safe ways to purchase cars

My wife is having issues with Craigslist and folks getting robbed, attacked etc when answering ads. How do you guys purchase vehicles on CL these days.

Do you: Meet in neutral locations? Meet at the bank and get the cash during the banks working hours? Show up with a pocket full of cash and do the transaction?

Any advice to make the experience safer would be much appreciated. I have got to get my wife back onboard with the the CL thing. Cramping my hobby.

I go check out the car with empty pockets. After I decide I want the car, I go to the bank/ATM and pull out the necessary cash to do the deal. Most people are ok with that. sometimes I leave the cash in my locked car, (VERY RARELY).

Best way to be safe is to: a. meet at the persons house. b. don't buy cars from bad neighborhoods.
Meeting at a neutral location isn't a good idea as they can hide who they are that way. Meet at their house and it is less likely to happen.
When I sell a car, you meet me at my warehouse. I am not meeting up with someone I don't know to show them a car. Too many people don't bother to call and cancel.

Not sure about it being a safety issue, but I don't go see anything if the seller won't get on the phone with me first - it doesn't take very long to figure out a few things about a seller with a few questions. I'll probably have a friend with me to pick up a car - neither of us were above a good brawl in younger days. If it really looked dangerous, I'd skip it - on to the next deal.

I had some awesome people ask to see my Cadillac in person first, I told them when I was available but they wanted to see it when I wasn't around. I laughed, then they pleaded for my address, I just told them it was in a gated and locked parking deck, that seemed to turn them off. Better one was the can you ship it to Las Vegas? I was like sure, put the money in my bank account and arrange for transport and I'll ship it to you, silence...

I talked with the seller for a good half hour over the phone about the car before we agreed to meet.

Even then we decided we would meet in a neutral location (a church parking lot) to go over the car in person, and If I wanted to buy it, I would drive to his house the following day with a cashiers check made out to him.

This was my first CL buying experience....so maybe thats not typical and I just lucked out that we were both pretty level-headed. He did mention he had a few non-serious tire kickers before, I on the other hand knew what I wanted to buy, had done my research and had the money.

Last year my daughter bought and later sold her convertible Solara on Craigslist. I was sceptical, but she had no problems whatsoever. She had company during both transactions and she even made money on the deal.

This post revived my concerns about buying and selling cars. I always used to give out my address for someone to come by for a look or would ask for their address to see theirs. Maybe I don't sound so criminal on the phone.

This is probably why so many people just trade cars in now. We don't buy many any more, but usually have friends wanting to buy my hand me downs (except for the Spitfires).

I don't carry cash with me if I'm going to look at a car sold by someone I don't know. I'm always leary if multiple people show up and want to look at it/take it for a ride if I'm selling. I always write down their license plate number and text it to another phone and try make sure they see me do it. If they know you can find them, you take the anonmyity out ouf the transaction and if they have half a brain/not a stolen car, then that may be enough to keep them honest.

Personally, I've never had a problem. You can tell alot about someone by just talking to them for a few minutes on the phone. I feel more vulnerable selling than I do buying, but do what I can to keep safe.

Are you guys trying to tell me that people who want to buy your cars don't come to your place to look it over before buying?

And you don't want to go to the residence of the person selling a car on craigslist or any other method of selling?

I'm so confused. That's worked since before cars were invented. Horses were sold that way.

Whenever someone comes to my dad's house to buy parts they always get to see how pretty the house looks from the outside. No way in hell they're getting into the garage thought. They stay outside on the porch and he brings the parts to them.

When I go somewhere to buy I always bring someone with me. Never go alone you just never know who's waiting for you.

Just don't let your wife watch that movie about the Craigslist killer that's on TV tonight.

I think the whole deal is, we don't hear about the thousands (millions?) of Craigslist transactions every day without incident, but we do hear about the few that go bad.

I buy a few things on CL. I always take a friend along with me. I've never had a bad experience (and neither has he, and he buys and sells a lot). He has people at his house all the time looking at stereo gear.

I bought my MR2 on CL. I took a friend and met in a neutral location. We talked for a bit, but then I wanted to drive it. With just two seats, the seller and I had to take off for a ride while my friend waited. We met later at my house and did the deal, but by then I had a pretty good idea the guy was okay. He was a rally crosser, so we got along just fine.

The cars I buy are usually under $500 and the cars I used to drive looked like they were worth half as much. I usually dressed in old dirty clothes to crawl around under the cars. I figure if you look dirt poor no thief will even bother

I've done both. I've always met at peoples houses, but I've met people in public places when selling as well as have them meet at my house. I try to be accomodating.

