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Old 07-09-2015, 02:45 AM
 
1,315 posts, read 3,209,538 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Duramutt View Post
You have to ask above what you want, everyone thinks they can come in at half like they are on one of these reality shows. Start high and take a huge % off to give them the warm and fuzzy feeling. Everyone wins

If someone is selling a car for $33,500 let's say, and you offer them exactly what the very good book value says, which is $30,000 let's say, how do you expect someone to react, since it's $3,500 less? I wonder if private party used cars are also selling for their asking prices since the market is so tight.
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Old 07-09-2015, 10:43 AM
 
837 posts, read 2,325,315 times
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I've had some adverse experiences with purchasing vehicles on CL. I would highly advise anyone buying a car on craigslist to have it checked out by an independent mechanic. Seems like everyone is trying to get over on people nowadays.
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Old 07-10-2015, 01:24 AM
 
Location: Rural Michigan
6,343 posts, read 14,599,319 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happs View Post
If someone is selling a car for $33,500 let's say, and you offer them exactly what the very good book value says, which is $30,000 let's say, how do you expect someone to react, since it's $3,500 less? I wonder if private party used cars are also selling for their asking prices since the market is so tight.
if you're paying that kind of dough, I'd be looking for a dealer to take you to the auction, so you can pay actual wholesale. The manheim (dealer) auction doesn't allow any monkey business & the vehicles have very detailed condition reports posted online, so you can narrow things down & not waste much time.

Buying a used car at the wholesale auction (like Manheim) - My experience
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Old 07-10-2015, 02:27 AM
 
Location: Arizona
12,852 posts, read 7,045,006 times
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Private party sales in AZ you don't have to pay sales tax where if you buy from a dealer you do that has to be taken into account. Unless a used car comes with a warranty from a dealer I don't give the dealer more credibility on what they are selling you is in good working order. I have had so many bad experiences with car dealers that I only go to one when I'm buying a new vehicle I don't even take it my new truck there to get the oil changed.
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Old 07-16-2015, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
1,350 posts, read 1,355,411 times
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One thing you can do to avoid curbstoners and others who buy-n-flip, visually without having to get them to show you the title, is to check the license plate ... often they leave the plate uncovered in the photographs and since Arizona plates are issued in sequential order, it's very easy to tell who just registered the car a few days/weeks ago versus who really has had the car for 2 years or 20 years or what have you. (California plates are the same way, albeit with different sequences, and probably other states but I don't know for sure.)

The seven-digit Arizona flat plates started at AAA0001 format in 2008 and have been going up ever since. I'll never forget my first sighting of the seven-digit plate in February 2008 on a rental car. I was so distraught because I had missed the news that they were going to flat plates. The only way I know of now to get a metal plate now is via Historic Vehicle or Classic Car or Horseless Carriage plates.

Right now they're about halfway through the B's, e.g. BM----- or BN----- or BO-----. I believe it flipped over from A to B around the start of 2013.

So anyway, if someone is selling a car with brand-new plates on it as such, clearly you need to check the Carfax before you go any farther because it's almost certainly a flip, although occasionally it can be someone who changed the title out of their parents' name recently.

--

I have bought several vehicles on Craigslist and I think the key is to be careful who you are dealing with. Unfortunately since everyone are strangers to each other, you have to do a lot of snap judgments. It helps if they have paperwork and show some kind of passion for / knowledge about their vehicles versus someone who doesn't understand cars and may have unintentionally or out of laziness not taken good care of it. The way the ad is written and the way the phone call goes can be helpful in determining if you think this is someone worth meeting with and seeing the vehicle or not.
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Old 07-17-2015, 09:11 AM
 
14 posts, read 40,920 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyman View Post
if you're paying that kind of dough, I'd be looking for a dealer to take you to the auction, so you can pay actual wholesale. The manheim (dealer) auction doesn't allow any monkey business & the vehicles have very detailed condition reports posted online, so you can narrow things down & not waste much time.

Buying a used car at the wholesale auction (like Manheim) - My experience

Not sure about that one. Manhiem sells as much junk as anyone. I have a dealers license in and have used them quite often. I would say 2 out of every 3 have needed major recon to get them sellable. With the 3rd needing maybe minor work. I have the receipts to prove it. Maybe in 05 when I started it was good, but it's not that anymore.

Remember they are at the auction because the dealer couldn't move it on their lot, not because it's too good to sell on their lot.

I use Craigslist for better than wholesales deals now. It only cost $75 to $120 to have a reputable mechanic run through it front to back. Well worth it if you ask me. I bought a 2012 f250 with only 41,000 miles on it from the above mentioned auction with a green light and 14 day warranty. Sent it to my mechanic when we got it back to my office and turns out it has over $4,500 worth of suspension repairs needed to get it road worthy. Manhiem denied my claim and I get to take a bath on it. They care only about moving cars, conditions be damned.
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