Yesbillgiacheri wrote: Definitly test drive, and yes, the owner goes along. If you are in the car and you have insurance, I wouldn't worry much past that...
Bringing a mechanic along is one thing. Wanting to bring it to their mechanic is another thing. That's something that should be worked out in advance (like meeting you at the shop or whatever), unless in the off chance his mechanic is within acceptable test drive distance from the location of the car.billgiacheri wrote: I would think if they wanted to bring it to a mechanic, they would bring it up before meeting, but who knows what goes through people's thought processes...
As far as paying for it cash is king, but a bank check an acceptable substitute (plus you wouldn't have to deal with carrying a bunch of cash to the bank. Something like the meet-at-bank arrangement Bill described may be acceptable.
Things to look out for on Craigslist:
- Stories that don't add up like: I'm looking at the car for my cousin but he is out of the country and will send a Western Union but only on Thursdays or some BS.
- Or really stories of any kind. There shouldn't be any drama in a car purchase.
- Requests to meet at a sketchy place.
- Requests for trades "I'll give you my finest boat"
Other stuff:
- I often see people putting their phone numbers in the ads asking for texts or whatever. Consider not doing that and having them respond with email through Craigslist. This may set the bar high enough to weed out lazy scammers who "don't do email". Also, this way you aren't putting your personal email or phone number on the internet.
- The Edmunds thing might be worth a try. Watch out for dealers, they will low ball you. Also, they won't want to pay much more than "trade-in" value anyway as they need to make a reasonable profit at "clean retail".
