I’m looking for a used car, and have run across some cars that are “too good to be true”. Newer models, described as excellent condition, no mechanical/cosmetic issues, low miles, yada yada. But the cars are SERIOUSLY underpriced. For instance:
This car has a Kelly Blue Book value of $14,000 and is being sold for $3,500. This can’t be an honest deal. I see a few similiar ads. Is there a way to gain assurance that I am not buying a stolen vehicle?
Check back in an hour and the ad will be gone. THose are email address harvesters. THer’s a guide somewhere on spoptting them but once you know their template you can spot them easily.
Always 4 pictures, vague location, lots of cut and pasted info on the car.
I did a Google search for that email address and found the same listing on Craigslist in Delaware, while your listing was for Kansas City. That’s suspicious by itself.
People might also be downright lying about the condition of the car. A lot of legitimate used-car ads look too good to be true, too.
And if you remove Google’s duplicate kill you’ll see this ad featured in sixteen different Craigslist locations. I’d guess that MikeG is right on this one.
Those don’t look like houses in suburban Kansas City; they’re more like what you would see around the Great Lakes region.
yeah I will see ads here in chicago with the cars in front of palm trees…I don’t think so.
The best way to find deals on Craigslist is to look for ads where they put in a neighborhood or some other very localized identifier.
Well, that answers that. Sheisty scammers selling to spammers. How much lower can you get?
Things like cars, which have an individual VIN that’s easily checked & traced, are much less likely to be sold via Craigslist than other stolen items. Like TV’s & other such electronic equipment – even though they generally have a serial number, it’s much harder to track that down and see if it has been stolen. But a car VIN – just call your local police department, give them the VIN, and in 60 seconds they can tell you if that vehicle has been reported stolen.
As has already been said, well…
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Hey, I had to check out the ad. I couldn’t help myself 
Another common phenomenon is cars listed at a price the seller… won’t ACTUALLY sell the car for.
You sort by price, and see a car that’s a REALLY nice deal, then you call and $1600 turns into $16000… I’d believe it was a typo if the ad didn’t stay up 2 months and get reposted with the same price over and over again…
I sold a car on cars.com a couple years ago. Another scam that’s going around: some “representative” of a buyer has a cashier’s check for $10,000 and if you just refund the difference, they’ll pick up the car etc. etc. Thing is, they’re forging cashier’s checks now and it’s successful enough to fool banks until, like a personal check, it bounces later.
So if they can forge a cashier’s check, I’d guess they can also forge a title. I’d be making sure the VIN is connected to the seller and you check for seller’s ID. I’d also feel better checking out the car at an address connected to same.