How to Buy a Car Using Craigslist

I don’t think of myself as old, but maybe I am because I remember classified ads. You also may know of this antiquated way to sell goods and services. Perhaps, you may even remember browsing through them in the Sunday paper while looking for a used car or an antique table. I still browse through them from time to time, although I never really buy anything. 

In place of classified ads, I typically use Craigslist. I don’t use this website more than 2-3 times per year, but it has always come in handy when I use it. I have used Craigslist to buy and sell cars, rent out a house that I used to own, buy and sell appliances, sell firewood, and even to buy a workout DVD. Overall, this website has completely replaced classified ads for me.

My favorite thing to do with Craigslist is to buy cars. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I feel that new cars are a complete financial disaster. If I was a multi-millionaire, then a new car would be fine, but until then, I am going to stick with used cars.

Here’s what I do:

1. Sell my current car. I post my car on Craigslist with 8-10 pictures and a detailed description of the car. Before I post it, I clean it real well and fix anything small that can be fixed to make the car sell quicker. I also put any major problems with the car in the ad so that potential buyers know what to expect when they test drive the car. I only sell my current car before buying my new one if I want the money from the current car to be used on the new one. 
2. Narrow down the car search to a certain type of car. I have searched for everything from a minivan (not caring about the type) to a Honda Civic. I think it is important to know at the start of the car search what I am looking for.
3. Call on 10-15 different cars. When searching for a used car, prices will vary dramatically. For a five year old Chrysler Town and Country, prices will vary by about $8,000. Part of this is the mileage and the condition of the car, but the other part is simply that some people don’t know exactly what to price their car at. Obviously, I call on cars that are on the cheaper end of this range. I usually call on cars that are for sale by owner, but I have also had success from a used-car dealer.
4. Look out for scams. I have seen a lot of 3 year old cars that cost $2,900 and only have a sketchy sounding email address as contact information. If it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.
5. Review the title. Clean titles are the best to have, but I don’t shy away from rebuilt or salvage titles. Rebuilt or salvage titles can save 25-40% on the price of the car and may not actually change the condition of the car. Obviously, I look the car over much more carefully when I buy a car with a rebuilt or salvage title.
6. Set up 6-8 meetings to look at and test drive the cars. Sometimes, I know right away that I don’t want to buy the car and just go on a test drive as a comparison basis for other cars. Other times I really like the look and price of the car, but the car doesn’t drive well.
7. Try to get the owner of the car to talk about the car. You may get a lot of information about the car by asking the owner why they are selling it, what they like and dislike about the car, and their history with the car. I also may try to get the owner to start talking a bit about the price of the car by asking how flexible the price is. I am always honest with the owner and tell them that I am going to see more cars today so that they know this isn’t the only car that I am looking at.
8. Make an offer. Make a CASH offer if you feel comfortable doing that. This can save you a significant amount of money on the car. However, only do this if you are real comfortable with the location of the car and the owner of the car. Whether you make an offer in cash or not, your offer should be less than the asking price of the car. You can almost always get 5-10% or more off of the listed price of the car. Don’t be too greedy, though. Remember that you are putting an offer in on this car because this car already costs less than most of the other cars out there, so your offer shouldn’t be too low.
9. Pay with cash or a cashier’s check or walk away. Remember, there are many more cars to choose from, so don’t get locked into one car.
10. Drive my new car home : )

Using these ten steps, I have purchased my last four cars using Craigslist and I have been happy with each car.

Car 1:

My first car purchased using Craigslist was a 2003 Honda Civic with a salvage title. This car was listed for $5,500. When I was test driving it with the owner, he mentioned that he just turned down $4,500 from another buyer. I was looking to spend $5,000 on the car, but I told the owner that $4,500 was what I was going to offer him in CASH. He took the offer right away. The best thing is that I was able to sell the car after 5 years and after I put just over 100,000 miles on it for $2,000! So this car cost me only $2,500!!!

Car 2:

My second car purchased using Craigslist was a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country. This was listed for $7,250 from a used car lot and I bought it for $6,700 out the door (including taxes and all fees). Our favorite part about this car is that it only had 41,000 miles on it when it was purchased. To make this deal, I called the salesman up after the test drive and offered him CASH. After talking to the owner, the salesman took the deal. We drove the car for four years and 80,000 miles before selling it for $2,100.

Car 3:

My third car purchased using Craigslist is a 2009 Chevy Malibu. This car was probably worth $9,500 when it was purchased, but I got it for $5,000 because I offered CASH and because the car had a salvage title. So far, I have owned the car for over 4 years and have put 90,000 miles on it. There definitely have been some problems with this car, but no huge problems.

Car 4:

My fourth car purchased using Craigslist is a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan. This car cost $37,000 when new, but I bought it for $14,400 with 50,000 miles on it. I didn’t pay for this one with cash, but instead with a cashier’s check. I have owned this car for just over a year.

If you are looking to buy a moderately priced used car, there are plenty of deals available. Let us know some of the best deals you have got on cars and how you were able to get them by checking out the comments below. 

And thanks for reading!

~Nathan

Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?

• You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
• You can get motivated and get out of debt.
• You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.

But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!