Buying a car is a major experiance for most.  It is very difficult to buy one on a dealers lot, to know if you are getting a good deal, or getting taken to the cleaners.  Buying one on Ebay is much more difficult.  There are many reasons for this, among them, the distance from the seller to you, buying based on a description and pictures.  This guide will teach you how to buy without getting taken.

1. Research, Research and then, Research the vehicle again.  Gain as much knowledge as you can about the specific vehicle you are looking for.  There are many ways to do this, one of the best is Edmunds.com, this site gives the true market value and has extensive reviews about almost any car made. 

2. Know what the average price is.  This is an absolute must.  Come up with a range for the car, low to high for each condition, poor to excellent. Beware of a car that is priced way too low, there is a reason that ten thousand dollar car is selling for one thousand, and it isn't good.  Many dealers will inflate the NADA price, some by several thousand dollars.  A case in point:  2000 Lincoln LS, 135000 miles, seller lists retail at over $12,000.00, hey if you will buy that, I have a bridge I've been trying to get rid of.  Maximum price for this car as described: $9,000.00, and this is retail.  Anybody that pays retail is an idiot and less than 1 out of a hundred are worth the max.  Ebayers demand low prices.  If you are going to pay anwwhere near retail, then do yourself a favor and go to a local dealer where you can get a warranty.  98% of all cars sold on ebay are
As IS, this means no warranty, nadda, zilch, zippo.  You have bought a car unseen, untested and are stuck with it.  Sure, there are protections, but it could take months for you to recover your hard earned cash.

3. Look very closely at the pictures.  You can tell a lot about the car from the picgtures.  Look for mismatched colors on the interior, particularly the airbag portion of the steering wheel, if it is a different color than the steering wheel, it likely means the airbag has been replaced.  If a listing states 45000 miles on the car, yet the seats are torn, armrest worn, etc... it is likely that the car has a lot more miles on it.  Look at the spaces on each side ot the hood and trunk.  Do they look even?  If not, its been wrecked.  Look at the tires, are they mismatched?  Most sellers put many, many photos on, so take time to look at each one in detail.

4. Odometer fraud is the number one crime committed against consumers of used cars.  Most cars have a way for you to tell if the odometer has been tampered with.  On analog odometers, the numbers should be straight, not halfway, do not let anyone fool you on this, if the numbers are halfway, the odometer HAS been tampered with.  On GM cars, the space between the numbers is black, if the odometer has been rolled back, the space turns white or grey.  On electronic odometers an asterick will be on beside the display. The asterick comes on if the computer chips get conflicting information.  This happens because there are at least 2 chips that store mileage, and there may be more.  It is fairly easy to find the primary one and tamper with it, the secondary and others are hidden.  Be aware however, with the right equipment and know how,  it is very easy to tamper with a  digital odometer. Take a flashlight and look under the dash, look at the screws that hold the dash pad down.  Do they look new, or do they look like they have been taken out.  If they look like they have been taken out, the likelyhood of tampering is very high. Your best defense is knowing what a car should look like for the miles displayed.  Law enforcement studies have shown that the worst areas for odometer tampering is PA, MD and NY.  Not throwing off on our northern cousins, its just true.

5. Other things to look for.  If there are 5 pine tree airfresheners all over the car, be careful, you may want to walk away, if there are air fresheners in the trunk, run away.  Reason being that most of the time this alludes to flooding, flood water has a very distinct odor.  Another reason is that there could have been a dead body in the car for a length of time, this by the way, makes a car worthless.

6. Branded titles.  Titles to cars fall into 4 catagories- R= rebuilt (wrecked more than 75% of its retail value at the time of the incident.) S= salvaged, F= flooded and Clear.  Theft recovered vehicles that were insured are always given a salvage title regardless of condition when recovered.

7. Carfax.  Carfax provides information on the car such as number of owners, title information, etc....  Keep in mind that only information that is provided to DMV or other sources is included.  It is possible for carfax to show a clear title when it is not.  It is very possible for carfax to show no wrecks, yet the car has been totaled and rebuilt.  Also look at the locations the car has been in.  If it was titled in Louisianna during the hurricane, beware.

8.  Curbing.  curbing is the practice of a  dealer taking a car to the mall or Wal-mart and advertising as if he is the cars owner.  This is illegal in most states.  Beware of sellers that state "selling for friend, grand dads car, etc..."   Most of the time this is done to get around their states disclosure laws.

9.  Unless you know the seller, never have a car shipped.  Half the fun of buying a car in florida is going down to pick it up.  Another reason is that if the car is materially different than listed you can back out of the deal.  For example listing states "car runs great with no warning lights."  You get there and discover that the service engine light is on and it skips and smokes.

10.  Don't even consider a car that has no pictures of the instrument panel with the car running.  Tach should not be on zero.  There should be no warning lights on.  Also check to make sure the warning lights light initially when the key is on, if not then the bulb has likely been taken out of the service engine light. (seen this happen one time.)  This by the way is illegal!

 

Finally, I have purchased several cars on Ebay, have gotten some very good deals and you can get some very good deals too.  As long as you know what you are getting.  Also, most cars on Ebay are auction or wholesale purchases.  The seller may not know any information about the car.  Most sellers are reputable people that are not trying to take you for a ride, but be on the lookout for those that are.  Check thier feedback, be very wary of sellers that make thier feedback private, there is a reason for this, and usually it's not good.  These are just a few things to look for, there are many more that I am sure are addressed elswhere.

UPDATE******************UPDATE*********************UPDATE*********************UPDATE****************UPDATE

There is a scam out there that few people know about.  It's called airbag fraud.  I saw this in Readers Digest and was so taken aback by it that I dug into it to see how widespread it was, I was amazed.

The Scam:  Cars are involved in wrecks that cause the airbags to deploy.  The car is sold as scrap (totaled) or taken to a shop to be repaired.  Most often the former.  The airbag compartment is stuffed with paper, cans, etc... and resealed.  The airbag light is then removed.  The car is sold.  The buyer knows nothing of this and thinks that the airbags are there.  Thief makes thousands of dollars, consumer is put in mortal danger.

Why so dangerous:   Well, aside from the obvious, the restraint systems in cars are just that, systems.  They are made up of many devices that work in concert to protect you in a collision.  If any part of that system is faulty, it will lessen the protection ability of the devices.  In other words, seat belts are designed to be used with an airbag, if the airbag is missing, the seatbelt will be less effective. 

How to spot it:  The most reliable way to spot this is the airbag self diagnostic light.  This light MUST come on when the key is turned on.  When the car is cranked, the light should stay on briefly, or flash and then go off.  If the light stays on,or flashes continuously  there is a problem with the system.  It may be as simple as a sensor or much worse.  If the light does not come on, it's gone, period!  Also look at the cover, if it doesn't say "SRS" or "SIR" on it then it may be an after-market cover.  Law requires that original manufacturers airbags be put back in after a deployment so look for the manufacturers logo on the bag cover (steering wheel).  This is because an Audi airbag will not work on a BMW.  Replacing an airbag is like surgery, it must be done correctly.

Questions to ask:  Has there been an airbag deployment?  Does the light come on?  Does it go off after the car is running?  Does the cover look depressed or torn at the corners?

Resources:  Carfax will check the airbag status of a vehicle free of charge, go to their website with the VIN and enter it.  This is not 100% reliable but is a good check.  Also check the history for accidents.

Don't take this for granted.  Your life and the life of your loved ones depend on it.