Buying a cheap car on Craigslist: The underbelly of humanity

[motion]

Where do I even begin? Liars, crooks, thieves, cheats.... take your pick. I naively thought I could find just one seller who was straight up. Why lie through your teeth to someone, just to be busted when I take the time to drive and meet and the gig's up within 15 seconds? And what's with ads with no phone numbers? Or, leaving messages for 20 people AND NOT ONE OF THEM returns your call? All for ads placed in the last week, too. Amazing. This is South Orange County, CA. Can't even begin to imagine what it might be like in a huge city full of all sorts. Creepy!

[red-beard]

Do you feel dirty?

[89911]

I've got a used 50" HD television that I'd rather throw out then put for sale on craigslist and deal with all the BS. Like I would want them coming over my home. Not worth it.

[Zeke]

I've been looking on CL for 3 months trying to get the dope on '95-97 Jag XJ6's. You can sure see thru most of the ads. I ultimately will narrow my search to "Long Beach," which is an option so I don't drive half way across LA only to laugh my ass off.

Richard, what are you looking for? Might as well combine efforts.

[kaisen]

BTW, welcome back Milt

Once you get seasoned to sniff out the good and bad ads, it isn't so bad.
Buyers aren't smart. Sellers aren't smart. People aren't smart. If you are, it can be frustrating.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by milt

I've been looking on CL for 3 months trying to get the dope on '95-97 Jag XJ6's. You can sure see thru most of the ads. I ultimately will narrow my search to "Long Beach," which is an option so I don't drive half way across LA only to laugh my ass off.

Richard, what are you looking for? Might as well combine efforts.

If you are interested in finding a good Jag, go to: Jag-lovers - the Jaguar Enthusiasts' premier resource on the Internet

Then go to the free adverts icon on the bottom located here: JagXCHANGE from Jag-lovers

Then go to the XJ 95 on located here: JagXCHANGE from Jag-lovers

That should get you in an area where you will find people who know Jags, know what they are selling and hopefully you can find a nice car.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I love cl but you have to practice it. Key form me is the town. Middle upper and upper class towns are nearly 100% success stories, my 94 E320 being the most recent example. Lower class town, nearly 100% fail rate.

[techweenie]

Wow. CL works for me -- amazingly well. Wanted a cheap but good Jeep XJ, watched CL for a few days, jumped on one at a decent price; ran into trouble getting there on time; arrived late, looked it over, handed them more than their asking price and drove off. Whole transaction took less than 15 minutes.

[Rick Lee]

I've never had a problem with CL. When I sell, I ask for top dollar. That weeds out the real cheapskates and the serious people with either pay it or offer something reasonable.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Motion, what car are you looking for?

[Hugh R]

Originally Posted by techweenie

... handed them more than their asking price ....

Huh?

I've listed a few things on CL, in retrospect, I'd meet them in the local supermarket parking lot if I can get the item in my car. Don't want them coming to my house.

[Normy]

I just bought a 2001 Subaru Outback that I found on Craigslist.

I bought it from a used car dealer, and I'm sure I porked him right up the ass on this deal! The Subaru was an LL Bean edition, with leather, flat-6 engine, floor mats...and a mahogany steering wheel! Kelly Blue Book says this car is worth about $8000. This particular car has had the passenger side repainted, and since it was white pearl paint, they couldn't match it and one side is slightly more yellow than the other. The rear bumper has a huge scrape. But the rest of the car is perfect- It runs nice, has plenty of power, and while it is definitely a "girl" car, I 'm using it as a utility vehicle 1000 miles away from my home and my 928. I don't CARE what it looks like, as long as it starts and runs!

Subaru's are VERY good for starting and running! Yesterday I actually USED that AWD function to go to the gym and the grocery store; AWD gives you the ability to accelerate, but your BRAKES are still the same; the long and short is that you probably won't get stuck, but you had better NOT try driving faster with an AWD car!

I traded a '97 VW Jetta that had NOTHING working plus $3500 for this Subaru. If the Jetta was worth $2000 working perfectly, I'd be surprised! The problem is that NOTHING worked on that car! It had no air conditioning, and only ONE window actually worked. Almost none of the dash gauges worked, since the heater core exploded four years ago! The drivers door lock FAILED. The passenger side needed about 60 seconds of wiggling to make it work. Really, the only things that still worked on that car were the engine and transmission, and even these were starting to act up: the tranny needed to have about two seconds after shifting from park to reverse. And the the engine shifted about a centimeter when you floored the throttle! The bearings at the top of of the struts were GONE, and their play allowed the power package to shift half an inch power on! I sold this pile of scheize to a used car sales man while he was driving the car by talking to him about football. I kept telling him about how the new quarterback of the Packers was screwed over for several years under Brett Favre, and how I'm glad so see him finally getting his place! All the time the idiot who bought the jetta from me was listening to me, and didn't notice all the things wrong with the car. He didn't even accelerate hard, which would have shown the Jetta's worn bearings!

Normy 1, Used car dealer 0

N!

[LWJ]

CL is people. Usually poorer folks. Not really a big deal. I have bought and sold tons of stuff via CL. Generally, a great experience.


Although there was the time with the "new" washer and dryer...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Typically you can tell a lot from the ad, if it looks to be written by someone with a 5th grade education......it probably was.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

CL is very hit-or-miss. Lots of time wasting imbeciles but every once in a while you can find something of value and benefit from a score or an easy sale.

[HardDrive]

I've had no issue thus far with craigslist, but I'm very careful about who I deal with. I've sold 2 motorcycles. I will ignore a lot of e-mails until I see someone that sounds sane. Lots of e-mails you get read like this,

"Yo yo, hit me up G, ya bike is FAT. I wanna roll by and take it fo a spin, text me. Peace."

Yeah, sorry homeboy, no dice.

[911pcars]

I've found that prostitutes on CL tend to be of very high quality, provide good service and reliable too. as opposed to the typical building contractor who may or may not show up at an appointed time/jobsite, and if hired, performs in a substandard manner.

S

[wdfifteen]

I put up an ad for some firewood I was giving away it was a good experience, except I got an offer from a guy with bad English to give me more than my asking price for my item if I would take a cashiers check from his shipping agent or some crap. The scammer was too lazy to even read the ad - it was firewood and it was free.

[Skytrooper]

I have had about 95% success rate with Craigslist, both buying and selling. I use it alot so that is actually a pretty fair rate. I have bought and sold at 15 vehicles on it and really have only had one major asshat. I have gone to the poorest neighborhoods and to the very wealthy and to me alot can be gleaned from the ad itself. I stay away from the "Hooked on Phonics" misspelling ads. The more explaination or wordy the ad....usually the better the communication.

[azasadny]

I make it a point to try and buy used cars ONLY from people I know (and trust).