It's crazy to buy a used car from a private seller, or over ebay....right?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve only bought new cars, but because of some complicated circumstances, it might be better to buy a used car next time around. I imagine that it’s much safer to buy from a dealer for the obvious reason, which is that if something goes wrong you’re out of luck getting anything a out of a private seller, especially one who lives 1,000 miles away.

OTOH, maybe I could get a good price from a private seller. But OTOH, how would I know if the car is about to fall apart or something? Especially if it isn’t local.

Any other tips?

2

I wouldn’t buy a car from a private seller over eBay, just because it is impossible to see the car in person. But most of the cars on eBay are being sold by dealers.

I would not have any qualms about buying from a local private seller, as compared to a dealer. When you get down to it, nothing is free. When you buy a “certified” used car from a dealer, you are paying extra for:

A) their inspection of the car, to detect any mechanical abnormalities and impending failures.
B) an extended warranty covering any failures that may occur past the factory warranty period. Often this warranty will exclude certain items that are likely to fail, like window regulators.

If you find a car you like from a private seller, you can just as easily choose to spend the money on A) and B) yourself.

A) will cost around $100, depending on where you take it for the inspection. I would recommend doing this for any used car you buy from a private seller.

B), as a rule, is a ripoff. An extended warranty is an insurance policy. People who sell insurance policies, statistically, make money (otherwise they’ll go out of business). And they make money by selling you policies that cost more than the expected cost of repairs they will pay for.

Additionally, when you buy from a private seller, you may also have the chance to judge for yourself that person’s character, and determine how they may have treated the car. They may even have maintenance records proving that everything was done on time. If you buy a car from a dealer, you have no idea who owned it or what the hell they did to it.

I would definitely not say it’s crazy to buy a car from a private seller. Just get an independent mechanic to evaluate it first.

If you buy a non-certified used car from a dealer (or a used-car lot not affiliated with a specific manufacturer or new-car dealer), you’re really not in much better shape than buying from a private individual. If the transmission fails one month into your ownership, you’re out of luck in both cases.

3

A friend of mine really wanted an International Scout II as a project car and he bought one from a private seller via eBay. The two of us flew up to Seattle from Oakland, picked the car up - first inspection was in his backyard, at night, while it was snowing, and commenced driving it back.

We made sure it had basic functionality (start, stop, steer, lights), drove to a nearby hotel which was by a Pep Boys and the next morning after breakfast we started fixing all the problems (and there were many - nothing major but a lot of “big minor” stuff). My buddy’s checked bag for the flight up there consisted of a toolbox with everything he thought might be needed and I’d say we used it all.

It was quite an adventure driving it back - no working speedometer, no wiper blades, questionable electrical, part of the engine hadn’t been properly tightened down when the seller did some work on it (we pulled over one time due to oil pressure loss and found oil leaking out of the block or something, necessitated quick work with the socket set on the spot), all kinds of fun things.

But we made it and he’s done a ton of work on that vehicle, it’s in pretty good shape now. We have enthralled many folks with our tale of how we got that thing back here.

4

I shopped for a car for my son on craigslist. Looked at a lot of pictures, had email conversations with the sellers, finally drove to Atlanta (that’s a five-hour drive from here) and bought one.

We’ve been very satisfied with it.

My driving back story: My son followed me in his ‘new’ car until we got back into Mississippi. Then he passed me and dissappeared. I think he got home about 30 minutes before I did. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

My brother has bought more than one car on eBay and it all worked out well. I think some were from private sellers and some from dealerships. He didn’t pay until he saw it, though. He treated it like a mini-vacation, and figured he would drive home in a vehicle or fly home after a day or so in a new city.

6

I bought a new motorcycle, a used RV, and an expensive tandem bicycle via ebay. These items cost as much as some used cars. In all cases the items were not available locally. Picking them up involved 1-2 day driving one way.

In all cases I picked the items up in person, and inspected them to insure that they were as described.

Co-worker just bought an expensive used car online, not sure if it was ebay or otherwise, but he flew to the sellers city to pick it up.

7

There’s nothing crazy about buying a car from a private seller. Just have it inspected before purchase. Private sellers usually screw you over considerably less than dealers, actually.

There’s a lot crazy about buying a car sight-unseen by any method.

8

The only thing I would caution when it comes to a private seller is really old, massively discounted or cars from a private seller that are openly admitted as “sold as is and this vehicle has some problems” are probably not worth the money you’d save versus a used car closer to market value for that model/year/mileage.

