After reading this thread, I’d like to know whether anyone here has bought a car on ebay, and if so what kind of experience did you have?
I have never bought a car on eBay but I have seen several that have been bought that way.
in 3 out of the 4 cases the new owners got hosed. Big Time.
One guy bought a car for $6500 (worth about $6500 in good condition) and promptly had to sink $6600 into it. So he was then 13,100 into a car worth 6500. I have no idea why, he wanted to spend the .
Another guy bought a classic for about 10K worth 15K in good condition.
He spent another 15K getting it into good condition.
Personally I would not buy a car off eBay unless I had a in person inspection by someone I trusted.
YMMV
Around 2002, I bought a 1975 Chrysler Cordoba on eBay. The car was in Vancouver, WA (I’m in New Orleans).
The 1975 model was still pretty simple, mechanically. It was an early 75, so there was no lean-burn “computer” or anything like that. It’s pretty much a carbureted gasoline engine and the same 727 transmission that Chrysler used for 40 years. Nothing that would require any high-tech diagnostic tools if something went wrong.
Before I bid, I got the seller on the phone and in talking to him, found out that he had spent 20 years working as a Chrysler mechanic and did a lot of at-home work on cars of that era. My main concern was that it was in sound enough condition to make the 2600 mile trip. In other words, that the engine and transmission weren’t about to die, that the brakes worked and that the wheels wouldn’t fall off.
I felt like the guy knew what he was talking about and he told me that he had lifted the car up and checked everything vital to the suspension and steering and everything seemed to be solid. I placed the winning bid.
I bought two plane tickets and took along a friend who has a lot of experience with old Chryslers and a full toolbox, which I was able to put into checked luggage (the tools, although in hindsight, I could’ve saved some money on airfare if I’d checked my friend too.)
Upon arrival, the seller picked us up at the airport in Portland Oregon in the car and drove us to his house. From there, we did a quick inspection of the car to be sure it was roadworthy, exchanged the remaining money and paperwork and we were off.
The seller had included a full 5 gallon gas can and a couple of blankets in the trunk.
The trip went well, with the exception of one time in Oklahoma in 110 degree heat and heavy traffic, the car ran hot. Otherwise, no problems at all. We took turns driving and made the trip in 52 hours.
It was an interesting experience and I got to see parts of the country I’d never seen before.
I’ve since been on four other car buying trips like this with other people.
The most important piece of advice is to get the seller on the phone and ask questions. Hopefully the seller will be knowledgable and will be able to give you good information. If the seller doesn’t know anything about cars, it’s probably not a good risk, unless you’re close enough to go check out the car yourself.
My nephew bought a tricked out (fancy wheels, super stereo, etc.) Honda Civic hatchback on eBay. The car was in Oklahoma City and we live in Pennsylvania. He said he’d pay my expenses if I’d fly out and drive the car back. My natural wanderlust couldn’t say no. Nephew had paid for the car and had received the title … off I went, getting super-searched at three airports due to my online one-way plane ticket to Oklahoma City that was bought by somebody else.
The owner picked me up at the airport in the car (that was part of the deal … I wanted to know for sure that the car was in some kind of running condition), I drove him back to his house and hit the highway. Stopped for the night and the battery was dead in the morning; replaced the battery at a nearby Sears and finished the trip with no further problems.
When my nephew first saw the car he was somewhat upset. The car was a somewhat (but not very) faded red. The pictures on eBay had been retouched to improve the color; turned out the seller was a college student studying computer graphics. He still got a pretty good deal; spent some time with a buffer and drove the car for a couple of years without any major problems.
All in all, pretty typical of my experiences buying any used items on eBay … there’s always a little gotcha, but it’s usually not major.
I bought a year old Mercedes sports car off of ebay. Had a friend that lived nearby go and inspect it and test drive it before I purchased. I flew to the city, picked it up and drove it home. Great purchase. Still own the car.
I always wanted to build a kit car (one of those fiberglass bodies you put on another car) and at some point I realized I was just never going to have the time to do it. I started looking at kit cars on Ebay and got lucky and found one that needed some work (it hadn’t run for 20 years) but was priced with a very low buy it now price, so I jumped on it. I had to have the car shipped to me because it wasn’t in running condition, but I knew that when I bought it.
I put new spark plugs and wires in it, changed the oil, replaced the ignition coil, and put a fresh battery in it and the engine ran fine, so in that respect the car was in the condition that it had been advertised as being in.
When I bid on the car, I expected there to be more wrong with it than the seller said and factored that into the price I was willing to pay, and I was right. There was more wrong that wasn’t disclosed. The electrical system was totally futzed up. The fuse was missing from the blinker circuit, and when I put the fuse in the blinker module started to smoke. I’m an electrical engineer, so sorting out the car’s wiring wasn’t that big of a deal, especially considering that the car was based on a VW Beetle which is about as simple as you can get. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to wire up the blinkers, because the wiring on the car matched the 1960 Beetle that was the donor car, but the blinker module had come out of a 72 or 73 Beetle. The specs for the blinker module were in German and the terminals were labeled thinks like k and 42 instead of plus and minus or something that I could translate from German that would make any sense. Once I reverse engineered the blinker module I wired it up so that it worked and all was good.
