Ebay Motors??

**RosePetal68** · 03-24-2007, 09:54 PM

I was just wondering if any of you have ever purchased a car on ebay Motors? If so, what was your experience (good, bad, or other)? My son will be getting his license next month and he has been looking at cars on ebay. I don't get a real good feeling about buying a car that way. I've always believed you should actually see it, hear it, smell it, touch it. You know, the typical: kick the tires, smell the dip stick, and I don't know, maybe even "take it for a spin". Heck, I won't even buy a pair of jeans online because I can't try them on first. Well, I guess you get my point. I'd really appreciate any advice any of you may have on buying a car via the internet.

**86 IROC-Z** · 03-24-2007, 09:55 PM

I'm sure you can get some pretty good deals by doing it that way, but I'm the same way, I prefer to see it and make sure I know what I'm buying before I do. If the seller is nearby you could arrange a meeting before you make a bid on it.

**youngun67** · 03-24-2007, 09:57 PM

I actually bought my Trans Am on ebay. I did a lot of research on the car. Got the carfax and talked to the guy. I can honestly say it was a GREAT experiance. I would do it again in a heart beat. It was a fun drive cross country with my dad and my brother for that matter as well. Good luck.

**DrMilhouse** · 03-24-2007, 10:37 PM

A friend of mine was buying a car on ebay. The person selling it kinda screwed him over, but ebay took care of him and he got his money back from ebay.

Here's the important thing: If you're going to buy a car from ebay, use a 3rd party escrow company that has some credential to it to someone OTHER than the seller.

For my friend, he used an escrow company that the seller recommended which just happened to be something operated either by the scam artist or someone that he knew and my friend transferred money to the escrow company and never heard from the guy again and the escrow company ended up being a setup or something.

Make sense?

**'99 SLP#24** · 03-25-2007, 01:08 AM

I've been a party to two ebay motors transactions the first for myself a 99 SS camaro which was low mile and a darn good price. It was about two thousand miles away from me but I couldn't be happier with it. The second was my dads 04 GTO also about two thousand miles away and again couldn't be happier. So if you think it looks decent and it has a better price than local on it I say go for also the trip is half the fun. I'd be thrilled to find another one cross country just for the road trip!!!! Good luck!!!

**tonyjnjz** · 03-25-2007, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by DrMilhouse

A friend of mine was buying a car on ebay. The person selling it kinda screwed him over, but ebay took care of him and he got his money back from ebay.

Here's the important thing: If you're going to buy a car from ebay, use a 3rd party escrow company that has some credential to it to someone OTHER than the seller.

For my friend, he used an escrow company that the seller recommended which just happened to be something operated either by the scam artist or someone that he knew and my friend transferred money to the escrow company and never heard from the guy again and the escrow company ended up being a setup or something.

Make sense?

yeah DONT do this.....use the paypal option for teh downpayment 1 or 2k depending on the car then pay the rest in PERSON when u pick up the car.....i as well had a wonderful experience buying my car on ebay....few down to cincinnati and drove her home...car is even more perfect than i thought it would be

**jimhallhdg** · 03-29-2007, 11:02 AM

my son purchased a 98 corvette convertible on ebay motors. We live in MD and the car was in NY. Had a guy from the corvette forum go by and look at it. He took the bus up and drove it back. This buy turned out great.

the del sol was purchased last year from a guy in Pittsburgh and didn't have anyone to look at it. Another bus ride for a different son. The car was not as good as it looked in the picture. He drove it home and has poured $$ in to it. Not a great deal.

So the Halls have mixed experiences.

**SSwt00SS** · 03-29-2007, 11:31 AM

i bought my 2000 SS off of EBAY and sold my 1995 z28 on EBAY. great experiences on both ends as a buyer and a seller.

i bought the SS from up in Holland, MI a couple of minths after moving to Dallas, TX. i talked to the guy over the phone a couple of times for a few hours total and he lowered the reserve to my price and the rest is history. this was from a dealer, not a private party. i sold my z28 to a private party with no issues either. he came with cash in hand to a public meeting spot, i let him drive the car and look it over so he could see it was exactly as described and he took it home and the money went in the bank.

just do your research and get a carfax like i did on both my cars to have. take your time and yes, great deals are out there...

**secondgearscratch** · 03-29-2007, 11:41 AM

i was looking and talking to almost everyone last year on ebay or otherwise who was selling an ls1 powered vehicle. i felt like a wall street exec because i continuosly got calls from across the country because i bothered everybody. my advice is to find something you like, email the seller, and if it is in a distance that a weekend roadtrip can be made, then go see it in person. i had alot of luck with ebay sellers being accomodating because i asked if we could do it outside of ebay. ebay is kind of misleading in the sense that you think well if i cant outbid i cant buy. i was suprised to hear that alot of people i dealt with just put it on ebay as another resource to get their car some face time with the public.
if you cant get to where the car is and the people want to only have it sold through ebay, then there is this company called auto critic that will for a fee of like 200 bucks go to where the car is and run many tests such as compression, obd, and look it over for hours and drive it, then report back to you with unbias info on the condition and worth. never done it but checked it out last year when i was looking at an ss in dallas. seems legit.
good luck