TIMEWASTER NEARLY CRASHES MY 550

[baguaman]

i am selling my 550 and allowed someone to test drive.. the guy tells me he is insured.. i dont ask for proof(in the future i will)

he then wastes 1 hour going through receipts and we even ring maranello to confirm if an invoice is missing.. which they confirm

we then go off for a test drive and i explain to him that with the 550 i think the gear ratios are wrong as i never use second gear (i feel i make better progress by going from 1st to 3rd)

he then puts his foot down in second and loses the back end !! the car flips left and right before he gains control..

fortunately the road was empty otherwise there would have been a major accident.

he apologises and tell me he will call me later...

he calls later and then proceeds to crudely try to get me to lower the price.

obviously i am uninterested.

has anyone had a similar experience...?

[DIW35]

Nope, 'cos whenever I sell a car like that, any potential buyer has to be satisfied with a test drive with me at the steering wheel. If they're not happy with that, tough.

[ShadownINja]

baguaman said:

i am selling my 550 and allowed someone to test drive.. the guy tells me he is insured.. i dont ask for proof(in the future i will)

I understand that if you accept this and do not see proof, in the event of an accident, you will be breaking the law if he was indeed driving without proper insurance.

Also, note that most comprehensive insurance policies cover the driver to drive other vehicles on a third party basis only...

[FerrariV8]

Its the worst part of any sale - ask any trader! sometimes I just want to kiss the floor when I get out! - what I suggest is the following - you take a long drive with you at the wheel and do everything that he asks - braking etc, then when you are about 2 miles away from you home etc, ask if they are interested in the car, and if they intend to purchase the car, - then you will have to decide weather or not to let them drive, we do not allow every person to have a drive, only if we feel they are serious and are prepared to listen, because as soon as you say stop the car - you've lost the sale. Good luck with your sale, maybe its worth posting a clue to this persons name - to help others?

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

I bought a 575 2 weeks ago privately and didnt expect the vendor to let me drive it. if he drove it and it felt right then I was happy. If I had any doubts I would have had an AA inspection done. as it is I have ust had bob houghtons look over the car and it got a clean bill of health. I know that not evrryone would agree with this method, but it works for me.

proof of insurance is a must privately, imagine if he had stuffed it - you would have been uninsured ( if you had owned up to who was driving at the time)

at the very least agree a price, or do the deal SUBJECT to a drive.

How much is yours out of interest?

by the way - just because he wanted to negotiate the price doesnt make him a timewaster, although I would have encouraged this part of the process to happen much earlier.

Edited by Obiwonkeyblokey on Tuesday 20th January 11:40

[baguaman]

i use the term timewaster because if i put someone through this trauma and then didnt want to buy the vehicle i would have the courtesy to call him and just let him know.....(which after i told him to come back to me with a realistic price ...i never heard from him again)

anyway lesson learned! and a few driving lessons needed by him!

[willcrookz]

who's going to buy a car without driving it though?

just tell them not to accelerate too hard!

[baguaman]

by the way my thumbs up was supposed to be a thumbs down

[Try5t]

willcrookz said:

who's going to buy a car without driving it though?

just tell them not to accelerate too hard!

Bought both my Ferrari's without driving them beforehand - my dad bought his 355 from a picture on Graypaul's website ! So horses for courses I suppose

[XB70]

I would not buy a car like that without a drive, however, I would have actually come with a certificate of insurance showing that I was insured to drive that vehicle.

I had a complete muppet try it on with my 750il (a fraction of yours I know) and I told him "no certificate of insurance, no drive" - he arrives and tries to tell me his car insurance covers mine comprehensively (no, it does not).

To cut a long story short, he wanted me to load up the tranmission, then put into into D....are you *&*&( kidding me moron!!

God knows what he would have done if behind the wheel.

When I am looking, I always ask the person to have a drive as I want to try the seats, flick through invoices etc...in reality, I want to see how they treat the car and what they drive like. Has saved me from some shockers on a number of occassions.

Edited by XB70 on Tuesday 20th January 13:14

[jdw1234]

Try5t said:

willcrookz said:

who's going to buy a car without driving it though?

just tell them not to accelerate too hard!

Bought both my Ferrari's without driving them beforehand - my dad bought his 355 from a picture on Graypaul's website ! So horses for courses I suppose

Bought my Ferrari without test driving it.

Had it independantly inspect mind.

[Webber3]

XB70 said:

I would not buy a car like that without a drive, however, I would have actually come with a certificate of insurance showing that I was insured to drive that vehicle.

I had a complete muppet try it on with my 750il (a fraction of yours I know) and I told him "no certificate of insurance, no drive" - he arrives and tries to tell me his car insurance covers mine comprehensively (no, it does not).

