Hell no.

Tell them to pound sand, no one does a PPI on a 7k Toyota.

Almost 4 pages to finally explain that your Toyota is really a Scion? Come on dude.

Are you advertising it as a Toyota in real life too?

They sound like the kind of people that will still be a pain after buying it. They will come back 6 months later wanting you pay for brakes.

No.

Screw that, she has no business trying to buy anything. 2 months from now she will want you to pay for new brakes or a flat tire.
Sell it to one of the online car places and forget about it. You've already wasted enough time on her.

This, OP is being shifty. Makes me wonder what else his 1/2 truths are hiding.




OP: I am selling a Lamborghini, no I mean a Bentley, no I mean a Bugatti!!! I mean a Porsche!!! no no I mean an Audi..

OP:ok ok I am selling a VW Passat. Why can people not bee honest with me???

2 million dollars

I’m getting a vibe she is divorced with other issues.  Just a guess.  

But hard pass. Local yota dealer at best but she sounds like the type that would have issue with break pad wear,

It's all about how deep you want to go into it (lol). If a seller is a shit bag, you will only scratch the surface with a mobile inspection. There may be an additive in the oil to silence a major and otherwise undetected issue, stop leak in any of the fluids, a head gasket leak concealed by a fresh oil change (I caught this one once by checking the oil filler cap instead of just the dipstick), mil codes cleared just prior to test drive (I got burned on this one once on a private sale- worth it to check emissions readiness, especially in a location that requires you pass emissions), the list goes on. I'm a sucker because if something gets snuck by me, I can't do that to the next guy. So I take a major hit when selling. Honesty is worth that, just wish it was more common on the purchasing end. I've done that on a gun too. Jammomatic that I bought used. Sold it shortly after with full disclosure for a decent loss.

I had a buyer buy a Toyota MR2 from me that wanted to do an inspection. No problem met them at the local Toyota dealer. They were happy with the report we exchanged money no big deal.

Correction the car doesn't leave your sight until the money hits your hand

I'll give you the no dipstick tube since it's a bit more involved but the body damage and water leak should be easily recognizable -  looking at body panel gaps/alignment & overspray on the jambs and under the floor mats is something you can easily do.

I'm not trying to dissuade someone from having a legit mechanic inspect a used car - they can be money well spent.  I just find it laughable that wet floor boards and overspray are something that requires a mechanic to identify.

I have no problem working with a potential buyer to have a car I'm selling inspected - of course, by the time I sell a car it's in the sub $3K price range since I tend to keep cars for a very long time.  Last two cars I sold were a '97 Civic EX and '94 Grand Cherokee 5.2 V8.

I wouldn't let them drive my car 100 miles away to have it inspected. If they want to have it looked at have them find a mobile mechanic.

Fuck that, it's still OP dealing with all the shit.

Does the buyer have insurance that provides full coverage on borrowed vehicles?

I really don't consider scion a toyota. Take it to carmax and be done and also not sure if their inspector will consider it a toyota with the scion badging.

If they're asking dumb questions then they already have buyers remorse and are raising objections prior to the sale.  If they have a mechanic inspect it, he'll gladly come up with a punch list and more objections.  Tell them the price is "as is, where is".  Negotiate price if you want, but realistically, you're probably wasting your time with this buyer.  They will always have some reason to not make a decision.

Did she say you could keep whatever brass you find later?

They may need some parts.

This is probably the best option other than no f'ing way.

Beat 2 million times with the 2 million dollar helicopter video.

Sure for a 7k deposit. Seems like they're trying to steal your car and avoid a grand theft auto charge making it into a civil case.

Sure, if:

1. they want to pay time for YOU to drive it down there round trip, pay for the mechanic, and pay for wear and tear. If they buy the car, they get the wear and tear back.

2. they purchase the car as-is, with an inspection clause in the bill of sale allowing them 24 hours to return the car after inspection. Upon cancellation of the sale, their deposit will be returned minus actual mileage at the GSA rate.

Either of these are equitable and limit your exposure.

