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When I sold my last car to an individual buyer, I showed her the complete maintenance history that I had kept in a notebook. It included all the receipts. I told her about the car's strengths and weaknesses and I showed her which maintenance items needed to be done next.
I buy cars new and drive them for many years. The few times I've sold a car privately, that's what I do. I have the receipt for anything done to the car. You can see all the oil changes. You can see all the required maintenance done when it's supposed to be done. You can see any minor or major repairs. Before the potential buyer shows up to see the car, they've seen online photos of all the cosmetic issues any older car that hasn't been reconditioned has.
If I don't trust the car, I won't sell it privately because lemon laws make it too much risk that I'll have a problem. I trade them and let the dealer dump it at the auction house.
Personally, there is no way I'd ever buy a used car that wasn't from the original owner with all the service records. You still have to get the car up on a lift to look for problems and signs of repaired damage but that's the only way you have a clue if the car has been maintained properly.
both are nationwide and reputable, and just as necessary if buying from a dealer
then run a carfax report
these 2 combined will give you a lot more information than you would get at a dealer, and you can also buy an extended warranty online cheaper than the dealer would sell it to you (no commissions)
same with financing, cheaper at the local credit union
if there is any financial or risk management advantage to buying from a dealer, I have yet to discover it
Good advice, unless the seller is really a curbstoner, which a lot of Craigslist sellers are.
Searching for evidence of curbstoning can be as easy as doing a simple online search for the phone number or email address that’s associated with the vehicle. If the search reveals multiple vehicles for sale with the same contact information, it may be a good sign to move on.
If the contact information is unique to the vehicle, there is a good chance that you are dealing with an honest, well-intentioned owner, but scammers have caught on to this trick too and often use multiple email addresses and phone numbers with each vehicle listing.
This can be trickier to discover, but if you see similar ads clustered on classified listing websites you might want to contact a few and see if patterns arise. For example, call each number and see if the same person answers.
If you call an individual and they ask which vehicle you are inquiring about, consider it a red flag.
so what if someone makes extra money flipping a car or 2 a month, better than some big sleazy dealer that holds classes for their salespeople on how to rip the customer off
How can you find out the true condition and history of a car you're interested in purchasing from a private owner?
From my experience, in the order of importance. I always brought used from ads on CL.
Title( ask this question first " Whether title is in ur name and you have it in hand". Many disappear at this first step itself).
Visual inspection of the vehicle - external and the dashboard ,paint etc.
Visual inspection of the car owner, his house etc . ( Directly proportional to the quality of the car).
Interior condition
Test driving.
Service records( Emission and inspection records if possible).
Carfax( Even cheap sites like cheap vin or auto check is fine.They tell if the car is auctioned, accident, stolen, salvage, flood etc).
This should give you a decent idea of how the car is and you can make a decision.
Some shops offer courtesty inspection with an oil change, so offer it to the owner . You get to know the brake condition, fluid conditions, muffler, tire condition , battery condition , belt condition,suspension,drive tain etc. ( 25$ max).
I took it once for pre buy inspection( costed 110$) and they suggested 4500 worth of repairs but the car was only priced at 3700
Any used car could be problematic. Correction, ANY car can be problematic, even one fresh off the line. No matter how good your independent mechanic is there could still be unseen problems or new problems arise the day you purchase it. If you buy used, you are taking a chance. The best you can do is do your due diligence and hope for the best.
so what if someone makes extra money flipping a car or 2 a month, better than some big sleazy dealer that holds classes for their salespeople on how to rip the customer off
Many of the curbstoners on Craigslist are car salespeople flogging units that their boss doesn't want associated with their dealership. It's dishonest at best and illegal at worst. That's "so what."
Curbstoners are trying to get around the law by selling their cars on the street by pretending to be private sellers. Curbstoning is the practice of auto dealers masquerading as private parties when selling their cars.
Curbstoning car dealers use the practice as a way to sell inferior cars to unsuspecting consumers.
There is probably a street or parking area near your residence where there are numerous cars for sale. Many of these cars are placed in public view by “curbstoners”, so named because they are parking the cars along a curb.
Many of these curbstoned cars may very well be lemons car dealers can’t sell on their lots.
Crooked auto dealers use curbstoning as a way to circumvent state laws regarding the sale of cars. States have limits regarding how many cars a person may buy and sell in a given period without having to be a licensed car dealer. Licensed car dealers have requirements that they have to meet to stay in business. Curbstoners do not.
How can you find out the true condition and history of a car you're interested in purchasing from a private owner?
You have it inspected by a qualified person - then you make an appropriate bid.
People often ignore this step, then get burned and complain.
All they have to do is have it looked at by a mechanic they trust.
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