Buying first used car. Tell me about ebay motors.

[Xavier434]

I am in the market to purchase a used car and I am considering going through ebay motors to do it instead of a local dealer although I have not ruled local dealers out. This will be my first used car purchase. I am not looking for anything expensive. I am hoping that it will run me 5k or less. No SUVs or trucks.

What I know is that I need to get a carfax report on anything before I make a purchase. I also know that I need to be heavily considering the year, the mileage, seller ratings, and seller feedback. However, I really do not know anything else.

I would like to hear from those who have used ebay motors before as well as those who have experience researching and purchasing used cars in general. I want to be told the kinds of that you wish you were told before making your first used car purchase. Is it common for local dealers or sellers on ebay motors to permit the car to undergo an inspection by a mechanic that I trust first? Should I expect to get a vehicle which still has warranty when making a purchase on ebay motors or is that very uncommon? What about local dealers? What kinds of warranties and/or guarantees should I look for? In general, what are the pitfalls which commonly catch a new guy like me unless told before hand? I want to be prepared.

 

[vi edit]

You are fortunate in that you live in Florida. There seems to be a very large number of vehices for sale from your state. Plus if it was in Florida it's whole life you don't have to worry about salt corrosion like many of us northerners do.

You might have a very good chance of being able to find one within an hour or two of you and then just treating it like any other car sale. You should be able to stop in and inspect in person, take it for a spin, and maybe bring along somebody mechanically inclinded that can do a quick eval.

As for warranties, in this price range you probably won't get any more than whatever your state mandated warranty is that a dealer is required to offer. It's probably not much more than a couple days, or a month or two at most and you'll probably have to split the cost on parts.

You'll probably be offered an aftermarket extended warranty - but proceed with extreme caution on those. Read every fine print and detail for exclusions (could be A LOT of parts) and see how the reimbursement works as well as co-pays. Some of them require you to pay the whole thing on your own and they'll reimburse you after it goes through claims. Others will require you to call in and get a claim number and will issue you a credit card number to use.

IMHO the only real extended warranties worth their cost are the OEM bumper to bumper offered by the original manufacturer. Meaning - they are offered by GM, Ford, Toyota, ect. You don't have to jerk around with the billing hastle and any dealer of that brand of car will honor it. Price really isn't that much more than an aftermarket. Only problem will be that they are usually only available to newer model cars. With your price range I don't think you'll be able to get coverage.

Just know that with your price range you are going to be getting into some tough decisions. You are going to be looking at cars that likely are into high cost wear and tear parts of their life. You are also going to be looking at ones that likely have a lot of miles under their belt. And on top of that, with that price range you are likely dealing with some of the more...manipulative...group of dealers. You are in the "bargin row" section of town who have less of a reputation to uphold.

If something feels "odd" about the deal, avoid it. There are 10's of thousands of other cars out there to buy. I would do everything I could to try and get as local as you can and do a personal inspection/drive of the car. Especially given this price range of car.

 

[Xavier434]

Well, one nice perk is that we have a good mechanic that we trust and he has offered to perform a personal inspection of the car free of charge. Really nice guy. With that said, I will almost certainly be staying very local like you recommended. This might mean I will not have much to choose from when it comes to ebay motors, but I am not going to rule out any options.

Thanks for talking about the extended warranties. I was wondering about those too.

 

[Mermaidman]

In that budget, I wouldn't expect any warranty, and I wouldn't buy any warranty. Also, as Vi said, stay local. Domestic brands should get you the best bang/$. I'd avoid luxury brands at that budget too because of the expensive maintenance. Couple other things: Check out Craigslist.org and watch out for flood cars from the recent tropical storms.

I did buy two cars through eBay, but only after seeing them in person.

 

[Xavier434]

In regards to the warranty, the truth is that I am not expecting any. My SO suggests that a dealer would be better to go through than someone from ebay motors or the web in general though. She said something about certain guarantees that come with buying from dealerships. I am not sure what she means, but I know she is simply uncomfortable with the web and feels more secure with a dealership. I can only assume it is due to their inspections of the used vehicles, but I am uncertain. I am suspecting that her security is false and that buying from the web is fine as long as it is local. From what I have gathered in the little research that I have performed, the used cars which seem decent from a dealership are way more expensive than those from ebay motors.

Why is that? Is the web more risky than a dealership considering the price we are after or is it the same assuming it is local and we can get an inspection done?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
In regards to the warranty, the truth is that I am not expecting any. My SO suggests that a dealer would be better to go through than someone from ebay motors or the web in general though. She said something about certain guarantees that come with buying from dealerships. I am not sure what she means. I can only assume it is due to their inspections of the used vehicles, but I am uncertain. From what I have gathered in the little research that I have performed, the used cars which seem decent from a dealership are way more expensive than those from ebay motors.

Why is that?

A dealer is *supposed* to disclose things like damage over a certain amount ($3000 or so depending on state), salvage titles, odometer validity, ect. If they lie on that they have a reputation on the line. Not to say that some of them actually care to follow the rules or do the homework to back the claims. Carfax helps, but only if it was actually reported in the first place. If somebody did body work through a cash only, under the table deal it probably isn't going to show up.

But so is a private seller, but your chances of them not completely disclosing things are *probably* going to be higher since they can't be reported to the BBB and the reward of going after them legally isn't as high.

And then there's just the perception that a big box dealer is more legitimate than a private seller or no-name used car dealer. It's probably some combination of truth and fiction depending on the dealer(s) involved.