Let The Buyer Beware—

One Couple’s Quest For A Used Car

By Nancy K. Crevier

It has been years since my husband, Phil, and I have purchased a used car — not that we have anything against them. We realized early on in our relationship that while between us we know a lot about many things, neither of us are mechanically inclined in any way, shape, or form. Thus, used cars are not a wise place for us to put our money.

Now that we have entered the era of having a teenage driver in our home, however, and after several weeks of juggling two cars between three drivers with various sports schedules, work schedules, meetings, lessons, and recreational needs, it is clear that we must make room for a third vehicle. The necessity of a used car has reared its ugly head.

Once we narrowed down our requirements (cheap, reliable, airbags, owned by a nonsmoker, four tires), it seemed that it would be easy enough to find the right car. It didn’t appear we would have the good luck of our friends who had neighbors and relatives practically beg them to buy their older vehicles, but we knew there were plenty of other resources out there.

Newspapers are filled with ads for used cars, public bulletin boards always have one or two pictures of a car needing a good home, and cars for sale pop up along the road as quickly as dandelions in the spring.

Granted, we were a little nervous about getting involved with a used car dealer or a private sale. Phil and I agreed that due to our lack of expertise, any car would have to have been checked out by a mechanic before we purchased it. Pretty smart, we thought.

The first used car we fell in love with was what the used car dealer called a “creampuff.” He said their mechanic had put in new brakes, new tires, and that it ran like a dream.

And being no fools, we even ran the vehicle identification number (VIN) through CARFAX, an Internet vehicle history reporting agency. What the dealer had told us checked out with CARFAX. We thought we had a gem on our hands and felt so proud of ourselves.

But our mechanic said that if the dealer gave us the car it would still be a bad deal. It would run more like a nightmare than a dream if we bought it.

Then, it took several days, and several personal visits with a lot of runaround, for the dealer to return our deposit.

The next car we tested, the dealer told us had been checked out by their mechanics and was terrific, perfect for a young kid. When we took it out on the road, my daughter likened driving it to getting a hand massage, the vibrations were so intense.

The car salesman also seemed to take it as a personal affront when I questioned the integrity of the vehicle.

We had to ask ourselves if we had a stamp across our foreheads reading, “Try to take advantage of me”?

Red Flags

After that, I spent several days poring over the newspaper ads. With trepidation, I called the number for a car that seemed to fit our criteria.

The gentleman who answered my call was cordial and eager to tell me all about the car. His house was really hard to find, though, he said; he suggested we meet at a commuter lot midway between our homes.

Our prospective seller presented himself as a retiree filling in the hours of the day by helping his attorney daughter get rid of a car for an estate she was handling. The car had one owner, he told us, and the number of miles for the age of the car made it look pretty good to us. We had to agree with him that it was hard to find a good car in our price range.

If we had ever heard of the term “curbstoner,” red flags would have gone up everywhere.

“Curbstoner” is used to describe a person who purchases enough used vehicles to qualify as a dealer, but poses as a private seller.

What is wrong with that, aside from being illegal in most states, is that it puts inexperienced car buyers (e.g. Nancy and Phil) at the mercy of a vehicle that may be mechanically unsound, tampered with (some curbstoners roll back the odometer or remove and disengage the airbag and warning light), have undisclosed liens, or has had its title washed. (Title washing is when a heavily damaged vehicle, issued a salvage title, is repieced and retitled in a different state to remove the salvage status that would discourage customers.)

To the unsuspecting buyer, the car looks sound and appears to be a bargain.

A curbstoner counts on customers who won’t bother to check CARFAX for the vehicle’s history, or have their own mechanic check it out. And often, by the time problems with the purchase crop up, the seller is either long gone or has a “buyer beware” attitude, leaving no recourse other than a drawn out court claim, which they may or may not win.

Curbstoners often say they are selling the vehicle for a friend or family. They also claim to have had the car recently serviced, and even offer to do all of the running around to motor vehicles to save you time — all of which makes the little extra price above Kelley Blue Book prices worth it. How nice is that?

We felt pretty special when our new friend told us all of those things. The deal was looking pretty good.

A Different History

But Mr Carseller seemed a little nervous when we copied down the VIN to check with CARFAX. He really wanted to help his daughter, really wanted to seal the deal, right then and there.

CARFAX told us a different story. The car was originally owned by a rental agency, and had had another owner after a rough couple of years of many miles. It had been sold at an auction just ten days before we saw it.

It was also on CARFAX that we read about curbstoning, and began to wonder if this was the situation in which we had found ourselves.

At the end of the report, great big letters warned us: Don’t buy this car from anyone other than a licensed dealer.

Mr Carseller never returned our calls — to any of the phone numbers for any of the other cars it turned out he had listed online and in local papers.

Was our contact a curbstoner? We will never know for sure, but all of the signs point to a situation that could have had a sour outcome for us, had we purchased the car.

We looked at two other cars parked along roads, and while the sellers didn’t misrepresent themselves, both were very vague about the history of the cars they were selling. And neither of the cars passed our CARFAX test.

If you are lucky enough to never run into unexpected mechanical problems while you own a car purchased unsuspectingly from a curbstoner, you may never know that you have been party to an illegal transaction.

But an inexpensive car can turn into an expensive proposition if it is a lemon, or illegally titled.

CARFAX recommends that buyers protect themselves from curbstoners by checking the seller’s license and the car title. The names on the documents should match. Check to see if the same phone number is listed in the classifieds for multiple vehicles, or if different numbers are for the same individual.

Another sign of curbstoning, according to CARFAX, is a vehicle parked in a public lot with a “for sale” sign. A reputable private seller will have the car at their home.

Not every car — and probably not most cars — sold privately is sold by a curbstoner.

My sage advice? Have your own mechanic check out any vehicle you plan to purchase, and check out the vehicle history report. The money spent is worth it.

As for our daughter, she is still waiting for that perfect used car, but she has learned enough about car buying to make her a savvy shopper. And that is a good thing.