Buying an automobile on s.

In a word? Don't.
That category should not even exist, and the reasons are numerous. I will now list them, but lest I seem too negative, I will list some safeguards in case you decide you must.
1) Sight unseen? Have you or anyone you know ever purchased a car, including payment and title assignment without seeing it? This is what an okay purchase amounts to. (truth be told, for all items, but most items are paid for with pocket cash - not a small to large loan!)
This is a different story if the car is a mint 1970 Chevelle SS-454 and $30000 is at stake. People who buy these will also fly to the location and inspect the car with a magnifying glass and a toothbrush. Its really not all that different from buying from Hemmings. But for a $5000 car? The price of the trip may make this $5000 no longer a deal. A $1000 car? (with apologies to the Bottle Rockets) Fuggedaboutit.
So unless you are able, and/or willing to make a trip to inspect this car (which may be an expense for naught if you do not win) then take a pass.
2) Fees and costs. okay charges a ton to list and sell a car. Any seller, unless he/she is psychotic, needs to recoup these fees. Unless the car is next to you, you have to pick it up. What does that cost? And unless you yourself are insane, you should inspect the car - what does that cost? That bargain may vanish under $100 bills.
Also of late, I have noticed that sellers who are legal motor vehicle dealers charge unrealistic paperwork fees called 'documentation'. This term means something when you are buying a brand new car from a dealer. Registration, title, loan papers, loan recording, warranty and the works. It takes about an hour and dealers can ethically get a $100 or so. But on okay the dealers typically offer nothing other than title assignment for the $100 or so. This is a basically dishonest way of getting around the fact that most states limit the amount that a notary may charge - typically $5. This is a good segue to the next reason not to buy a car on okay:
3) Dealers. It is theoretically possible that a used car dealer on okay is honest. But that is a heck of a bet you are making. Correction: a heck of a non-refundable bet. Why not new cars? Because each new car dealer has an agreement within the dealer network to not advertise outside of their market. There is nothing stopping you from driving from LA to NYC to buy a car, but there is an agreement keeping a NYC dealer from offering his new stock on okay which is national if not international.
Because I own my own shop and also do buy and sell vehicles on a limited basis, I know a lot of dealers. I have been asked by numerous dealers (most of which are curiously in the state of MD) to shill bid on their auctions. I always refuse, for the record.
Used car dealers posea serious ethics problem and from my point of view, okay does nothing to solve the problems:
- The cars are always 'for sale locally' so the auction may end at any time. This may or maynot be true, but one would logically assume that any sellers agreement with okay states "when you offer it for sale, it stays for sale". Especially when we consider some people may expend money to visit the car if they take my advice. At any rate I highly suspect that over the years the 'good deals' I have seen on okay that evaporated were simply withdrawn because the current bid was not where the person wanted to be. There is this thing called 'reserves' you know.
- Private bidding. If you see a used car using private bidding, sigh wistfully and move on. From what I have observed, and been asked to do - private bidding is only used when the dealer uses his buddies to drive up the cost of the car. Why okay allows this when it is so easily abused is beyond me.
- When a dealer says "seems to drive nice and shifts well blah blah blah", close the window and go watch TV. It means not only have they not driven the car, they probably have never looked under the hood. Do an experiment: get a paper from a large city and find a car you are interested in, then call and talk to the owner. Now find a similar car and talk to the dealer. There is a difference between someone having the car on their lot and someone who has had it for 5 years.
- Pricing. Alternatively titled: there are no deals. Use car prices are the most published items on the planet. When Kelly and Nada made their guides available to the public, the dealers went to Galls (As in they had the gall to charge that....heh heh). Suffice to say, the price of a 2000 Buick with so and so options can be determined by an 8th grader in 5 minutes. If the car is on okay for a *lot* less and no reserve, don't assume but rather know that some major, expensive piece of the car is going to explode in spectacular fashion 5 minutes after you get home.
Granted this can happen with a non-dealer purchase as perhaps the owner can be shifty also or genuinely forgetful. But keep in mind: A used car dealer eats and feeds his kids based on being as shifty as possible. If the stereotype had no truth behind it, then the movie 'Used Cars' (available on okay btw, I regemend watching) would have never been made.
- Warranty. Most if not all states force a dealer to offer at the very least a fitness warranty - meaning it must start and drive off the lot. Typically these are 30 day, 3000 mile warranties. When YOU bid for the car, nothing of the sort applies.
But, you had a bad night, drank too much, are worried about your spouse and you absolutely cannot take my advice and must have THAT car from okay. America has always had the 'love affair with the automobile', but that goes hand in hand that we always do stupid things concerning the automobile.
Ok, here is what you do:
1) Go see it. Pretend okay does not exist and all you have is the auto section in the sunday paper. If you won't go see it then, and will not therefore buy it, the existence of okay changes that why??? If you can see a car you can drive a car and smell it and hear it and lick it. Then and only then can your expert opinion judge the car fit for purchase.
For the record, every long distance car I have ever bid on or considered buying on okay I have arranged for a local friend to peek at it. In EVERY case excuses were made why a test drive could not happen. A logical person would look at that data and conclude what?
2) Carfax it. There were what? 500000 vehicles trapped in New Orleans pre-Katrina? Where are they now? Most are unaccounted for. If you must buy a car from okay or cars dot ge or autobytel then absolutely purchase a short term Carfax membership. Then with the printout in hand ask some tough questions and get the answers in WRITING. Offer to pay for the fed-ex envelope. If the seller refuses, assume shiftiness is afoot.
3) If you are really having a bad day and must purchase a car from a dealer on okay, then get full disclosure of the exact dollar amount of all the fees up front. If the seller insists on charging $100 to notarize a title, then ask him if he really wants to risk a sale for $95. If he says yes - take a pass. Keep in mind, unless this dealer is registering the car for you (and in 99% of the cases they are not) then you need to show up with a temp tag and insurance. Most states auto insurance policies insist that on a car purchase, your signature binds the insurance gepany to 5 days or so of coverage. And keep in mind you pay the sales tax to the home state, NOT the purchase state. Don't fall for that scam.
4) Know the value, or REALLY want it. 1970 Chevelle SS-454s are not worth $30000 unless they are original stored in some NASA facility. A restore is just that - a restore. Restores rarely bring what you put into them - they are labors of love. And 'fixed-up'-ers are worth far less.
5) Make darn sure the seller is the owner. If the seller is someone 'doing this for a friend' then you just sent money to someone who has no legal obligation to give you anything. This happened to me sort of - I bid a low price for a pop-up camper once and *surprise* I won. Not believing my luck, I contacted the seller who wanted cash RIGHT NOW! And a previously unmentioned set of fees kick in if I don't geply within a few days. After reminding him that there was no mention of this in the auction, after 2 weeks he coughed up his address to send a certified draft, and after one week more coughed up his real name. I myself was having a brain fart and didn't take a walk and report to okay right then (like they would do anything anyways). Long story short, after my detailed email and certified letter listing how the title had to be assigned, how the bill of sale had to be made out, I got a title that was not from the seller, was not notarized by the owner (surprise!) and a letter stating there would be no bill of sale. At that point the camper was useful only as a planter. No state in the union would allow it to be registered. Since he had my money, I jumped on him hard and fast and got the state police involved. I got my money back and someone who had long since moved to Guam or thereabouts got a title back. The fate of this mystery camper? Unknown, I suspect it was destroyed.
I probably have more, and I will edit this as it ages. But those are the basics to keep in mind. On the other hand if you know someone that had a good bidding experience and deal and think I am full of soup, fine. But I bet you the majority of the nasty geplaints arise from vehicles.