What is a pre-delivery inspection on a golf buggy?

It is the check the seller carries out before the machine leaves them: brakes, steering, tyres, charge, electrical function and a proper test drive, followed by a clean. There is no standard form for it in this trade, so ask what theirs covers and ask for it in writing. Your own handover check when the buggy arrives is the second half of the same process.

Should I pay in full before the buggy arrives?

A deposit to hold the machine with the balance on satisfactory handover is a reasonable structure to propose, and most sellers will discuss it. Paying everything up front removes the one thing keeping a delivery moving. Where a seller insists, ask why, and make sure the invoice identifies the machine by serial number so what arrives can be matched against what you bought.

What should I check first when a buggy is delivered?

Look before it moves: the identification plate against the invoice, the four corners for transit damage, and the charger and keys in your hand. Then drive it, on a slope if you have one, with weight aboard. Faults that show only under load are exactly the ones a static check misses, and they are far easier to raise while the lorry is still in the yard.

What if the buggy is delivered while I am out?

Agree it beforehand in writing: who may accept it, where it will be left, and who takes the charger and keys. Ask the driver or the person receiving it to photograph the machine on the ground before leaving, and to write any damage on the delivery note instead of signing it clean. Report anything you find the same day rather than the following week.

Does a new buggy need a handover check too?

Yes, and for different reasons. A new machine is unlikely to be worn, but it can arrive damaged in transit, configured for another market, missing an accessory or supplied with a charger lead that does not suit your socket. The handover is also when you should be shown the charging routine, the free-wheel arrangement and the maintenance the warranty depends on. Ask to be walked through all three.

Who is responsible if the buggy is damaged on the lorry?

It depends on the terms you agreed, which is why the question belongs before delivery day. Some sellers carry the risk until the machine is on your ground, some pass it at collection, and a haulier's own liability may be limited in ways neither of you expects. Get the answer in writing, and photograph the buggy on arrival so there is no argument about when the damage happened.

Pre-delivery inspection when you buy a buggy

By James Brown · Updated 29 August 2026 · 10 minute read

White four seater electric golf buggy on a gravel driveway by an English country house

A pre-delivery inspection proves the machine works, not that it looks right. Insist on a run under load rather than a lap of a flat yard, a charge cycle you have watched start and finish, brakes and steering checked by somebody competent, and the buggy handed over with its own charger, all its keys, the manual and its serial number written on the invoice. Do the same on a new machine as on a used one. If you cannot be present, agree in writing what happens instead.

Key takeaways

A static demonstration proves very little, because a tired pack behaves perfectly well on the flat for the first few minutes.
Watch the charging cycle start and finish, since a gauge reading full on arrival only shows that somebody put a charge in.
The charger, the keys, the manual and the battery details are part of the machine, and chasing them afterwards is slow.
Putting the serial number on the invoice means the warranty and any later claim attach to the buggy you actually received.
Agree in advance who carries the risk while the machine is on a lorry, because transit damage is the argument nobody plans for.
Where you cannot be there, photographs taken before the driver leaves settle most questions on their own.
Report a fault early and in writing, and let the seller see it before anyone else touches it.

What a handover is meant to prove

Two different checks share the name. The seller's pre-delivery inspection is the work done before the machine leaves them: tyres, brakes, steering, charge, electrical function, a proper test drive and a clean. Your handover check is what you do when it arrives, and it exists to confirm the first one happened. A dealer who has done the work properly welcomes the second check, because a question settled in the yard is quicker than the same question by email a fortnight later.

The purpose is not to catch anybody out. It is to establish the condition of the machine at the moment responsibility passes from one party to the other. Everything after that point is a warranty conversation or a goodwill conversation, and both go better where there is a shared record of how the buggy arrived. Ten minutes of looking, with the seller present, carries more weight than any assurance given on the telephone beforehand.

