Ever buy a car on eBay?

Question

I'm planning on possibly buying a car on eBay in the spring and i want to know if anyone had any problems or if they can offer any advice to me. thanks.

Answer 1

Here is a good article on "Buying a Car on the Internet Sight Unseen":
http://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/Modtobidia.617-718-0333/2006/10/Buying-a-Used-Car-on-the-Internet-Sight-Unseen/4073

The problem with eBay is that you don't know who the seller is. While for the most part the sellers are honest people who only want to sell their stuff to the highest bidder, there are a lot of crooks who are there to make quick buck, without meaning to actually send you the product. This is especially true for hot-ticket items and cars. You should always carefully review a seller's rating - what they're selling has to make sense from their profile. For example, don't buy a car, or be extra careful when buying from someone who's only sold trinkets before or doesn't have a clean record. General rule of thumb is that if the deal is too good to be true, it probably isn't real - you can't expect to get a $60K car for $20K, and yet there are many people who get hooked and lose a lot of money in the process.

I'd recommend you focus on real dealers, either on eBay or online, who have sold hundreds of cars, and who would be obliged by law to stand behind your purchase in case something goes wrong later. Here is an example of an online car auction site owned and operated by licensed dealers:
http://www.motobidia.com/index.asp

If you decide to buy from a person, remember to exercise extra caution, because there are no guarantees there.

Answer 2

Use Ebay as a venue for finding cars for sale WITHIN YOUR AREA. By all means avoid an auction located outside of your driving distance. This way you can actually see it.

I've found through personal experience that things on ebay ( not only cars ) aren't as good a deal as they used to be.

Answer 3

i own a repair shop,and i want to tell you a real short story of a friend of mine that did this,against being warned about it,he bought one ,and when he went to get it ,it didn't even look like the actual car he had bought ,it wouldn't start ,and after a few hours it finally did the original owner was no where to be found he left the paper work with someone else,and took off,finally after 5-6 hours my friend decides he will have this car towed home.keep in mine we are two states from our own,the cost was enormous,,this was over 6 months ago ,the cost of the car was well over 2500 bucks,as of now he has over 4 grand in it and it still don't run right ,and i still don't believe it was the car in the picture ,but anyway ,are you sure you want to do this,id think about it really good ,hope this help,s,,my friend is stuck with this car,its not worth repairing.

Answer 4

I'd never trust a car without going to test drive it and kick the tires and such. Seems to me like they're selling it online as a last resort.

I have a friend who bought 2 ebay cars, one drives fine 2 years later, other is DEAD. One that drives fine has it's share of problems too, but the engine and tranny are good.

Answer 5

and the reason you want to buy on eBay is you will get a much better deal ??? will you...read my thoughts on this webpage http://www.usedcartips.org/AUCTIONS.html and from there please navigate to main page and click on hurricane Katrina flood cars a 3 min video and then you decide if auctions are for you...good luck