Scion may be owned by Toyota... But it was their cheap brand they didn't want to sully the Toyota name with.

OP you're lying to us, yourself and likely to potential buyers.  You do not have a Toyota for sale, you have a Scion and you're asking too much for it.

Karen can fuck right off.

Just find another buyer that is really interested in buying your vehicle.

It's the same damn thing. Some different body panels, different light housing, some different interior trim, but powertrain & chassis is damn near identical.

They aimed Scion at younger buyers, but they weren't cheapening the quality of the product. That's probably why this lady's kid is interested in it.

I wouldn't go around calling it a Toyota, but it's as much a Toyota as a 03 Pontiac Grand Prix is a 03 Buick Regal. They're both GM and made from the same parts bin but aimed at different buyers. Same concept as Lexus and Toyota, just marketed to a different buyer.

Hard no

Scion's will command lower prices then the comparable Toyota branded product due to decontenting and less desirability. The OP made a misleading thread at a minimum and if he's advertising it the way he's describing it here then there's no wonder why he can't move a vehicle in an absolute sellers market.

Oh I agree, but lets not pretend Scion is made from every part Toyota tossed due to it failing QA or something.

OP,

1.  You have a very interested buyer.
2.  You have a probably sale staring you in the face.
3.  You stated that you needed the money.
4.  Cut your losses?  How much did it cost you, other than your time?   Your time is cheap. (See #3).


Make them leave a deposit and take the car to their mechanic. Probably got fucked before and has only one mechanic that they trust.  If that guy says ok, that car is sold.

This, I use to drive 170 a day to and from work. Now it's 60.

This.

I've had buyers show up with a mechanic. If it's worth it to them, they will. If not, keep advertising.

It doesn't seem that far out of line.  If you are priced on the higher side and they are the only interested buyer, perhaps it makes sense to put together a purchase agreement subject to the mechanic's inspection report.  I'd include a non refundable deposit of at least $1,000 and also include agreed purchase price with exceptions depending on the mechanic's report.  The mechanic will likely find something needed (an used car can have something done to it), so maybe stipulatate the agreed purchase price provided that less than $1,000 of mechanical work is needed?

100 miles round trip is 50 miles each way.  In my city that's just one side of town to the other

And I did not insinuate that.  

Have you driven a Scion?  I have.  They are a cheaper brand.  Everything about it feels that way too.  It is not a Toyota,  it is a sub-brand made by Toyota.  Yes, they share a ton of important parts.

You know what they don't share though?   Resale value

Id tell those scammers piss off. Youre not getting a free vehicle rental. Buy the car or not.

Yeah I agree that a mobile inspection is not ideal by any stretch, which is why all my used car inspections have involved driving the car to my local mechanic, or if I am out of my area to a well vetted AAA approved mechanic or dealer that sells that brand car.   I wonder if those mobile inspections are worth it or not -- at least the lower end ones like Lemon Squad.  Maybe the higher end ones like the ones recommended by the Porsche Club of America and FerrariChat have mobile lifts and professional grade OBD2 scanners, etc.

Most dealers and AAA independent shops will basically put the cars through the same multi-point inspection that a "certified used" car would go through.  While I suppose a lot of the "we check 100+ points on your car!!!" message is hype, I have generally gotten good value out of my inspections to date.  I generally get 1-2 hours of a professional mechanic's time looking over the car (and test driving it) for $100-150, which isn't a bad value at all.

I hear you on the disclosure part.  I sold a ParaOrdnance 1911 (bought new) to a guy after losing confidence in the gun after the hammer wouldn't reliably stay cocked back.  Sort of a problem for a single action gun!   I sent the gun back to Para and they fixed it but ended up selling it at a loss (and made it very clear to the buyer about the history of the gun).  Can't saddle the next guy with my problems, especially on something that might be used for self defense.

