How to Spot Car Buying Scams Online

Although most online car purchases are completed without any major problems, there are many car buying scams that you should be aware of when purchasing a car on the Internet. Although it is difficult to determine if any dealer or seller is honest--until the deal is actually completed--there are a few ways that you can spot common car buying scams on the Internet.

Price Is Too Good to Be True

The old adage "if it seems too good to be true--it probably is" is as true in today's modern Internet age as it was several hundred years ago when the phrase was coined. When shopping for cars on the Internet, if you find a price that is considerably lower than others you have seen for a particular make and model vehicle, you should be very cautious when contacting the seller. Find out why the vehicle is price so low, and make sure to request a vehicle history report on Carfax.com to make sure the car even exists or is not a junk or salvage title vehicle.

Broken or Poor English in Ad

Many fraudulent sellers are located overseas and placed fraudulent ads on US websites. When reviewing classified ads for used cars, always be suspect of any ads that use poor or broken English to describe the vehicle in the classified ad. While there are certainly many honest and ethical sellers overseas, many attempts at fraud are committed by overseas sellers against US buyers.

Strange Payment Methods

If an online seller ever requests payment be sent via Western Union or a US postal money order--or any other money order for that fact--immediately suspect the deal and ask plenty of questions before continuing the transaction. Many attempts of fraud are based on hard to track payment methods such as Western Union or Money orders. Although legitimate sellers may indeed request this type of payment, honest sellers will also realize that most buyers will not submit payment via these methods. Instead, consider using an escrow service like Escrow.com to hold the funds until you have had a chance to take delivery of the vehicle or at least inspect it.