03-08-2023, 02:51 AM
How to handle a test ride is always challenging. I insist on asking price in cash in hand if the buyer wants to test ride, but that still isn't a legally binding agreement. And, in California insurance follows the bike, not the rider, so it would be on me if a potential buyer crashed my bike.
I've been lucky and haven't had a bad incident as a buyer or a seller regarding test rides but I'm always nervous. Super lucky selling my last bike, the CB300R. The girl didn't even sit on it, let alone ride it. Gave me full asking price and threw in extra for me to ride it home for her, along with an Uber ride home. Wish they could all be that easy.
Buying my CB1100 was fun - the seller was hesitant to sell, and when I brought it back from a five-minute test ride, he sent me back out on a longer one, hoping I would decide I didn't like it the longer I rode it. "Take it on the freeway. It's terrible on the freeway!"
I've been lucky and haven't had a bad incident as a buyer or a seller regarding test rides but I'm always nervous. Super lucky selling my last bike, the CB300R. The girl didn't even sit on it, let alone ride it. Gave me full asking price and threw in extra for me to ride it home for her, along with an Uber ride home. Wish they could all be that easy.
Buying my CB1100 was fun - the seller was hesitant to sell, and when I brought it back from a five-minute test ride, he sent me back out on a longer one, hoping I would decide I didn't like it the longer I rode it. "Take it on the freeway. It's terrible on the freeway!"