Auto trader

[Mickymoody]

I wouldn't be happy with buying a car through ebay, especially with cash. I've seen several inaccurate descriptions, and turning up somewhere with a load of cash leaves you open to being robbed. Make sure you are visiting the persons home address.

I once bought a car from a private address, and a few days later the prop shaft went, and I took it back to the address, who didn't want to know. If you are buying online, where do you take it to?

 

[Peter.N.]

The answer to that I suppose is that you don't buy a car that way unless you know what you are doing or you can take someone along with you that does.

As I already mentioned, if the car does not fit the description you are not obliged to buy it but if something goes wrong the next day that there was no sign of when you bought the car, you are on your own, the same would apply to any private purchase.

The only way you can buy a car with some confidence is from a dealer for which you pay the appropriate premium.

Buying a car privately is only for those who have enough experience to identify a potential problem, you can of course have it checked over by the AA or RAC, but the chances are that you wouldn't buy most cars when you had read their report.

I have been quite happy with the cars I have bought from ebay but in general they have been models I have been familiar with, but I have always been and checked them out before bidding.

Peter

 

[Burnerman]

Good point about the AA / RAC reports, Peter.....they once said that a car I was selling had a serious problem. It was only a rattle in the door, for heavens sake.
John

 

[Peter.N.]

I suppose they have to protect themselves from getting sued John, which makes the whole process seem a bit pointless.