Running it under load rather than round a yard

Ask for the machine to be driven carrying the weight it will carry, on ground that resembles yours. A buggy with one light driver on level tarmac tells you almost nothing. Two people aboard, a gradient, and a run long enough for things to warm through will surface a tired pack, a dragging brake, a controller cutting back on current and a transaxle that whines under load but stays quiet without it.

Drive it yourself as well. Take it to full speed in both directions, listen at the rear, brake firmly from speed and feel whether it pulls to one side, then try the parking brake on a slope facing both up and down. Stop halfway up, leave it a moment and pull away again from rest. Rollback and a weak hill start are among the most useful things you can learn in the first few minutes.

Where a seller cannot demonstrate any of that on the ground the machine is currently standing on, that is worth knowing before it goes anywhere near a lorry. A yard with no slope in it is a genuine limitation rather than an excuse, and an honest seller will say so and offer something else: a longer run, a loaded test, or a written undertaking about what happens if the buggy will not climb your ground.

The charge cycle you should see for yourself

A gauge reading full on arrival proves that somebody put a charge in. It does not prove the pack holds one. What you want is the cycle demonstrated: the charger connected, the machine accepting it, and the charge running through to its proper finish rather than stopping early. On a lead-acid pack, ask to see the electrolyte levels before the charge goes on, because a pack topped up in front of you is a pack that has been managed.

Ask which charger belongs to this machine and watch it used. A charger matched to the pack's chemistry, voltage and capacity is part of the vehicle rather than an accessory, and the wrong one shortens a pack quietly over months. Where the buggy is being delivered charged, ask for the pack to be cycled fully beforehand and the state on departure recorded. Then run it down and charge it yourself on the first day, and see that cycle through.

Brakes, steering and the parts that stop you

These are the checks worth insisting on, because they are the ones no conversation can put right afterwards. Brakes should bite evenly, through a pedal that does not sink under steady pressure, and the parking brake should hold the machine on the steepest slope it will meet on your ground. Steering should be free of slop at the wheel, with no knocking over rough surfaces and no wandering when your hands go light.

Tyres are checked for type as well as condition. Turf, all-terrain and road patterns behave very differently on wet grass and on a slope, and a set of four ought to match. Pressures come from the maker's manual or the plate on the machine rather than from a rule of thumb, and it is worth having them set correctly at handover, since a soft tyre disguises steering wear and flatters the ride.

Even braking from speed, no pull to one side, and a pedal that stays firm under steady pressure.
A parking brake that holds on the steepest gradient the machine will actually meet.
No play at the steering wheel and no knocking from the front over rough ground.
Four matching tyres of the right pattern, set to the pressures the manual gives.

What should arrive with the machine

Half the disputes we hear about are not faults at all. They are missing pieces: one key instead of two, no manual, a charger lead that will not reach, no record of what the battery pack is. Every one of those is easy to resolve while the seller is standing next to the machine and slow to resolve once the lorry has gone. Write the list down before delivery day and work through it in front of them.

Documentation deserves the same treatment. A warranty is only useful where you hold its terms in writing, know when it starts and know who to ring. Service records, battery details and the machine's identification should be on paper or in an email rather than described out loud. Photograph the identification plate yourself while you are there, because that number is what every later conversation will turn on.

The correct charger for the pack, with a lead that reaches from your socket to where the machine will stand.
All the keys rather than one, and confirmation of whether the make uses a common key pattern.
The operator manual, or a link to the current version from the maker.
Battery make, chemistry and installation date, written down rather than described.
Warranty terms, the start date, and the contact for making a claim.
Every accessory that formed part of the deal, listed on the invoice by name.

Looking for one of your own? Every buggy we list carries its specification and the checks this guide describes, so you can compare them on the same terms.

See what's for sale

Paperwork, and the moment money moves

The invoice should describe the machine specifically enough to identify it: make, model, serial or chassis number, and the year where it is known. That number is what a warranty attaches to, what an insurer will ask for, and what the police would need if it were ever taken. An invoice reading one used golf buggy is a much weaker document than it looks, and correcting it later depends entirely on the seller's goodwill.

