Buying a car safely
Buying privately is usually cheaper than buying from a dealer, and the difference is work you do yourself: checking the car, checking the paperwork, and paying in a way that leaves a record. None of it is complicated, and all of it happens before the money moves.
Whatever your state calls it and however it is laid out, three lines on it decide whether the rest of the visit matters.
- Owner
- The person standing in front of you, spelled the same way.
- Vehicle identification number
- The same number as the dashboard and the door sticker.
- Lienholder
- Empty. If a lender is on it, the loan is released in writing first.
Before you go
Four things to do from your own kitchen table.
Most of what goes wrong in a private sale is visible before anybody meets. These four take about twenty minutes and they decide whether the trip is worth making.
Run the VIN
A history report shows title brands, reported accidents, the number of owners and the mileage each time the car changed hands. The federal recall lookup is free and tells you what is still open on it.
Ask for a photograph of the title
Before you drive anywhere. You are looking for the seller's own name on it and for a lender's name that should not be there.
Ask what has been replaced, and when
Tires, brakes, battery, timing belt, transmission service. A seller who has kept the car properly answers this in detail and usually has the receipts.
Ask why they are selling it
The answer is rarely suspicious and it is always informative. It tells you how long they have been trying and how much room there is on the price.
At the car
Two hours that tell you more than any advert.
Everything in this part is free, and none of it needs you to know anything about cars.
See it in daylight, where it lives
Daylight shows paint that does not match, panel gaps that are not even and damp in a trunk. Ask to see the car at the seller’s home or work rather than in a parking lot halfway between you: a car that is never at an address is a car nobody can be traced through afterwards.
Start it from cold. A seller who has warmed the engine up before you arrive has, intentionally or not, hidden the thirty seconds that tell you the most.
Drive it, then have somebody else look at it
Drive it the way you will use it: a highway on-ramp, a rough road, a parking lot at walking pace with the windows down so you can hear the brakes and the suspension.
Then take it to a mechanic you chose. A pre-purchase inspection costs about what an oil change costs and it is the single best money you will spend. If the seller will not allow one, you have learned what you needed to know for free.
The paperwork
Read the title before any money moves.
The title is the car. Three things have to be true on it: the name is the person standing in front of you, the VIN matches the number on the dashboard and the door sticker, and no lender is listed. If a lender is listed, the loan has to be paid off and released before the car can be signed over, and the safest way to do that is to meet at the lender’s own branch.
Take a bill of sale in two copies, with the odometer reading, the price, the VIN and both signatures. The odometer statement is federal and the bill of sale is what your state motor vehicle agency will ask you for. Photograph the signed title before you leave.
Then do the part that is yours alone: insure it before you drive it home, and register it within your state’s window, which is usually somewhere between ten and thirty days. In most states the seller keeps the plates, so ask how the car is getting to your house before you hand anything over.
Selling one as well? The same sale from the seller’s side covers payment, test drives and the handover.
When to walk away.
- The name on the title is not the seller's name, and they explain it with a story about a relative or a friend's car.
- The title is not in the car at all, and will be posted to you after the money moves.
- There is a lender listed on the title and no letter releasing it.
- The price is far under anything comparable and the reason is urgency.
- They want a deposit to hold the car for you before you have seen it.
- They will only meet somewhere that is not where the car lives.
- The VIN on the dashboard, on the door sticker and on the title are not the same number.
Frequently asked questions
What should I check before I go and see a car?
The VIN, and that the person selling it is the person on the title. Run the VIN through a history report and through the free NHTSA recall lookup, then ask the seller to send a photograph of the title with the numbers blurred. A seller who will not show the title before you drive across town is telling you something.
Is a pre-purchase inspection worth it?
Yes, and it is the cheapest part of buying a used car. A shop of your own choosing, not one the seller suggests, will put the car on a lift for about the price of an oil change and tell you what it needs in the next year. A seller who refuses an inspection has answered your question.
What does a salvage or rebuilt title mean for me?
That an insurer once decided the car was not worth repairing. A rebuilt car can be sound and it is worth substantially less than a clean one, it is harder to insure and harder to sell again. It is not automatically a bad buy, but it has to be priced like what it is.
How should I pay for a car I am buying privately?
At a bank, in daylight, with a receipt, and only once you have read the title. A cashier's check drawn in front of you at your own branch leaves a record on both sides. Never send money before you have seen the car, never pay a deposit to hold a car you have not seen, and never use gift cards or an escrow website the seller picked.
Selling one of your own?
The page you were just reading is what a seller makes here: the facts, the photographs and the paperwork in one place, so the person coming to see the car already knows what it is.