Yeah I'm with you there ... there are a lot of things that most buyers can check for themselves.   I don't know how I missed the wet floor boards, especially after my last car buying experience after Hurricane Sandy.  Sandy hit our area HARD in late October 2012 and it was reported that several manufacturers had to write off a ton of new cars due to flooding.  Two months later, my job moved so I had to go car shopping.  I was constantly checking cars under the floor mats, trunk liners and spare tire wells to detect water damage.   Guess I forgot about hurricanes in that we haven't been slammed by one up here since.  

I am worried that as cars become more computers than cars that it will be harder for regular Joes (and Janes) to find trouble spots (and more importantly, fix them) without professional help.   I've been looking at newer cars that have the cameras for automatic braking, lane departure and all that stuff -- but if the windshield has been replaced and has not been calibrated to the cameras the systems won't necessarily work properly.  How is a regular person supposed to tell if a windshield is calibrated or not, especially on a cursory test drive?  

Personally I am longing for the day for when cars were a lot simpler ...

I don't want to derail OP's thread too much, so I'll post this and drop the conversation. Respond if you wish, but my only intent in replying to you originally was to dispel this apparently common notion that OP grossly misrepresented the car by calling it a Toyota instead of an inferior Scion. It wasn't to call you out specifically, just to put the facts out there.

I would disagree that you didn't insinuate that Scion was inferior. I believe you did insinuate that by saying they were Toyota's cheap brand they didn't want to sully the Toyota name with since Toyota's "name" is based upon reliability. It's not based on exciting cars despite having some in the lineup, and it's not based on luxury despite having some in the lineup. Toyotas have resale value because they're reliable, but they're commonly considered utterly boring appliance cars that are just reliable as hell. Minor exceptions to their enthusiast focused vehicles.

FWIW, I have driven plenty of Scions. I spent a decent amount of time working in independent shops and slinging wrenches so I was exposed to quite the variety of makes and models, and beyond those short stints performing test drives I have a decent amount of seat time behind the wheel of a Scion FR-S. The FR-S is literally the same vehicle as the Toyota 86 (it even has 86 badges on the side of it) and in fact the FR-S was the only way Toyota offered the platform in the US until Scion folded and they continued to sell it under the Toyota badge proper. Again, we're talking about slight cosmetic differences on the outside and slightly different interiors. All minor changes any company does when re-badging their cars, generally to better tailor it to the intended market. In Scion's case that was young buyers, so yes there was a emphasis on keeping things affordable instead of trying to make something like their interior match a more expensive German equivalent, but it's not like your basic Toyota can claim to be much, if any, better. For the most part, I'd say every Scion I've sat my butt in was of better quality and feel than many of the brands they competed against. I never noticed any major difference compared to a Toyota except that the Scion was a more youthful design. There is literally only a single thing about them that ever made me say "oh, this is a cheap Toyota" and that was the price, which you pointed out by mentioning their resale. A point I've already acknowledged and agreed with, and one that is exactly why I'd also not representing a Scion as a Toyota if I had been the OP which is something I also already said. Let's just not act like multiple people didn't already say "hey that's pretty cheap for a used Toyota" and then as soon as OP revealed it was actually a Scion people didn't immediately assume OP was trying to rip people off by representing his Scion as a Toyota. Hard to blame a guy for calling something a Toyota when every time it needed service it likely visited the Toyota dealer, or since he's a mechanic himself he likely bought those parts from the dealer and they came in packaging with Toyota branding, and the stickers and parts inside the vehicle likely also had Toyota branding on them. Shit, I'm a car guy and I frequently refer to my GMC Canyon as a Colorado simply because "Canyon" doesn't stick in my head for some reason, it happens. Realistically the only true reason a Scion should resale for less than a Toyota is that the owner was more likely to have beat on it and neglected maintenance, due to being owned by younger people.

200 not refundable deposit or take it to a local dealer.

Guar-un-tee you they'll find 2k worth of crap wrong with it and wont budge on the carmax price.

I smell cheapskates. After their "mechanic" inspects there will be a list of nitpicks that they will use to jew your price down.

Update in op

Atta boy.

Good for you.
Congratulations

Thanks to all who helped.

I can't believe you defrauded some sweet old couple with your knock off Toyota...

Congrats on the sale.

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