I'm just pointing out that buying cars can be more complicated than the list of questions. Because eveyone has his or her own personality, you have to "feel" the seller out.

As a grease monkey by trade, I have considerable experaince with grease monkeys and motorheads. Whether or not we like sterotypes, this group can be sterotyped. If you start banging out a bezillion questions, it might rub them the wrong way. You won't have to worry about walking away from the car becuse they'll decide not to sell it to you. (If the person is offering the car for a fair price, they can afford to be selective to whom they sell. If they are raping you, it's a different story, and they'll play puppet.)

I probally wouldn't sell my car; instead, I would part it if I were to get rid of it. Let's say that I was going to sell it for a fair price. If someone bombarded me with such a list of questions, I'd say "I'v changed my mind! The car isn't for sale!" Some questions, yes, no problem. But it would rub me the wrong way if someone brought along this shopping list of questions. If I chose to entertain some of the questions, I would suggest that the person take a look.

Of course it's a good list of legitimate questions. The important point is that you need to feel out the seller because some sellers will become turned off if you do such an extensive grilling. The reslut could be loosing the connection on a quality car for the money.

Of course I would ask as many questions as I could without irritating the owner enough so that s/he would back out on the deal. But I can also anaylize the car and its merit without asking the owner one single question about the car. The best approach is to keep in mind that everyting is ten times worse than it appears. That way, any less is a bonus.

When wheeling and dealing, often, the less said the better, the reason I weaseled the price from $400 to $150 for my car. Actually, I didn't weasel the guy down. He dropped the price. If I had questioned the guy about the car, he would probally become irritated and said no sale because he really wasn't trying to sell it. But rather than asking questions about the car, I pointed out the level of work and the money spent to get the car so that it would be in running condition, so he dropped the asking price down to $150. I used a ten time worse outlook and went from buying a parts car to making my origional car the parts car and the purchased car the buliding bone.

I only wanted to point out that the list of questions may not be the best approach when buying the car. You can get away with it on a car lot because the only goal of the seller is to get rid of the car. When you're dealing with a private owner and his/her special interst car, you have no clue as to the true nature of the reason for sale. Yes, if there is someting wrong with it, and they want to get out of it, they'll answer whatever questions you have. The answers may not be correct, but you'll hear what the seller thinks you want to hear.

But what if they are not overly excited with selling the car? The guy selling mine wasn't real excited at selling, but the timing was perfect. If they aren't anxious to sell, a long list of questions would be a good reason to justify not selling the car.

Once you're in the ring with the owner, it will unfold as to how many questions you can ask. If the owner is receptive to such a list, fire away, but feel the situation out so that you don't blow the chance at geting a fair car for a fair price.