Ebay cars?

Anybody ever buy a car off of ebay?
I was looking at some cars today and some looked pretty good fro some cheapprices.
What do you think on buying cars off of ebay?

well my dad has bought 2 cars off ebay....drove the lexus ls400 for a long time and sold it at 150k miles still running strong. Now he has a Lincoln LS about to hit 100k still runnin strong. It mostly comes down to the honesty of the other person, check their feedback and see what other people had to say about them.

oh thats cool.
How did they ship the car actually?
Was the shipping price costly

I've bought two cars from Ebay. Do yourself a favor and look primarily at local cars. It is so much better if its local for several reasons;

1) local cars you can physically go see and maybe drive. Pictures (no matter how accurate) can hide flaws and idealize the car.

2) shipping can add tons of money to the investment. To ship, you're looking at anywhere from $400 to $2000 if you use a bonded commercial carrier. Some sellers will say something like "will ship within 200 miles for $2 per mile" or something but its rare.

3) Unless you know the specific region from which your buying, you can be in for some odd surprises. I bought one of my Ebay cars from a town on the TX/NM border. My first thought was the fact that it was a rust-free desert car. That ended up being true, however the dash and interior were sun faded badly on a 58,000-mile car. The owner (being born and raised there) had no idea that faded panels were out of the ordinary and didn't think to mention it. Conversely, when I still was in PA, I sold an El Camino on Ebay and was very truthful in my advertisement. A guy actually flew in from Kansas to see it and thought that I misrepresented it because he found some rust on the frame. For being a PA car, it was incredibly rust free, but since he was from KS where they rarely use salt on the roads, he had a different perspective.

3) unless you can physically see it, talk to the owner, and get a true feel for the situation, I don't recommend buying the car unless its local. Anyone can lie and say that its a clear title on the internet. Actually seeing the title and putting a personal note with the seller has monumental impact on the deal.

The other secret to buying a car from Ebay: Find the car, visit the car, research the car and its fair price. Then enter a bid that you think is fair and walk away. Your bid may be way below what the market price is or 5 times as much, but you will have entered a bid based on your current interest, distance to go, and what you can afford. It will reflect your willingness to purchase the car. If someone else wants it more, they'll bid more. If you get outbid, don't enter into those last minute bid wars. You'll end up going more money than you wanted... always. You can make wise decisions when you research it, but in the last 5 minutes of the auction you can't make reasonable judgements on its value to YOU.

Have fun. I find Ebay to be a real joy to surf and investigate. Just know that when you surf it, although prices look incredibly low, they all shoot up in the last 10 minutes of the auction. It seems to be oddly distributed, too. Super-rare cars sometimes don't sell because they are not mainstream, and overly common cars don't sell because there are more cars than bidders. Ebay tends to make the most money for sellers of mildly rare to semi common cars. Deloreans and Ferraris don't always sell, nor do Cavaliers and Civics. Its the in betweens that make money for the sellers. The common cars tend to make good deals for the buyer.

Have to agree with Curtis here. First of all (unless there is no other way) never, ever buy a car without looking it over and driving it in person. You are completely relying on the seller being 100% truthful and up front and many sellers are not (either by accident or on purpose).

There is a feature on ebay motors now where you can search local listings which makes finding cars close to you easy. You can punch in a search radius for a particuar vehicle and it will bring up all the ones for sale in that radius. I was looking to buy a new car this last week and found several in my area (w/in 100 miles). I looked at some of them and I'm happy I did. They usually look and drive better in the pics and verbal description than in real life.

Another general rule of thumb is if the car is newer and more common it will not bring as much on ebay as you can get selling locally (this is a generalization but it seems to be a common trend). If you have something old or less common it many times go for more on ebay than what you can sell it for locally. For example, if you have a 63 Willys 4x4 Wagon in Iowa, there is not a ton of interest in it locally. But if you list it on ebay you open it up to people enthusiastic about those trucks from all over who are willing to bid without personally inspecting it or driving it. Why because its a rare bird and chances are you won't find one locally. EBAY is good for the seller in this case. On the other side of the fence there are tons of say Ford Explorers for sale all over the country. Therefore the only reason someone would bid on one on ebay would be if it was close or it was smoking deal and worth driving for. Good for the buyer, bad for the seller.

I picked up my 2001 IS 300 in Philly 1/29 so I've had it for about 1 month. I did my research locally and on eBay. This is the 5th car I've owned but this one has the most bells and whistles so make sure you understand what you want and what you're paying for. I didn't acknowledge a few things before I purchased and when I already paid, all bets were off w/ the dealer which sucks.

1) there was sticky stuff all on rear window as if tint was removed
2) only 1 master key (replacement $250)
3) missing 2 emblems on trunk (was probably repainted!!)
4) rims had a tint to them

I've had some headaches but as far as the price you pay you can find solid deals but I'd advise you check the car out first before you buy. Don't get worried about their "well i had 2 people looking at it already today" nonsense. If its meant to be then it'll work out.

Matt

How did they ship the car?

How did they ship the car?

They would have shipped it but I got a cheap flight and drove it back myself and saved $200. They'll usually set up a truck to deliver it for a fee.