First time buying a car, how do i get the seller to have a mechanic check it?

The last private sale car I bought, I saw and drove the car first, gave the seller a small deposit to show I was serious, and arranged to have him meet me at the car dealership service department. He met me there, I paid for the inspection, and once I had the mechanics report, I bought the car.

There are a couple of ways to do it.  The simplest would be to have your mechanic come to the seller and look at the car there.  Or you could take the car to your mechanic, either by bringing the seller along, or leaving a deposit (not recommended).  Also you could take the car with the seller to a nearby mechanic, but I wouldn't want to do that either, since you wouldn't know the guy, and don't know if you can trust him.

YOU the buyer pay for it. The seller will likely want to go with you,or to deliver it to the mechanic himself or herself.

First, you take a long test drive to make sure you even need a mechanic to look it it. On low end cars, you may not need one to tell you a car is crap.

If you do, find a reasonably close by mechanic. I was a low end dealer for a dozen years and I let anyone & everyone except someone who wanted to go an hour away.  That was too far for comfort for me. Most were within a few miles.  You can also bring the mechanic with you.

I sold a car recently.

I'm not going to let a "no one" take my car, but I let two reputable people take it.

- a neighbor = it's not like she is going to steal it when she lives in the next block.

- a local realtor = he isn't going to run off with it either... (he bought it).

Do you have comprehensive coverage?  Your insurance will pay if it's stolen.

But if the people who are asking about your car are people you wouldn't trust, meet them at the shop.

just ask him to have a mechanic check it

The last time I bought a car from a private seller, I requested they meet me at the shop of MY choice for an inspection at my expense. After receiving a satisfactory report, we went directly to a Notary Public to compete the sale.

When I did it, we both met at the mechanic's shop.  We live in a smaller city (44K population), so he was familiar with the place.