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Considering buying a car through eBay... How does the transaction take place? The seller is telling me something about the eBay Vehicle Purchase Program. Is this legit?
Considering buying a car through eBay... How does the transaction take place? The seller is telling me something about the eBay Vehicle Purchase Program. Is this legit?
It is legit, but make sure you buy from someone with a VERY high reputation.
I've sold hundreds of cars on EBay and have an excellent (99%) rating due to the fact the I always pointed out EVERY problem, nick, ding, stain and pimple on the vehicle.
It is legit, but make sure you buy from someone with a VERY high reputation.
I've sold hundreds of cars on EBay and have an excellent (99%) rating due to the fact the I always pointed out EVERY problem, nick, ding, stain and pimple on the vehicle.
When I sold my classic 59 Continental convertible, I spelled out very clearly everything that had been done to the car, and what still needed to be done.
I had a guy in Australia interested, and in his words, "extremely impressed with the car".
We talked on the phone and emailed for about a week.
I did my best to explain everything about the car before he decided to purchase it.
I suggested he hire an appraiser in the Los Angeles area to take a look at the vehicle.
In short, I did everything short of flying him from Australia to Los Angeles to see the car.
Well, he bought it, and paid mucho bucks to ship the car to Australia.
Three months later when it arrived, he emaild me and said he was absolutely sick when he saw the car.
He couldn't beleive it needed the work it did.
The pictures of the car didn't lie.
It was a beautiful car, but needed mostly interior and electrical work.
A mutual friend that also lives in the area in Australia told me the buyer got emotionally sick, and to this day has not done one thing to the car, and that was three years ago.
So the old saying goes, in car sales, you just can't please everybody.
I feel I was as honest as possible, and it bothers me too this day that the buyer felt he was cheated.
When buying ANY vehicle on Ebay, or any other site, do yourself a favor, and have the vehicle looked at by an independant third party.
I have sold numerous vehicles over the years, and this was the only time I hada problem with a buyer.
You just can't please them all.
This car was worth the twenty thousand I asked.
Bob.
I bought a 50 year old car in 1999 off ebay. Traveled 1000 miles to pick it up. The supposed clear title was not available but he said he would mail it to me. A year later I had to start pressuring him he said he would mail it to me, all I got was a bill of sale. I never did get the title and sold it in 2007 for more than I paid for it. My buyer said he could get a title in his state.
I've bought 2 Audi A4's off of ebay back in 2001 and 2004.
First one, got it through a mercedes dealer. My bank did the financing, all the papers were faxed to me and I paid $700 to have it delivered.
Second one, got it through a used dealer specializing in late model imports. Flew across country, financed through their bank, all I had to do was turn up, sign the papers and drive 2500 miles home.
Didn't have a problem with either of them. They were both 3 years old. I can't remember but there may have been some kind of insurance in case there was a catastrophic mechanic failure in the first 30 days or so. I did the Carfax on them and had plenty of photos, so I didn't really feel that being there in person would matter that much.
Four of them were represented fairly and were worth my trip to pick them up. There were no surprises, no disappointments. The cars were relatively decent bargains and the work needed to restore the cars once I got them home was consistent with the sales price.
Two of them, however, were sold by a fellow in Vermont who made a habit of buying and reselling cars that should have been sent to the crusher. His skills at writing creative ad copy, or lying about what he had for sale were impressive. He had great pictures and wonderful prose praising the quality of his cars. All total lies ... right down to him even owning one of the cars that he offered for sale. I made arrangements for transport of the two cars, and when the trucker showed up to get the cars, only one was available to load up. We got numerous stories about why the other car wasn't available; after tracing the serial number and dealing with the VT motor vehicle folks, it turned out the eBay seller had inquired about buying the second car, which was a parts car that had been picked over by the owner. The eBay seller had never paid for the car or picked it up. There was a lot of misrepresentation about every car he sold on eBay; I was able to get in touch with over 30 of his buyers and every car was a piece of junk with major mechanical problems, serious rust issues ... or, in the case of the 1997 car I did receive from him, it had a blown motor in it. The seller had rolled back the odometers on every vehicle he sold on eBay. After getting our complaints together, the VT authorities stepped back to let the Feds nail the guy for the odometer violations. He got a 36 month jail sentence and probation for 5 years after. I managed to get only half of the money I'd paid for the second car refunded, and no adjustment on the car represented as a wonderful daily driver that had a blown motor.
In over 40 years of buying and selling cars at a distance, this was the only seller who ripped me off. The eBay protection was worthless, and eBay did nothing to assist in stopping the fellow from his misrepresentations of other cars for sale. The only thing that shut the guy down was his arrest and subsequent jail sentence. He still had cars for sale on eBay until he went to jail.
So, buyer beware on eBay car sales ... or, at least, private party sales as opposed to licensed dealer sales. Get a third party inspection, if need be, or a right of refusal when you show up to complete a deal and the car isn't what it was represented to be.
My dad prefers to shop on Ebay motors, although choosing local sellers who let him look and inspect the car first, and who have very high reputation scores. From what I've seen him buy - he's gotten very good deals on what he finds!
I bought an 07 F-150 on there a few years ago. It went really well, I paid a $200 deposit to hold it and flew in to get it.
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