Here Are Your Weirdest Experiences Buying Cars From Craigslist And Facebook

Long story, but I’ll try to condense it.

Met up with a guy at a convenience store at Oh-dark-thirty one Sunday morning to check out a 1965 Thunderbird convertible.

My first red flag should have been he was eating a large bag of Funyuns and a Pineapple Fanta. For breakfast.

Follow the guy to what he assured me was ‘just down the road a piece’ (actually more like 10-15 miles) to an abandoned neighborhood about 30 miles south of Atlanta - not just an abandoned house, the entire neighborhood of about 15 houses were empty and dilapidated. We’re talking overgrown lawns, thick layers of moss covering the sidewalks and driveways, siding on the houses black with mold, etc. It looked like nobody had lived in the area for at least a decade.

We pull up to one house that is in slightly better shape than the rest of them, and the guy points to a car parked in the driveway under a tarp. I can tell by the shape, this is not a ‘65 Thunderbird.

Against my better judgement, I get out of my car, walk up the slippery driveway and lift the tarp slightly to find the car is actually a ‘67-’70 Thunderbird SEDAN.

The dude then steps out of his truck as starts walking toward me. I can see he’s got a pistol on his belt and he’s missing most of his left hand.

Totally fucking creeped-out now, I say ‘no thanks’ jump back in my car and head back to civilization as fast I can drive.

I now have a rule that I do not check out anything I’m buying on-line without a wing-man. Preferably someone with a conceal-carry permit.

Suggested by: Earthbound Misfit I

I tried buying a used car on Craigslist a few years back. I was primarily looking at used Scions - every single person I dealt with seemed sketchy as hell. Refusing to give vin numbers, refusing inspections, or insisting on meeting in sketchy neighborhoods to get the deals done. I eventually gave up and leased a new car instead.

Suggested by: Erik Nilsen (Facebook)

I once bought a 95 Dodge Neon off Craigslist. I pre-negotiated the price to $200 since the owner said the car “ran fine until it warmed up and then would turn off.” I assumed it was a crank sensor, brought a brand used sensor and a wire pigtail with me since the wiring changed in late ‘96 or ‘97. Wife and I hit the road to Thurmont, MD with our kids and get to a campground that people are long term living in. I meet the seller and follow him back in our ‘01 Neon that was on coilovers and slammed to the ground, and end up going through potholes and ruts back to his camper he had just bought for $300 (my wife claims the ride there jarred a kidney stone loose). It certainly looked like a 5th wheel camper you’d buy for $300. He gets out of the car, has a bunch of weird tattoos, a bald head, a wife beater, and camo cargo pants. I put it together that he’s potentially a white supremacist (a given for the area) and decided I need to hurry this process along and get out. I drove up some ramps I had brought, I slam the crank sensor into the car, mess with the oil soaked wiring a bit, get it running, and get out of there. Car drove great for quite a while. Easily the best $200 Neon I have ever owned even if the AC didn’t work.

Suggested by: IDRIVENEON

I did Craigslist shopping once. Looked at about a dozen cars. The BEST by a wide margin was a Mazda Protege that the seller refused to tell me the miles on. I was somewhat close to his location, so I showed up and took it for a drive. It was in really nice shape. Except the miles, which was well over 600k. He was using 50/50 mix of STP and 20W50 oil and it didn’t leak or smoke a bit. It actually drove and rode well. But the clutch engagement was as soon as you brushed the pedal. He wanted $5,500, but was willing to come down to $5,250 if I had cash. Impressive guy to get that many miles out of the car, but he had an un-needed zero in the price.

The other cars that were in the $4k or less range were all death traps. Not typical poorly maintained cars that needed a brake job, but stuff like a steering wheel that randomly spins right when hitting a bump, a car that caught on fire during startup, and a car where the engine swapper had found a way to connect the exhaust to the heater ducts.

Suggested by: hoser68

I was trying to sell my Saab, and I got an email from a guy -scammer- in prison. He wanted the car for his teenage daughter, but that he couldn’t afford it right now. Would I take payments, in excess of the asking price, and hold onto it until it was paid off?

I wrote back asking him if his daughter was comfortable wrenching on the Saab, and saying that I would make visitation rights available to her while it was being paid for.

I never heard back.

Suggested by: saabstory2

Found an Accord on Craigslist 300 miles away, but in my hometown. Coincidentally, my friend was driving there to see his folks the next weekend. The seller had hit a deer, a week after putting the insurance from full coverage to liability only; so no payout. It was listed in great condition, but with a dented hood, broken headlight, dented roof, and a small hole in the windshield. No pictures. Low miles. I figured, oh well, if nothing else it’s a trip with a friend.

