Has anyone purchased a car on ebay (not dealer) I believe its a private. There is a protection up to $50k. Any advice appreciated.

 

I sold a Corvette on eBay to a man in Kenya. I also sold a Shelby GT 500 on eBay to a young couple that came to our home to pick it up. Also sold a Mercedes SLK32 to a man in North Carolina sight unseen. eBay is a great addvertising tool. I also bought a C32, a SL55,a Porsche911, a Ferrari 355,and a Shelby GT 500 on eBay. I bought Shelby sight unseen through eBay but it only had 1000 miles on it and the private seller answered all my question on line and on the phone and sent very detailed pictures.The Porsche I bought sight unseen but it was at a dealer and was certified pre owned with less than a thousand miles on it.The Ferrari I bought through eBay sight unseen and was disappointed when it came. It needed quite a bit of work cosmetically, but was fine mechanically.The others after contacting the owner I went and saw them and finished the purchase out side of eBay. Also my V8V was listed on eBay,but the listing had ended. When I contacted them I found out that it was still available,and at a Ferrari dealer. We went and saw it and traded our Ferrari in on the Aston.
For sure contact the owner or dealer and ask questions get any service history and any additional pictures. If possible go see it in person. Good luck and enjoy the process.

 

I have purchased 5 or 6 cars on eBay. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If it is a private party have someone from the forum in the area verify the car. Only put a small amount down until you get a ppi done from a reputable dealer. I always negotiated that if the car did not check out in good shape from the PPI that I got my deposit refunded. Several of the cars I purchased without seeing them in person. Most of purchases turned out great cars at fantastic prices. I had one that had a few issues that were not disclosed but the amount I saved left me a nice cusion to make a few corrections the car needed.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

Caution: Long story...

many years ago I was going to do a 928S4 project and was looking for a no-problem solid donor car which I found on E-Bay in Florida from someone representing themselves as an individual who assured me for the $8,000 asking price there was zero problems with the red car and had many pictures to prove it. A week later I get this call from a transport guy who wanted to get directions to my office and said I won't be pleased with what he's about to deliver. So I met him and this is what I saw:

All 4 tires were flat and bald. The headliner was shredded and hanging down and the seats were ripped with cracks in all the plastic. When we attempted to drive the car after filling them with air, it barely ran to the German car mechanic a mile down the road I used. He found a towel in the intake and said pretty much everything mechanical was shot. None of the pictures were from this car - he did a bait and switch!

Ebay did not do a damn thing to help... forget any 'protection', they simply are more talk than action... even with intentional and obvious fraud.

The title showed that it came from a dealer - not an individual. I asked a Mercedes dealer what to do, and they said because it was from a dealer, and the dealer was bonded, go after the bond. This was easier said than done. I did quite a bit more - I filed at least 10 complaints with agencies that dealt with fraud and business practices - Florida and federal. After two months of calls and searching I finally found the person who was to take action to secure attachment of the dealers bonding. Within minutes I got a call from Abe, the individual I bought the car from, telling me that a certified check for $8,000 was being fedEx'd to me and the car would be picked up after I got my check. He also asked that I give him a good review on E-Bay!

The story does not end here....

... about 1/2 year I get a call from this guy who was the actual dealer listed on the title who was the won I sent every complaint against. He explained that he never in his 40 years as an auto dealer sold a 928 and 'Abe' had forged his company on the title (for some unknown reason) and said he had to deal with the attack from all of the agencies. He went on to say that he did not blame me for the barrage of paperwork he had to deal with and to assure me that criminal action was being taken against 'Abe'.

As a side note - after I deposited Abe's check, I stopped by Carousel Porsche in Minneapolis and ran into a guy selling a 928 with a bad engine, the results of 2 years custom work is seen below...

 

Found my Vantage, and a Superformance Cobra via eBay. Both were flawless transactions with excellent sellers.

 

Wow Superformance Cobra! Now that is one car I would love to have back. My wife hated it but how can you not love them. Shook everything in the house when I would fire it up.It was black with white stripes and had a Shelby aluminum fe block 484 ci 550 hp. Boy I miss it.

 

I have bought and sold more cars than I can remember through the years. This is what I tell all my customers: Never buy a car sight unseen. If you are too cheap or can't afford to inspect the car in person you don't have any business buying it anyway. This even applies to new cars at a dealer because you may not like the way the car drives, the way you fit in it etc. If you haven't driven the car how do you know if you are going to like it? On any exotic a personal inspection and PPI is a must.

 

What if the private seller does not have the pink slip since they still have a lien on it? How messy does it get and are there steps to take like opening an escrow account?

 

Fortunately my wife loves our Superformance cobra. I love cruising through a parking lot and setting off a few car alarms, w/o having to rev the engine One of the best parts is that the engine (428 SC) was a graduation gift from my father and is one he used to drag race back in the day. so with the family tie, it would be hard to sell.

 

Beautiful 928 Prefurbia. I remember a guy in Minneapolis back in the early 90s who had a 928 and showed up at our auto-cross events, I seem to remember that he was an instructor at Brainard race way. I remember him because he had a decal on the side of his 928 about 186,000 Miles Per Second, It's the law.

 

The short answer is to go with the seller to his bank and pay the car off and secure the signed title then and there. If there are any other stumbling blocks just move on. There is always another car.

 

Moved on. Seller still had a lien and wanted the sale to go through his broker. Never done it before so thought a broker was complicated but it's probably to help seller mitigate risk. You're right another one will pop up.