I have a friend who is very tight with money and something he used to do is pretty much exclusively buy the absolute cheapest used cars he could find, usually never younger than 10 years old, and often from people who told him the car had some issues.

A used car is one thing, but a used car like that is dicey. When it had its predicted mechanical problems he’d then scrounge around looking for used parts to have it repaired, because of “how much money he saved” and then he’d have a “friend” do the repair to save on paying a professional. Usually it’d be broken down again 2-3 months later and after 4-5 go arounds he could have bought both a better used car and multiple new parts that he kept buying used.

9

Nothing crazy about this at all, Plan B.

I bought my Protege5 from a private seller off Craig’s List. He had a loan to pay off so I couldn’t get the title until the check cleared.

He LexisNexised me; I LexisNexised him. I needed a car loan, so my bank was able to find out exactly how much was owed on the car and who really had the title.

We agreed that when I gave him the deposit, I would take possession of the car and park it in my garage, since it would not be insured for a couple days.

I gave him the money, got the title and everything went fine.

It was a little nerve wracking and required a lot of faith on both our parts. But I bought the car for LESS than trade-in value, so how could I pass it up? Even my mechanic was impressed! :cool:

10

I work in the automotive repair industry. I love people that buy cars on eBay. At our shop at least they are the technician’s Full Employment Act.
There was the guy that bought a used station wagon for $6,500. (just about market value), after paying the money and shipping the car across the country, he brought it to us. He needed to dump another $6,500 into the car to get it in the condition he thought it was when he bid on it. Yup, he was in $13,000 for a car worth $6,500.
Or the guy that bought the classic car via eBay. Again he brought it to us to straighten out a few things. His bill was about 4K. This car was the very definition of a 10 foot car. From 10+ feet away it looked awesome. When you got close you could see the rust bubbling under the paint, the poor body work, the whole shebang. The computer control unit had sand in it from when the sandblasted the car before paint. (Think about that, they sandblasted the car, and then painted over the rust so the new paint was bubbling.)

Personally I would not buy a car sight unseen from a private party unless I had an expert that I paid for to do a very complete exam of the entire car before I laid down any cash.

11

You can find good deals on Craigslist, especially from people like me who sell their late-model, low-mileage cars because they trade in every few years. My last car was a 2008 with 18K miles on it and was in great condition. A vehicle like that will give somebody many years of service.

12

Get the car inspected by someone qualified. Long ago I advertised my MG Midget for sale. British Leyland was no longer, so I advertised the car for an inflated amount. The car had some problems (cracked, patched exhaust manifold) and parts would be hard to come by. I advertised it “as is”.

Guy came to look and he loved the car. He left his ride and his drivers license and took the car to a friend to “inspect”. Buyer returned an hour later, said he’d take it, and gave me my asking price in cash. I expected an angry call at some point, but that never happened.

13

I bought a used car from a co worker’s neighbor a decade ago on her recommendation that he took car of his cars. She was right. My mechanic said he was almost right on everything (the brakes weren’t quite as good as he said but he was close). But I don’t think I’d buy anything from an ad unless it was checked first.

14

I’ve bought all but one of our used cars from a private seller. No need to pay a dealer mark-up. As others have advised, just have a reputable mechanic look it over.

15

Your general point holds, but it doesn’t mean that insurance is a bad deal: if your expected cost of repairs is higher than the insurer’s, then insurance can still be a good deal.

This most usually happens when insurers can ‘buy in bulk’ for a lower per-service rate. See: health insurer prices vs cash prices at American doctors.

pdts

16

No, not crazy, but you’ve got to be wise about it.

I sold a car on eBay last summer and I and the buyer were very happy with the deal. I had lots of photos in the listing and tried to describe every attribute and defect the car had.

Years before I bought that same car from AutoTrader and drove to another state to pick it up.

17

I’ve bought and sold a couple of motorcycles on ebay.

I wouldn’t buy a vehicle on ebay unless it has very low milage. The first motorcycle had 300 km on it. Right after the owner bought it, he was diagnosed with some illness ending his riding career.

The second one had under 3,000 miles - a retired police issue Harley being sold by a dealership.

In both cases, they were sold for a very favourable price. The machines were both in excellent shape as advertised. And the reasons for sale were believable enough that I sensed no red flags.

Under similar circumstances, I would do it again.

18

I think certain cars are better candidates for this kind of deal. The Integra we bought is still running like a champ. We’ve not had a minute’s worth of trouble out of it in 3 years.