Craigslist Rant

[ClassicBlue]

I'm in the market for a used car for my daughter. I don't care to buy from a dealer as I have no interest in someone profiting from selling me a used car. AutoTrader must have lost popularity because the used selection from individuals is miniscule. So, I decided to give Craigslist a try. Here's my findings after a week of looking on there.

I would honestly say that 30 to 35% of all the auto listings are scams. Examples would be - 2012 Honda Accord $2999.00. 2009 Toyota 4Runner $2500.00. There are tons of ads like these, all with desirable cars. The scam is "I'm in the Navy and I'm about to be deployed over seas. The car is in Kansas but I will have it shipped to you. The $2500.00 includes the transfer fee. Go ahead and wire me the money". I have set up a fake email account and started writing these "sellers". When I get them to respond, I tell them what effing pieces of garbage they are and a few other choice opinions.

If someone hasn't listed the total miles on the car, there's a reason for it.

If a picture of part of the car being photographed(lets say the drivers seat) doesn't show the entire seat - it's because the seat has more holes in it than swiss cheese.

If someone claims they never drove the car hard but list tons of aftermarket performance accessories, trust me, they've ridden this car harder than Ron Jeremy.

If a listing has pictures of a sub woofer cabinet in the trunk, it's owned by some punk ass. Don't even bother.

If a car is photographed wet, it's because the paint is trashed.

If there's an air freshener in the vent or hanging from the rear view mirror, it's because the car smells like crap or cigarette smoke.

Most of the listings in the "by owner" section are actually dealers.

Most of the miles are always "highway" miles. Yeah, sure.

If there's seat covers, the interior is trashed.

If your house is in the background of the photos and looks un-kept, than so has the car.

I can promise this - someone else's(the sellers) idea of "great or good" condition is very different from yours.


As of now, the hunt still continues. It shouldn't be this difficult.

 

[eflat]

You just eliminated almost 100% of the Craigslist cars. The few others are snatched up by flippers that watch the ads 24/7. You can get lucky but it doesn't happen often. Look at some of the local Facebook ones where at least there is a chance you or someone you know, knows the seller. Or just go old school and look on the side of the road, people still put their cars out at the end of their driveways for sale, at least they do around here.

 

[GreenPanther]

Keep looking. You are ahead of the game and wise to the tricks of Craigslist cars. I have bought and sold multiple cars on Craigslist and if you are patient and know what to look for, a deal can be had.

 

[linebacker]

You may have better luck searching craigslist cities that aren't a metro area like Atlanta. Your smaller towns will have a smaller selection, but you stand a better chance of a decent deal on a decent car for your daughter. Good luck with your search.

 

[ClassicBlue]

You may have better luck searching craigslist cities that aren't a metro area like Atlanta. Your smaller towns will have a smaller selection, but you stand a better chance of a decent deal on a decent car for your daughter. Good luck with your search.

I've actually started looking at Chattanooga and Birmingham. Selection is smaller but if the right car comes along, I won't mind driving there.

 

[hoochfisher]

I feel your pain. I just went through this for 3 1/2 weeks trying to find my mother a car. The #1 problem I ran into was dealers posting in the owners section. Quite a few of them got quite an ear full. I actually found the right car sitting with a for sale sign after driving from winder to cunning to look at a craigslist car. Pics of it looked good, priced correctly. Looked like a good car. Called and talked to the seller which told me there was some small cosmetic proble with some small scratches and such. The photos of it looked good enough for me to make the drive and I was expecting a used car to have some scratches and pings. When I got there I discovered what I couldn't see in the pics was the "couple scratches" was the entire passenger side of the car had been wrecked and they had pushed the metal back out and done a pretty dang good job of covering it with wrattle can spray paint.

I stopped and looked at the car on the side of the road on the way home. It turned out to be a 1 owner owned by an elderly lady that only had 128k on it with every service record and dealer maintained. It also happened to be $3000 less than I was looking to spend for a craigslist car.

 

[hoochfisher]

I also gave the old auto trader a try. Was looking in the private sellers and found something that looked great in the pics, price and milage was right. So I call and set a meet. Got there and it looked like a junker. This "private seller" turned out to be a dealer that had used pics of an I identical car in much better shape. He was asking $6500. He was pretty upset when I told him I didn't see more than $2000 in the price of junk. And then tried to be a big man and tried to really start a fight. Had I not had my wife, young son and mother with me I would've obliged him.

 

[Alphacpa]

Very accurate summary, but the deals are there of you stay diligent. Good luck....I will be doing the same thing in December. Can't be worse than almost getting killed over a $2500 Jeep Grand Cherokee during my last search.....found this Jeep on the ODT and was very lucky the seller was arrested before I showed up with the cash.

 

[Omega]

I just basically stole a tdi off Craigslist, trust me you can find some deals. My advice is to apply filters that fit your needs... start with price

 

[Omega]

Also look at south Carolina vehicles. They are generally priced better... ?