I get there, and they did not lie about how it drove, drove great ... only the small hole in the windshield was actually it missing three-quarters of the windshield. Glass was still falling into the car with every bump. Low balled the seller, he gladly accepted. I borrowed a full face motorcycle helmet, waited until the sun went down, and took off on a 6 hour drive home. Stopped to pull the rest of the glass out because above 60mph the glass chunks were coming in at speed.

Made it five hours before being pulled over in a gas station, cop kinda laughed it off, but gave me a warning ticket so no other officer can site me for the rest of the drive.

Got it home and pushed the dents out the roof, replaced hood and light, and popped in a new windshield; dailied it for a year or so, then sold it for more.

Suggested by: Keep It Classy

I was the seller, not the buyer, but it was still pretty weird.

Selling my 335i Coupe to a 22-year-old kid. He picked a time and day to see it, so I met him in a parking lot ... at night in the rain. He brought his parents. I asked if he wanted to test drive it, and he said no. I brought him and his mom out for a quick jaunt, trying to find the line between impressing the kid and scaring the mom.

We got back to the parking lot, and his family agreed to buy an $18,000 (at the time) car that he only saw at night in the rain and he never drove.

Honestly, I was waiting for the inevitable scam to make an appearance, but we met at their bank, and the bank cut me a money order. Literally. The bank employee pulled out a big hunting knife and used it to cut the check off of the rest of the paper.

Suggested by: MCOBigBen

A few years ago I had a very clean, low mileage 3rd Gen 4Runner for sale. Knowing it’s desirability I was asking top dollar. Had a nice guy call me from out of state, about four hours away, ask great questions, and he asked for a little money off the price. $500 I think. We agree and he makes his way to me with his girlfriend. He does the needful test drive and thorough look over. Says “yep, we’re good. But will you take another $500 off?” I was little surprised by the gesture but I let him know there wouldn’t be any more movement. Then with his gf at his hip he pulls out his master negotiator card and says “are you going to really let me walk away for $500?” Knowing that he just drove four hours, this was an absurd tactic. I could not help myself and busted out laughing. I felt bad as his face turned bright red and his gf stared at the ground. I hope on the long drive home he thought about that tactic.

Suggested by: Chuck Finley

Not buying, but selling. A couple of years ago, I was selling an old beater, a 1999 Honda Civic. It ran and drove fine but the A/C didn’t work, the trunk lock was broken (could still be opened from the inside trunk release, but not from the outside), and it had some battle scars from being driven by a teenager for a couple of years. Just wanted to get rid of it, and had it listed for like $1000. Some guy shows up, looks it over, and says “will you take this much for it?” while quickly flashing a wad of bills out of his pocket. I don’t know if he thought I would be dazzled by seeing so much CASH MONEY in one place that I would immediately say “OH MY GOD YES HERE’S THE KEYS BYE.” (It turned out to be $850, and I took it and sold it to him.)

Suggested by: LeNoceur

Back when I was into Mustang IIs, I would swoop in like a one-person locust swarm anytime I heard of even a rumor of one showing up in a salvage yard, with a for sale sign parked somewhere, or anywhere within 100 miles.

One time I even flagged down a guy who had one on a trailer (which worked out perfectly, as I ended up getting a whole bunch of interior parts, a rear spoiler, and some other goodies as he had picked it up for the suspension stuff for his circle track car)

Anyway, “1977 Mustang II - been parked for a month, need to sell ASAP”

Yeah, turns out it was a mechanic selling it because someone had dropped it off more than a year ago and after getting a mechanic’s lien on it, they eventually got tired of moving it around out of the way.

So, it had been parked for a lot longer than a month, It was in a field behind the shop. Grass/weeds were as high as the windows. And the vegetation was filled with biting insects of some sort. Middle of the summer, so like 90 degrees and humid.

My wife was with me, as I was foolishly assuming I might be able to drive it home. So we’re jumping around the waist-high weeds, trying to check everything. Car didn’t start obviously, but the body and everything was extremely solid despite sitting for so long. Probably spent 10 minutes trying to get a look at everything, but I was unwilling to crawl down underneath.

We agreed to buy it on the condition he tow it to where I could work on it. My wife and I get back into the car and the itching starts.

Oh my god ... our legs were covered in bites. My wife is particularly sensitive to insect bites, and hers ended up swelling up to the point where she had to go to the doctor for treatment.

The end result was that the motor turned by hand, but I couldn’t get it to start (it was a v6 model, so I wasn’t heartbroken). But it had excellent sheetmetal, so I pulled the doors, hood, and hatchback, and also got a bunch of the interior.

Never got the title, so I ended up selling it for scrap to a buddy.

Mini-Christine wasn’t done, though, as my buddy (who was kind of an idiot), didn’t set the brake when he was pulling it onto his flatbed and the car rolled over him (he was fine as he managed to be right between the wheels and just got knocked around by the diff/oil pan).

Suggested by: Matt