rides. I've ridden theirs with no cash handed over and vice versa.

[Polarbear]

The difference between a bike and a car is (obviously) the fact you can ride in the car with the potential buyer.

I'm not letting someone ride off on a bike costing thousands and not knowing what he is up to. I've looked after my bikes and I don't want someone bouncing it off the limiter in every gear and then saying, Nah mate, doesn't suit me. Can I have my money back.

Also, my last two bikes sold privately have been sold with bank transfers so that sort of knackers the cash in hand for the test ride.

If it was my hack Fazer, I might, but not an reasonably expensive or exotic machine.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[weasley]

All the bikes I have bought used I have had a test ride of. That said, I have always bought from mates or colleagues.

The difference between cars and bikes is that with a car the seller can easily go with you and won't materially affect how the car goes and handles. With a bike, you could insist on going pillion but this may well significantly alter how it behaves.

I've never sold a running bike before, so not sure how I'd handle it. But I do feel that a test ride would be expected and appreciated. I guess I'd be after all the paperwork to be shown and I'd take a "fully refundable test ride deposit", which would coincidentally match the asking price. If the test ride is successful then you can have your deposit back and now we start negotiating the price. If you bugger bike up I'm keeping the deposit; you can then take the bike or leave it.
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Yamaha XJ600 | Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat | KTM 990 SMT | BMW F900XR TE

[Kickstart]

Hi

No test ride would be a massive mark against any bike I was looking to buy. Most of the time with any bike other than a cheapy, no test ride = no buy.

All the best

Katy
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[G]

[talkToTheHat]

This was a significant proportion of the filter for my last round of bike buying. If I didn't want to test ride it, i wasn't buying it. There were a few bikes that might have been good ones, but no testride. A few testrides convinced me I didn't like certain models of bike, one or two had me suspecting I'd need my RAC card before I got home, and one bike was spot on the testride. I bought that bike. I was interested in a very similar bike, good condition and low miles, but the dealership told me I couldn't have a testride because insurance. Much promise of looking after me if the bike developed problems, but I've heard all that before from a big name dealer.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[Ste]

Polarbear, if a potential buyer talks the talk and is quite clearly not some pedboi as they do know about the bike you're selling, are they still not getting to get to take it for a test ride?

[DJP]

I'm not sure what all this “Hand over the full asking price" is all about but here's what I did when I sold a bike privately:

We agreed the sale and the price, subject to test ride.

Buyer went away, got insurance and came back with the agreed price in cash.

I held the cash, he test rode (on the understanding that if he dropped it, he'd bought it) at the end of which he kept the bike and I kept the cash.

Simples.
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Suzuki Bandit 1250
https://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/index.html
That's http not https

[G]

People are working on the presumption that the test ride would be before the 'negotiation' phase - certainly there may be more negotiation after, or maybe a "shut up and take my money" if it's really good .