Buying A Car On Craigslist – the Pros and Cons

Buying a car on Craigslist is like panning for gold in a California mountain stream, you may not find a thing, but then again you might just haul in a whopper.  Therefore, if you’re really looking to do it right the best advice it to keep at it, never dive right in and buy the first listing that gets your motoring humming.

Here’s the deal, the pros of buying a car that’s for sale on Craigslist is that you can find a great deal, nobody can deny that, and that’s the allure.  However, there are a lot of cons as well.

Did you realize that a lot of dealers are unscrupulous?  Ha.  That’s right, and they will often attempt to sell cars on classified listings like Craigslist that are not selling on their lots.  They may pose as “owners”, heck, there isn’t much they wouldn’t do to sell you a car, so it’s buyer beware.  That is the danger, but within danger lays opportunity as well.

The other dangers of buying off of classifieds like Craigslist is that you will have no recourse against the seller, unless you hire a lawyer to write up some sort of paperwork to protect yourself, and that would cost you a good chunk of change that is probably not worth it.

Another con to buying off Craigslist (if you did not find a “dealer” on there, which often times we do), is that they will not be able to finance you.  Most people can’t afford to pay for an entire car with just cash, and will need financing; a seller on Craigslist won’t be able to help you.  

You could go to your bank or credit union, but if you have less than desirable credit that might not be an option for you.  If you have the cash saved, they you’re all good, but if not, it’s often a good idea to go and find a dealer or lender that specializes in selling cars to folks with slight credit problems.

Here are some other things that you’ll want to be aware of if you purchase through Craigslist – be sure to get the Carfax report, don’t buy any car if they can’t provide one, no matter how good the deal might be.  Ask for the car’s service records, and if they can’t provide them, then just walk away.

There are two other “tricks” that you can employ when buying a car on Craigslist, and they are taking along a mechanic or friend who really knows cars, and with holding the final car payment for at least 2 weeks, to see if you’ve bought a lemon or not.  If the owner won’t concede to these conditions, walk away.  It’s kind of like buying a foreclosed property, you’ll make a lot of offers, but you won’t close on most offers, which is simply par for the course.