It never occurred to me to be that cautious, I buy and sell online a lot, never had an issue, but I do have a CCW

In the Seattle/Tacoma area, there seems to be a more than normal number of situations. A lady and her son answered an ad and were attacked with hammers, and cash stolen. I have purchase 3 cars through CL with no issues, but wife has banned me from doing more. I have to give her a since of security. I don't want to hurt anyone, but... I need to protect myself on the other hand

I pack heat

Who doesn't pack a chopper...but at this point in my life and am not down with dealing with the legal system for shooting in self defense. I have no problem with cap popping, but the cost to defend myself in court is stupid expense. In my concealed handgun class, they estimate it is in the $100k range to defend yourself in court for shooting and killing someone. Then there is the civil case that will be more expensive. Criminals regularly file suit to get cash after someone does something to them. The emotional toll is priceless. That is too much for a car on CL. Want to avoid gun battles by all means.

If someone comes to my house and pull some sh*t, the deal is off though.

Sounds like a good GRM story: How to sell and purchase vehicles online. Interview the experts, law enforcers, etc

forzav12 wrote: I pack heat

When I go to take a look at something I always bring a friend along (or I am the knowledgeable guy to bring along) even if they aren't a car person just to have another set of eyes and ears. No sketchy neighborhoods, if you don't feel safe turn around and go back home.

The only issue I would have with meeting somewhere is not seeing what happens to the car on a cold start.

Give the address of the local police station (not telling them that it is the police station).

Thins out the idiots quick.

I've bolt and sold more cars through CL than I care to admit. Not to mention the tons of videogames and movies I've bought/sold as well.

For cars I either go over to their place or have them come to mine. Half the time the cars I sell aren't even running so it's not like they're going anywhere with them. If I'm buying I typically show up with cash in pocket. I do go a little out of my way to avoid shady areas of town.

If they want a test drive I occasionally ride along but most of the time just hang out while they drive it around the block. I figure I've got their car if they decide to run off.

Small stuff like games, movies, and tools I'll meet people in the local Kmart parking lot to sell.

I've can only think of a few transactions that left a sour taste in my mouth, and those were mostly people who were late or no shows.

Like stuart in mn said, 99.9% of transactions go smoothly, it's the .1% that everyone hears about.

For my e30 purchase we talked on the phone briefly first. We met at his house on a Saturday morning.
For the test drive I just let him keep my license and I drove without the license in the car with me (in Ohio they give you 24 hrs to produce the actual license.) I do this to buyers because it tends to keep the hoonage down while they are test driving.
We agreed on a price then I asked him to join me a couple of miles away to my local bank branch.
While at the bank he got paid in cash and they notorized the title right on-site.
I then gave him his plates back and I drove a couple of miles with no plates, directly to get temp tags.

Once selling I had a buyer that was a little cautious about where to meet. As noted here I offered the local police station. The offer seemed to be enough and they came and looked at the car at my house.

One thing I've found with CL cars too is- it depends on the car. Your every day ragamuffin beater? Yeah, you're gonna get the dregs. I don't intend on letting either my Taurus or my Prizm go via CL- simply because I don't want a bunch of goobers coming over to look at my dirtbag cars and then lowball me when they're only 500$ to begin with. I've called on a few half wrecked trucks for hauling duty, and found that the owners weren't terribly intelligent, but they seemed ok enough to deal with. My ms3 will likely never be for sale to begin with, so I don't have to worry about that. I know enough people that would like a cheap MINI- so when that goes, it won't need to hit CL either. My most positive experience was with a seller who had a 740 turbowagen. I knew what it was, he knew what it was, and he also knew I knew what it was. Made things real easy and friendly like. Stuff like Caddys and other larger american vehicles are going to drag out the more creative sort.

I think that we hear about the craiglist transactions that end in violence because they make for good teasers for the local news at eleven. In reality I worry a lot more about bad checks, counterfeit bank checks, and of course counterfeit cash. When I sell I like to receive the payment at a bank if at all possible.

Anyway, find a physically imposing friend and tell the wife he'll be going with you on future deals.

I only take cash on CL

ShadowSix wrote: I think that we hear about the craiglist transactions that end in violence because they make for good teasers for the local news at eleven. In reality I worry a lot more about bad checks, counterfeit bank checks, and of course counterfeit cash. When I sell I like to receive the payment at a bank if at all possible. Anyway, find a physically imposing friend and tell the wife he'll be going with you on future deals.

putting your mind to rest, not. http://redtape.msnbc.com/2011/01/craigslist-robberies-by-appointment-turn-violent.html?GT1=43001