How to Buy a Car on Craigslist

My wife’s car stop working so we had to purchase another car for her.  My parents have been buying cars successfully on craigslist for several years and so that is the route we decided to go. 

The first step in this process is determining a budget and what kind of car you would like to purchase.  My wife wanted a small SUV and I set the budget so that was a very easy step for us.  This is important because as the weeks dragged on and we still had not found a car without these two items already addressed we would have either settled for something she did not want or overpay.

The second step is look for cars on craigslist.  We bookmarked and contacted the cars we wanted to look at.  We referenced the asking price vs Kelly Blue Book’s price and if it was close we looked at the cars.  My parents had always traveled to look at the cars but my wife asked for the cars to meet us next to our mechanic and most of them did.  This was probably the hardest part for us as I was

working most of the day therefore it was hard to find a time everyone could meet.  We would only meet with a person if they would take it to our mechanic and have him look at it.

The third step was if my wife like the car we took it over to our mechanic and had him look at it.  We trust our mechanic and he said we should only buy two of the cars we looked at.

The final step is the negotiation of price.  I am not the greatest at this step and that is why we use Kelly Blue Book.  Always when you buy a car get the title before you pay for it.  Don’t forget you are going to owe taxes on the purchase price of the car.