Ebay update

[blue2000s]

Did you guys who bought your cars on ebay have it inspected? Did you just trust the description? I wouldn't fathom buying a car without driving it first or at least having someone that I trust look it over. Not worth the risk in my mind.

[Wonko The Sane]

If the car is not as described, you don't have to buy it.. And if you were going to buy a car on ebay, exercise the same caution you would as if you were buying a car a few states away: If you can't see it in person, agree to have it inspected by a dealer before pickup or shipping, or you agree that you only accept it if you like it on inspection.

Worst you're out is a few bucks for a plane ticket. It's no scarier than dealing with someone on this forum or craigslist.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Wonko The Sane

It's no scarier than dealing with someone on this forum or craigslist.

I don't agree.

Flying out to look at a car costs aheluva lot more than driving over to someone's house to see if the car's as good as advertised.

If you're not familiar with the area that the seller lives, how do you know who to trust to do the PPI? There are bad dealer service departments out there. And how do you know if you actually like driving the car? Maybe you can't get comfortable in it, or maybe the ride is too hard or the exhaust is too loud. I've seen (and taken) pictures of cars that look great, but in person, it's not so great. Light oxidation and minor dings and dents in the body simply don't show up in pictures.

[roadracer311]

I bought mine on Ebay, but it was just over an hour away in Sacramento. I drove up to see it before bidding. We ended up making a deal on the spot. I left a deposit, we agreed on a price. I clicked "buy it now" to end the auction, but he and I had a written agreement for the price we had negotiated (which was lower than the buy it now price). He wanted to go ahead and complete the sale on E-bay, since he thought it would be good for his selling history.

It was the first item I've ever bought from Ebay.

I didn't pay anyone else to do a PPI, since I own a small motorcycle shop, wrench for a living, and knew what to look for. That, and the owner was a really nice guy and had under-sold the car on his e-bay listing. The miles were slightly lower than what he said, the condition was much nicer than it appeared in the photos.

I've been extremely happy with the car.

[mts]

I too have purchased cars from ebay. You talk to the seller, look at the description, look at the details and the vehicle, and look at the feedback of the seller. It's not hard to find a good honest deal if you have some common sense.

Sure, there are some scammers out there, but they are pretty easy to spot for the most part. Personally, I'd rather buy something from ebay where the seller has say 100+ transactions and near perfect feedback than from Joe Schmo locally sometimes.

Different strokes I guess.

[RandallNeighbour]

I bought my boxster on eBay and I will never do it again without a PPI done on the car before I buy it, which MUST include a four wheel alignment.

In fact, I will never buy another car used or new without a laser four wheel alignment. It shows frame damage that cannot be visually inspected.

The guy who sold it to me used his dad's dealer license to buy it at the Miami auction and had no history on the car.

Upsides? It had a brand new engine put in it the week before it went into the auction.
Downsides? The car was in bad shape otherwise. Tranny needed replacement, front sub frame was bent, etc.

I was an idiot back then, and I did not have a PPI done on the car before driving it home from Miami to Houston. I had the cash and the green light from the wife, so I found the car in the color I wanted and BAM, bought it.

I wish I could have said I was a teenager with no experience, but I was too emotional and not rational enough. Ebay brings that out in a lot of people.

Next pre-owned Porsche will be a CPO car. I want Porsche to pay for their crappy plastic parts, IMS failure and RMS leaks for a few years on the next go-round.

[fatmike]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Next pre-owned Porsche will be a CPO car. I want Porsche to pay for their crappy plastic parts, IMS failure and RMS leaks for a few years on the next go-round.

Except, Porsche is smart enough to exclude the crappy plastic parts from their CPO warranty...

Good luck with the eBay sale. I've sold two cars on eBay, and I am selling a third now. The prior two were just like running an ad in the paper. People came to see the car to kick the tires, etc.

[Wonko The Sane]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

I don't agree.

Flying out to look at a car costs aheluva lot more than driving over to someone's house to see if the car's as good as advertised.

If you're not familiar with the area that the seller lives, how do you know who to trust to do the PPI? There are bad dealer service departments out there. And how do you know if you actually like driving the car? Maybe you can't get comfortable in it, or maybe the ride is too hard or the exhaust is too loud. I've seen (and taken) pictures of cars that look great, but in person, it's not so great. Light oxidation and minor dings and dents in the body simply don't show up in pictures.

Eh, If I'm serious about a car enough that I'm going to drop 15-40k on it (aggregate price of used boxes), I'm not going to be concerned with spending $250 on a plane ticket to make sure that the car is exactly what I'm expecting. As everyone says, if they don't agree to let you get a PPI and a personal inspection before you pay, then don't bid on that auction. Find someone else, anyone selling a car on ebay should be expecting those conditions.

Now, if you just blindly click "BUY IT NOW" with no talking to the user at all, agreeing to whatever terms are listed in the auction then yeah, it'll be scary

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Wonko The Sane

Eh, If I'm serious about a car enough that I'm going to drop 15-40k on it (aggregate price of used boxes), I'm not going to be concerned with spending $250 on a plane ticket to make sure that the car is exactly what I'm expecting. As everyone says, if they don't agree to let you get a PPI and a personal inspection before you pay, then don't bid on that auction. Find someone else, anyone selling a car on ebay should be expecting those conditions.

Now, if you just blindly click "BUY IT NOW" with no talking to the user at all, agreeing to whatever terms are listed in the auction then yeah, it'll be scary

Again, to me, that's not a valid argument. When I look at cars, I don't just pick one and go for it without shopping around, that's like automatically only buying the banana at the end of the row at the grocery store without even looking at the others.

Again, a PPI is only as good as the shop/dealer doing the work, without knowledge of the shop or area, how do you know you can trust the PPI? You can reduce risk, of course, and you can be casual and get stung on a local purchase too, but in general, buying from a great distance is a bigger risk.