Take the 1993-1997 Toyota Land Cruiser. Here are two scenarios to avoid: Once, when selling a car, I found myself with the buyer (whom I'd just met), riding through a sketchy neighborhood with $14, 000 cash in my pocket. Craigslist cars and trucks for sale near me suit. This is much quicker than searching manually, even if there are lots of dead links. Now to dispel a popular myth: The truth is, sometimes dealers can be cheaper because they simply don't know what they have.
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Dealers seldom care because they can't know every single detail of every car they sell. The seller wasn't sure if it ran, and the owner passed away with no family and his brother-in-law was flying in to sell it. It all sounded legit, but if you waver on something like that, you inevitably regret it. Remember, public places are good places, and bringing along a friend is even better. I also once accepted a personal check for my 1979 BMW in a McDonald's parking lot. Those facts are mutually exclusive. I once had a seller proactively drop the price $350 once he realized he was talking to someone who would actually come buy his truck. A Google Image search turns up the same Jetta on a site called Autozin—everyone sells their car on Autozin, right? Craigslist cars and trucks for sale near me. The first step is starting with an aggregator like AutoTempest to search all Craigslist listings. Most private sellers will state up front whether their car has the coveted locking differentials. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. More From Popular Mechanics. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph.
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The listing is also five months old. But buying comes with plenty of its own pitfalls—even if you avoid cashier's checks and bank wires to Nigeria. That doesn't happen over text or e-mail. Craigslist cars and trucks for sale near me donner. Also check whether the website price matches the Craigslist listing. Unless you're doing big money and a bank wire, that's still how a transaction goes down. Fortunately, many brave auto-buying pioneers have forged a reliable path to success when looking for online auto wares.
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The scammiest listings tend to be the newest because they haven't been flagged yet. A price that's bizarre ($1, 523). Here's an example: This 2006 Jetta GLI has been popping up on Craiglist in Charlotte, NC (pictured above). In another case, a phone call revealed that an almost-too-good deal was probably actually for real, which brings us to our next point. But if the listing includes in-the-know jargon like model codes ("E39" BMW 540i), that can be a bad sign—the dealer actually knows what they're talking about. Here are some tips that keep your internet car-buying dreams from being run off the road. Just beware that AutoTempest makes it all too easy to talk yourself into ideas like, "yeah, maybe 800 miles isn't that far away. Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. So if you're looking for a specific feature, a dealer could be the way to go.
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Asking questions in real time will help you get a sense of the seller's motivation (and possibly veracity). The ad meets most of the above criteria, with a $1, 500 asking price that's about a third of what the car actually should cost. If they respond with a story, but still don't offer up a location, it's a scam. A personal e-mail address pasted into the main photo—nobody does that. You'll probably need to notarize the title anyway, so go with the seller to a bank and hand over the cash at the same time you get the title. Perhaps they bought a car at an auction but are unaware that it has an ultra-rare option. Once you've decided to commit, you now have to worry about the pick-up, so make sure you work out the conditions of the sale before you meet. For example, I once found a 1970 Chevelle SS396 4-speed, seen here, for $9, 900. If not, negotiate from the lower number. Not just price, but whether the seller is keeping any accessories. If you're convinced you've found a car that you want, go get it. It's a lot more fun to buy a car on Craigslist than it is to sell one.
Also some police departments offer safe zones for conducting online transactions, that can also work in a pinch.