bigborer
Site Supporter
Unless the guy looks sketchy, a test ride while seller holding his drivers license and ID card should be no problem.
I've seen seen quite a number of sellers saying up front "testing only with full cash on hand", even writing that in caps in the add. This has always put me off. If you don't trust me to test ride your bike, why would I trust you to not screw me big time with a junk bike? I've heard so many stories, and "potential buyer running off or crashing and then not paying" is much much much rarer than "seller selling piece of junk that fell apart in 2h", with all kinds of crap done to mask the real condition, such as tin foil wrapped around rod bearings, honey like thick oil, glued metal parts, etc.
For someone to be so extremely scared of crooks, that's definitely a red flag... as the saying goes, it takes one to know one. Or it's just a way of trying to have it ridden as little as possible, to not have the tin foil come apart before making the transaction.
I've seen seen quite a number of sellers saying up front "testing only with full cash on hand", even writing that in caps in the add. This has always put me off. If you don't trust me to test ride your bike, why would I trust you to not screw me big time with a junk bike? I've heard so many stories, and "potential buyer running off or crashing and then not paying" is much much much rarer than "seller selling piece of junk that fell apart in 2h", with all kinds of crap done to mask the real condition, such as tin foil wrapped around rod bearings, honey like thick oil, glued metal parts, etc.
For someone to be so extremely scared of crooks, that's definitely a red flag... as the saying goes, it takes one to know one. Or it's just a way of trying to have it ridden as little as possible, to not have the tin foil come apart before making the transaction.