Realistically though, how many people could turn up for a test drive fully comp on any car? Do any insurance companies offer test drive insurance?

[Soovy]

Webber3 said:

XB70 said:

I would not buy a car like that without a drive, however, I would have actually come with a certificate of insurance showing that I was insured to drive that vehicle.

I had a complete muppet try it on with my 750il (a fraction of yours I know) and I told him "no certificate of insurance, no drive" - he arrives and tries to tell me his car insurance covers mine comprehensively (no, it does not).

Realistically though, how many people could turn up for a test drive fully comp on any car? Do any insurance companies offer test drive insurance?

I'm insured with Chubb Masterpiece and I am covered to drive my own car, plus any car not owned by me with the owner's permission on a FULLY COMPREHENSIVE basis.

It ain't cheap, but it's allowed me to drive some very very serious machinery, up to and including the CGT!

[ShadownINja]

Try5t said:

So horses for courses I suppose

That's the worst use of a cliche I've seen in a while. It isn't like some people like strawberry jam whilst others don't. It's about giving a large amount of money for an unknown quantity because you haven't properly tested it.

[baguaman]

most of my cars i have bought without driving.. some i havent even seen..

they all get inspected.. normally i am happy to let someone drive before they buy...

but sitting through an almost crash makes me put things into perspectice... he could have killed me (thats a worse case scenario...)

anyway... i agree with the members that argue if you are spending that kinda money you want to drive it first... but it took me years to understand high performance cars and if the guy is a novice ..yes it could put the owner in a life or death situation.

[jshell]

ShadownINja said:

Also, note that most comprehensive insurance policies cover the driver to drive other vehicles on a third party basis only...

This is no longer true, many IC's removed the Third Party cover on cars not owned by the driver as it was being abused big-time....

[evil_dr_fish]

ShadownINja said:

Try5t said:

So horses for courses I suppose

That's the worst use of a cliche I've seen in a while. It isn't like some people like strawberry jam whilst others don't. It's about giving a large amount of money for an unknown quantity because you haven't properly tested it.

I guess it depends on who you're buying from and how much you trust them as a vendor?

I bought my Diablo from Top Gear without driving it - indeed with only ever having been in a Diablo ONCE - about 4 years ago! I didn't even go out in it as a passenger - I just (amateurishly) inspected the car and heard it started up...


...but then I was relying on his good name / reputation within the community and the 5 or 6 personal recommendations he had received.


Next time I'm going to try buying from Amari!
AHHHHHHahhahahahhaahahahhahhahahahaahhahahahaha!

Edited by evil_dr_fish on Tuesday 20th January 13:58

[burriana]

ShadownINja said:

Try5t said:

So horses for courses I suppose

That's the worst use of a cliche I've seen in a while. It isn't like some people like strawberry jam whilst others don't. It's about giving a large amount of money for an unknown quantity because you haven't properly tested it.

I have not driven: my first Griff 500, my first Ferrari Spider, my first 911, my second Griff 500 or my current Ferrari before purchasing.

What the hell do i want the grief of someone pulling out on or into someone else's expensive car while I'm behind the wheel for? No thanks.

I get them inspected, have a proper test drive with the owner to see how they treat it, ask them to do various tests and so forth to see it all seems fine, then do a deal.

I only drive it on the day I pick it up, with a full insurance certificate and before I hand the money over.

The deposit is given on the understanding that it is subject to a test drive being ok.

[Funky]

willcrookz said:

who's going to buy a car without driving it though?

just tell them not to accelerate too hard!

Plenty of people especially when your talking about lamborghini's and ferraris. Even more especially when its a private sale! If someone wants the car enough they will buy it and it's easy to get it inspected by a qualified mechanic who will know things to look out for you never would when driving it.

[XB70]

Webber3 said:

XB70 said:

I would not buy a car like that without a drive, however, I would have actually come with a certificate of insurance showing that I was insured to drive that vehicle.

I had a complete muppet try it on with my 750il (a fraction of yours I know) and I told him "no certificate of insurance, no drive" - he arrives and tries to tell me his car insurance covers mine comprehensively (no, it does not).

Realistically though, how many people could turn up for a test drive fully comp on any car? Do any insurance companies offer test drive insurance?

When he called earlier in the day and demanded that I leave the Goodwood Revivial and come back up to London (which I did...and then he was late!) I told him that he needed to get the insurance sorted if he wanted to drive it that night or if he wanted to come another day to drive it, then that was fine also. But till then, I was driving and he was a pax.

Could not be fairer or clearer than that - and quite reasonable about it too. But he wanted to play silly sods - offered me half of what I wanted and I never heard back from him either. Clown.

For any cars that I looked at, I was quite happy to check them out, see what the service history was like etc and the explore insurance if I decided that yes, I wanted to buy that car.