[carjmark]

If you buy a car on ebay from an individual you are taking a chance as you're at the seller's mercy. If the car is new enough to require a title in your state, ultimately ebay carries insurance to "make good the purchase price" but this is going to take a lot of time and aggravation.

After buying numerous cars on ebay I recently had a seller of an 2003 continue to jack me around for no apparent reason other than being a jerk, he took almost 3 months to send the title. Even though I had paid for and had possession of the car.

In Florida if the seller didn't finally send the title I would have had two choices: request a refund from ebay or take whatever proof of purchase I had to the Florida DMV where each situation varies (the DMV can accept my proof or they can require me to go before a judge to decide whether to issue a title).

My point is that although it may not happen often, a seller can make your life miserable, caveat emptor, it pays to know what you need and decide whether the worst case scenario is worth it.