Craigslist Cars for Sale by Owner

Are you looking for Craiglist cars for sale by owner? Some useful tips will go a long way and will save you thousands of dollars on a new car found on Craigslist. The first thing you will need to do is to collect enough funds and determine what your price range is. Some things to consider are: how much cash you have on hand, whether you are going to finance or out-right buy the car, and your price-range.

Basically, your price range is going to determine on the first two factors. Remember that the majority of the car sales that happen on Craigslist are by the original owner. This means that you may not be able to finance these vehicles and will have to pay cash up-front in order to drive the car away. There are some car dealerships that offer financing and use Craigslist as an advertising medium. However, to get a better deal on a used or new car, it is best if you have the money available so that you won’t have to seek financing options. Owners tend to sell their cars for less than a dealership would and you won’t have to deal with ruthless car dealer tactics in order to get a great deal on a car.

Now that you know about the price of a car and how you plan on paying for it, the next thing you should decide is how far you want to “reach-out” in order to purchase the car. If you currently do not have a vehicle, then it’s going to hard for you to drive to another state to look at cars. However, if you have transportation readily available, then you can drive further in order to get a more varied sample of vehicles. Remember, not all cities will have the same kind of vehicles and some larger cities will have a larger selection then where you currently reside. Look in various cities under the “cities” category of Craigslist to view new and used car listings within that specific area.

You can perform queries by price range, location, make, and model of your vehicle. Remember to read all the information about the car that you are looking at and to get all of your questions asked before you go and test-drive the vehicle. The purpose of this is to determine whether or not the owner of the vehicle is attentive and actually wants to sell the car, or whether they are flakey. If the owner does not answer your e-mails are phone calls within a matter of days, then skip this vehicle and talk with an owner that is more attentive. The reason you only want to deal with owners that are eager to sell is because they will offer you a better price on the vehicle if they really need extra cash. On the same lines of obtaining all information on the Craigslist cars for sale, make sure to get the vehicle VIN and perform a car history report. This will provide reassurance about whether or not the car has been salvaged, re-built, has had fire or water damage, and how many owners the car previously had. Carfax.com is a great website that provides a comprehensive report on each vehicle (as long as you have VIN).