Should You Buy a Car on Craigslist?
So you want to save a couple bucks on a car. You know there are great second hand car options out there but it’s not going to be easy finding the lemon-free Le Sabre of your dreams.
As the late, great Winston Churchill once said, buying a car from Craigslist is like buying a “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” You just don’t know what you’re going to get.
Well, while there are perils aplenty, there are ways to sidestep them and score a great car deal on Craigslist.
Here are four things you should be thinking about when shopping for a second hand vehicle:
Maximize Your Search Results
One of the good things about Craigslist is the ability to search in a way other sites, like Kijiji, do not allow you to. If you want to buy from a private seller, Craigslist lets you separate private sellers.
If you want to search by make and model, you can do that too. In fact, you can search by almost any field including cylinder, fuel, drive, transmission type, title status and type. Send out your wish for a car and Craigslist will provide.
Suss Out Your Seller
I’m not saying that the car advert needs to be winning any literary awards but there are a few ways you can rule out problem sellers, thus problem cars. Ads that have more spelling mistakes than actual words are not a great start. If someone trying to sell a car can’t be bothered to string together a proper sentence to make a good impression, they probably can’t be bothered to look after their car.
The same goes for ads written entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS, containing clichés like “turn on a dime” and accompanied by pictures pulled from the manufacturer’s website. Don’t buy into the hype and always assess the car on its own merits.
Inspect the Goods
When you are pretty serious about buying a specific car, it’s ready to go to a mechanic you trust for an inspection. Most places will have a pre-purchase inspection checklist and you can expect to pay about $100 for their services. They can identify issues with the frame, body or engine. They'll also be on the lookout for shoddy repair work and prior flood or fire damage.
You’ll also want to make sure your test drive includes different kinds of terrain to ensure your potential car performs well. Go up hills, over bumps and potholes as well as on gravel roads if you can. Call your insurance company to make sure you’re covered to test drive different vehicles.
Make Lemonade out of those Lemons
While Canada doesn’t have the extensive Lemon Law protections that the United States offers, there are still ways to watch out for duds on wheels. When you're ready to get serious about a vehicle, ask the seller for the VIN number and get a vehicle maintenance history report from a private company like CARFAX or CarProof.
If you buy a second hand vehicle four years or newer and there are problems that mechanics just can’t seem to find, you might be able to negotiate with the automobile manufacturer under the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan (CAMVAP). There are some rules and regulations about participation in the CAMVAP process, check the website for details.