Payment structure is better agreed in advance than on the day. A deposit to secure the machine with the balance due on satisfactory handover is a common arrangement and a reasonable one to ask for, since it keeps everybody interested until the buggy is standing on your ground and working. Ask as well who carries the risk while it is in transit, and get that answer in writing. Transit damage is the argument nobody expects to have.

When the buggy is delivered and you are not there

This happens constantly and it is manageable, provided the arrangement is agreed rather than assumed. Somebody has to be able to accept the machine, look at it properly and say what state it arrived in. Where that person is a groundsman, a neighbour or a member of staff, brief them and give them the list. Where nobody will be there at all, say so in writing beforehand and agree exactly what the driver is to do.

The habit that protects you is photographic. A set of pictures taken before the driver leaves, with the machine on the ground and any packaging off, settles most transit questions on its own. Note damage on the delivery paperwork instead of signing it clean, and report anything found later in writing the same day. A buggy left standing outside is a theft and weather question as well, so agree where it goes and who takes the keys.

Tell the seller in writing who may accept the machine for you, and what they are authorised to sign.
Photograph all four sides, the seats, the wheels and the identification plate before the driver leaves.
Write any damage on the delivery note rather than signing it as received in good condition.
Agree where the buggy will be left, and that the charger and keys go to a person rather than with the machine.

The first week, and what to do if something is wrong

New brake shoes bed in, new tyres scrub in, and a pack that has been standing takes a few cycles to come back to itself. Some of what you notice on the first day settles by the end of the week, which is worth knowing before you make a telephone call you cannot take back. What does not settle is a noise that grows, a brake that pulls, a machine that will not hold a charge overnight, or a fault that appears only once things are warm.

Report anything of that kind in writing, early, and describe what the machine does rather than what you believe is wrong. Resist the urge to fix it first. A repair carried out by somebody else before the seller has seen the fault gives them a reason to decline the claim, and it removes the evidence either way. Keep the photographs, keep the invoice with the serial number on it, and keep the correspondence together in one place.

Common questions

What is a pre-delivery inspection on a golf buggy?: It is the check the seller carries out before the machine leaves them: brakes, steering, tyres, charge, electrical function and a proper test drive, followed by a clean. There is no standard form for it in this trade, so ask what theirs covers and ask for it in writing. Your own handover check when the buggy arrives is the second half of the same process.
Should I pay in full before the buggy arrives?: A deposit to hold the machine with the balance on satisfactory handover is a reasonable structure to propose, and most sellers will discuss it. Paying everything up front removes the one thing keeping a delivery moving. Where a seller insists, ask why, and make sure the invoice identifies the machine by serial number so what arrives can be matched against what you bought.
What should I check first when a buggy is delivered?: Look before it moves: the identification plate against the invoice, the four corners for transit damage, and the charger and keys in your hand. Then drive it, on a slope if you have one, with weight aboard. Faults that show only under load are exactly the ones a static check misses, and they are far easier to raise while the lorry is still in the yard.
What if the buggy is delivered while I am out?: Agree it beforehand in writing: who may accept it, where it will be left, and who takes the charger and keys. Ask the driver or the person receiving it to photograph the machine on the ground before leaving, and to write any damage on the delivery note instead of signing it clean. Report anything you find the same day rather than the following week.
Does a new buggy need a handover check too?: Yes, and for different reasons. A new machine is unlikely to be worn, but it can arrive damaged in transit, configured for another market, missing an accessory or supplied with a charger lead that does not suit your socket. The handover is also when you should be shown the charging routine, the free-wheel arrangement and the maintenance the warranty depends on. Ask to be walked through all three.
Who is responsible if the buggy is damaged on the lorry?: It depends on the terms you agreed, which is why the question belongs before delivery day. Some sellers carry the risk until the machine is on your ground, some pass it at collection, and a haulier's own liability may be limited in ways neither of you expects. Get the answer in writing, and photograph the buggy on arrival so there is no argument about when the damage happened.