The Used Scooter Inspection Pack

The sheets inside this pack

Every one is also available on its own, free. The pack exists so you can print once rather than 5 times.

1. 01What to ask a seller before you go and look at a scooterTSP-BU-04
2. 02Where is the VIN on a Chinese scooter?TSP-ID-02
3. 03How to read a Chinese scooter VIN, character by characterTSP-ID-05
4. 04Used Chinese scooter inspection checklistTSP-BU-01
5. 05First day with a used Chinese scooterTSP-BU-03

The problem it solves

Buying one of these machines goes wrong at four separate points, and most buyers only prepare for one of them. They plan the inspection and neglect the phone call that would have saved the journey, the numbers check that decides whether it can ever be registered, and the first week, when the cheap things that should have been done immediately get put off for a year.

This is the buying sequence in the order it actually happens. Nothing in it is new — every sheet is on the site individually and free — but a purchase is a sequence rather than a moment, and a pack you print once is more likely to be used at every stage than five downloads you have to remember.

The order is deliberate and it is not the order most buyers use. The paperwork and numbers come before the mechanical inspection, because they are the disqualifying checks: a machine whose VIN cannot be found or does not match the title can be impossible to register, which makes it worth its parts value however well it runs. There is no point evaluating the tyres on a machine you will never be able to put on the road.

It closes with the first-week sheet, which exists because the most common expensive mistake after buying one of these is spending money on upgrades before spending it on an oil change.

The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent

• Driving to see a machine before establishing there is a title in the seller's name.
• Inspecting the mechanicals first and the paperwork last, which is the wrong way round.
• Letting the seller warm the engine before you arrive, which hides the cold-start faults that matter most.
• Buying it and then not recording the numbers, so the identification work has to be done again in a year with the panels back on.
• Spending the first month's budget on a performance variator instead of an oil change.

How to use it

1. 01Print the whole pack once and keep it in the car.
2. 02Use the seller questions before agreeing to travel — that sheet saves the most money.
3. 03Do the numbers and paperwork section in front of the seller before looking at anything mechanical.
4. 04Keep the completed pack after the purchase. It becomes the machine's history.