I decided to rip out the seats and re-mount them because I didn’t like the way they had mounted them originally, and I wanted to add seat belts to the car since it didn’t have any. At this point all I have left to do to make the car road worthy is re-mount the seats and replace the exhaust system because it has completely rusted out.
Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase. The car needed some work so I got to put my hands on it, but it didn’t need a complete rebuild which I didn’t have time to do. The important thing is that I did factor in the seller not disclosing everything into the price I was willing to pay, and that worked out well for me.
Pics of the car, for anyone who might be interested:
http://home.comcast.net/~sokosfamily/toy/toy.htm
I have bought 4 cars on Ebay.
I bought a 2002 BMW 325xi from a seller in Texas and had it shipped. Saved over 6k and it was exactly as described.
I bought a 1969 Dodge Charger and had it shipped from Ohio (painted as the General Lee.) Exactly as described.
I bought a 2004 Crown Vic from Mass (Ex patrol car) and it was exactly as described.
I bought a 1992 Volvo 240 and drove it home; exactly as described.
I’ve never had a problem with a car I’ve bought on Ebay. I buy from those who have excellent selling histories, especially with cars.
That being said, I have been burned on other items that have not been as described. Such is life. You could get the same thing from buying locally; sometimes you get a good deal, sometimes you get screwed.
I’ve both bought and sold cars on ebay with little to no problems. First purchase fell through due to inability to get a clean title in my state. Second purchase of a 1978 Spitfire went really well; the seller delivered the car to us for free (we were only 30 miles away). Third purchase of a 1954 Triumph Renown went fine; though the condition was a little worse than indicated in the ad, we still forked over the money and drug it home. I later sold that same car on ebay to an out-of-state buyer who paid to have it picked up and shipped cross country via truck. I don’t feel like I got ripped off in any of the deals.
I bought a 7 year old Toyota Celica from a dealer back in 2001. Great experience. The only thing I got boned on was the A/C. There was obviously a leak in the system and the A/C slowly died until dead within about 2 weeks.
It was about $2k under Kelly BB at the time, and there were no mechanical defects. I’m not any kinda big swingin’ dick when it comes to cars, so I don’t have much to compare it to, but that Celica was my favorite car ever.
I don’t think I’d buy a car from Joe Shmoe who had a perfect ebay rating for selling baseball cards, but a dealer with almost universally positive feedback, who went out of his way to describe every blemish didn’t concern me. It was probably the best deal I ever got on a car.
I bought a Jeep Cherokee on eBay several years ago. The Cherokee is pretty foolproof; the model has few maintenance problems. I might not have bought a different make or model. Had no problems with my Cherokee, and got a bargain, because it had what would have been an expensive tow package already installed.
The Cherokee was out in Houston. I flew out to get it and drove it back to Atlanta.
(CarFax is your friend, in case you’re worried about getting a previously wrecked or flood-damaged car. Buying a car located in Houston, I was a little worried about the latter.)
I bought a vintage Alfa Romeo for my ExBF on eBay. He said he always wanted one and I gave it to him for a birthday present. It worked fine until he forgot to check the oil and seized the engine - which, of course, happened when he was out philandering around so I think it was poetic justice.
Never bought, but I’ve sold three cars on eBay Motors. In each case, I got a fair price, and the buyer got a good car for the money.
The first time we used them, it was with a bit of trepidation – but we had already dumped a significant amount into newspapers ads and such which didn’t do a damn thing for us, so we figured we’d give eBay a shot. We placed the ad on Friday, and the cash was in my hand on Sunday. I’ve been a believer ever since.
Heh…the last one I sold, about two years ago, was a Ford Focus Wagon – it seems they’re very, very hard to come by in western states, because the buyer flew in from Nebraska (to New Jersey) to get it and then drove it home. He really wanted this specific model, and said they’re so hard to find out there that it was much cheaper for him to pay my price plus airfare plus expenses for the trip back than it would have been to buy one locally. Go figure.
I bought a 1998 Explorer Limited several years ago for a fair price, although I think the seller was bidding against me. It was the only other bidder and I had to end up bidding the buy-it-now price in order to win. Satisfied overall but I think he intentionally failed to disclose a problem with the heater. Don’t know that I’d do it again but I went into it with my eyes wide open.
I recently solda car (a Fox-body Mustang GT) on eBay, and got a good price for it ($700 less than I bought it for 7 years ago.) The buyer and myself are happy. I actually delivered the car to him, and he paid cash. We talked for a while, I signed the title over to him, took off my license tags, that was it.
There were quite a few bids and inquiries, but no one came to actually see the car. The second-place bidder was in the lead for several days, but he had 0 feedback, I’m sort of glad he didn’t win. The winner had ~40 feedback, 100% positive.
I’ve tentatively bid on some cars on eBay (but never won any).
But I only bid on cars that were close enough to me that I could easily drive over to get them. I wouldn’t ship a car anywhere - that would eliminate the whole cost savings, at my price level - and plus I’d rather have access to the seller if things go sour.