+1 Point 5 - I normally only request to do the mechanical inspection at the day of settlement.

It may sound crazy but i went to test drive an 07 sti few weeks back...Drove it a bit with the owner riding shotgun, but then he suddenly asked me to drop him off and said go have a drive by yourself.

Owner didnt even ask for any id. He just took off back into his apartment and off i went...I did take good care of it of course

In saying that, if i was selling...doesnt matter who it is, i would still ride shotgun.

As for mechanical check up i don't think buyers will ask unless they were very certain on buying the car

I don't always ride shotgun when I sell, cars are punchier and more agile when there's 95kg less... Giving the illusion that the car has more pOwEr. Just exercise good judgement and make sure your insurance covers them.

and yeah, mechanical checks are pretty common if your car isn't under warranty.

I have never ridden shotgun, but have always had some sort of collateral
i.e. more expensive car, family member, cute GF

Same rules apply to me. Before I bought my last car, the very trusting seller just handed me the keys for the test drive, so I handed him my keys.

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

You can usually tell within the first 10 seconds of meeting someone whether they're genuine or not. State in your advert "no time wasters" etc and explain so on the phone too. Good luck with sale.

Interesting.....Did you have any intention of ever buyiing it? And if you didn't buy it, what did you say to the seller at the completion of the test drive?

lol, yeah if you didnt buy it can i get his number :P

Had every intention in the world buying it thats for sure! Been looking for an sti for 6 months now. Just cant find one i like.

I took it for a 5min drive...parked it back into his garage and went to offer him 38k cash. It was stock bog 07 sti with just under 40,000 km on it.

Only problem was he wouldnt budge on his advertised price so i told him to give me a call back if he decides to change his mind. That was 3 weeks ago, so im guessing he hasn't...Then again im not sure if his sold it either.

Norwest, its still up on car sales. Cant miss the only black 07 on there
I would of paid what he asked for but im also after an investment property and that made me a little conscious of how much i can spend for an sti

Sounds fair enough then. I thought from the sound of the first post that you were only there for a joyride. If he's still trying to sell it he probably should have followed you up and tried to wear you down. That's what car salesman always do you you. Black cars can be a bastard to sell.

Wiki's quote of the day seems fitting here.

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.