Has anyone ever bought a car off Ebay?

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 07-05-2009, 07:59 PM

We are looking at a van on Ebay and I am wondering if anyone else has bought a car off Ebay. If so, how did it go, what was the process like? Do you regret it? I know every seller is different, but I just want more info to make myself either more comfortable with the process, or decide against it.

**frugalwarrior** · 07-05-2009, 08:08 PM

Our friend did about 6 months ago. they went to Ohio to get it. It was a cash purchase when the price of gas was so high,they had an SUV. Apparently it went ok because they just bought another one from a seller in pennsylvania. He has also bought a 4 wheeler that way. He works for the car industry though and knows what questions to ask. They are buying later models because they have 3 teens driving or about to drive.

**Bargainmomtoo** · 07-05-2009, 09:24 PM

I never have, but have had friends who did. They had a positive experience as far as I know.

Good luck.

**akolb** · 07-05-2009, 10:17 PM

I've bought 2 off ebay. Make sure to run a carfax or similar on it. I'm pretty sure that ebay has some type of guarantee also. As long as you're smart about it, its just as safe as buying a used car from any other private seller.

**sunshine** · 07-05-2009, 10:24 PM

We bought one for my MIL off ebay -- seller was 4 hours from our house, let us test drive the car before we handed over any cash. . . car was exactly as pictured and described. . she's had it for over 4 years with very little problems.

**Pemberleyan** · 07-06-2009, 12:15 AM

I haven't, but a woman in our area lost her life savings on one. It was actually a fake auction. She bid on it through Ebay, sent the money and then the auction and seller "disappeared." She went to the local prosecutor about it, but I doubt if she ever saw any of her money. I'm sure that was a rare occurrence.

**kattails** · 07-06-2009, 12:30 AM

we did, but it was more of a local sell (2 hours away) so we got to test drive it and paid in cash. we had no problems, it was a great car until I totaled it

**frugalfranny** · 07-06-2009, 12:50 AM

A friend of mine did. Not sure how/where it all happened but was a positive experience and she is still driving the car.

**Momto2Boyz** · 07-06-2009, 10:46 AM

I bought one off of craigslist, and it worked out well. The only vehicle I ever bought off of ebay was a school bus. Long story, wasn't for my personal use...it was for the company that I worked for. We bought it from church though, so I wasn't too worried about them scamming me...figured they would be pretty honest about everything and they were!

**ttistin** · 07-06-2009, 11:25 AM

I know a couple of people that have bought cars/snowmobiles and such off ebay. Everything was fine. Dh has traded and bought cars off craigslist a few times.

**Michelle68** · 07-06-2009, 07:40 PM

We've bought cars off of Craigslist and a pop up camper off of EBay. We only had a bad experience with one car (out of three) we've bought onCraigslist. Of course, we made sure we checked out the camper before we actually bid, so it wasn't really sight unseen when we bought it.