Free printableBuying and orderingTSP-BU-04
What to ask a seller before you go and look at a scooter
Twelve questions and one photo request that decide whether a machine is worth driving across the county to see.
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TSP-BU-04 · version v1.0 · September 2026. Opens in your browser's PDF viewer, where you can print directly.
The problem it solves
Most wasted journeys are avoidable. The machine that turns out to have no title, a VIN that does not match, an engine that was already warm when you arrived, or a fault the seller would have described honestly if anyone had asked — all of that can be established from home in ten minutes.
The inspection checklist is for when you are standing in front of the machine. This sheet is for the twenty minutes before you decide to go, and it saves more money than the inspection does, because the cheapest bad purchase is the one you never drove to.
The questions are ordered deliberately. The paperwork ones come first because they are disqualifying: a machine you cannot register is worth scrap however well it runs, and there is no point discussing the tyres until that is settled.
The photograph request at the end is the part people skip and the part that works hardest. A seller who sends four clear photographs within the hour is a different proposition from one who does not, regardless of what the photographs show.
The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent
- Travelling before establishing that there is a title in the seller's name.
- Accepting "it runs great" without asking when it last ran and for how long.
- Not asking for the VIN in advance, which is the one thing that can be checked from home.
- Arriving to find the engine already warm, which hides the cold-start problems that matter most.
- Asking only about the machine and not about the seller's relationship to it — how long they have had it, and why it is going.
Who it is for
- Anyone about to drive somewhere to look at a used machine
- Buyers considering something advertised a long way away
- Anyone who has already wasted a journey once
What is on it
- Paperwork questions first, because they are the disqualifying ones
- History and running questions, phrased so a vague answer is visible as vague
- The four photographs to request, and what each one tells you
- A decision block and a record of what you were told, for when you arrive
How to use it
- 01Ask the paperwork questions first. If those fail, stop — the rest does not matter.
- 02Ask for the VIN and the four photographs before agreeing to travel.
- 03Write the answers down. When you arrive, the gap between what you were told and what you find is the most useful thing you have.
- 04Ask them not to start it before you arrive, and say why.
Also in a pack
Use it with the registry
Other sheets you may want
- Used Chinese scooter inspection checklistWhat to check before handing over money, in the order you can check it, including the paperwork problems specific to these machines.
- Where is the VIN on a Chinese scooter?A search checklist for the VIN, frame number, engine number and emission label — including the places people look last and should look first.
- First day with a used Chinese scooterWhat to do in the first hours, before spending money on anything. Most of it costs nothing and all of it saves money later.
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