2002 Prius for... I really don't believe it.

[Xist]

First of all, I hate Win8. Thanks for listening.

Some post reminded me of a Craigslist listing for a Prius that I saw many times, it seemed like it was for sale for a long time. I just remembered that the lister said that it was so fun to drive that he or she never got as good mileage as he or she should have. It has probably been months, the car is not up anymore, but I saw this:



It just said that it was a 2002 for $1991, so I figured that it was a wreck and already sold--the listing was three days old.

I sent a message, she asked for my e-mail address, and this sounds like a whole lot of too good to be true, but I am a fool, and I currently have money, so we will see:

Up for sale is a 2002 Toyota Prius, 4 door gas/electric hybrid sedan. The car has a clean title. It comes with a 1.5L gas / electric hybrid engine and has only 67821 miles on it. Comes with alloy rims. The price is low, because I need to sell it before August, 25th. Always adult driven and garaged, never abused. If you are interested, it's still available for sale and the price, as stated in the ad, is $1,990. Let me know if you are interested, email back.

Here are the pictures:




























Why doesn't it have a license plate? The KBB for a 2002 Prius with 290,000+ miles is $2,044 in fair condition, so unless this has both a bad transmission and traction battery, I just do not understand the price. Kelly says $4,854 for one with this mileage, in good condition.

[Daox]

Go drive it and see.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Daox

Go drive it and see.

Hey, as soon as I received that e-mail I wrote back and asked about seeing it. I wrote "I can clear my schedule to see it anytime."

Right, because I am so busy!

I will text her at eight.

I recently spent more than the price of that car on Bacon!

[cbaber]

A few things that stand out are the plastic floor covers. Is this a dealer? I've never seen an individual seller put on plastic floor covers to sell a car. Why does it need to be sold by a certain date? I never trust people that say things like that. I always see stuff like, "Must sell by this Friday!" or "I will sell it for $2000 tonight only!". Also the license plates. It's possible they took them off to take pictures, but once again rarely do I see an individual seller do that. The last thing is the email message they sent. It's not personal at all. Sounds like a copy and paste thing. In your reply ask very specific questions about the specific car and if they continue to sound like a robot that isn't actually interested in speaking with you over the phone or meeting with you, walk away.

[DOFZO]

Ask her how long she's owned it and run a carfax. For $35, you can't go wrong.





ZO.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by DOFZO

Ask her how long she's owned it and run a carfax. For $35, you can't go wrong.

Isn't using Carfax just paying for the brand name?

I e-mailed immediately last night and sent a text two hours ago, without response.

Seriously, my Spider Sense is tingling, and I don't even have one!

Honestly, something is wrong. I plan on bringing a roommate to look at it, if I ever hear back.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Xist

Isn't using Carfax just paying for the brand name?

I e-mailed immediately last night and sent a text two hours ago, without response.

Seriously, my Spider Sense is tingling, and I don't even have one!

Honestly, something is wrong. I plan on bringing a roommate to look at it, if I ever hear back.

Runnable 03 and older PRII do sell for under $2k occasionally, go by the NADA value.

I have noticed a lot of craigslist scams, as long as you can
1. Get the VIN (check it with DOT if you don't want to carfox)
2. Pick it up in person
3. Pay in person using normal money assuming title in hand.

[DOFZO]

Originally Posted by Xist

Isn't using Carfax just paying for the brand name?

I e-mailed immediately last night and sent a text two hours ago, without response.

Seriously, my Spider Sense is tingling, and I don't even have one!

Honestly, something is wrong. I plan on bringing a roommate to look at it, if I ever hear back.

I've looked a 7 Vxs recently. Three had a "totaled" insurance claims, two happened 3 years from new, so it had to have been bad. One Vx owner listed his as having 120K miles and said he had owned it a "long" time. His Carfax showed 216K and three owners within the last year.

Two sellers stopped communicating with me once I asked for a VIN.

I wouldn't show up with $2,000 cash to meet someone I don't know without having verified something they were saying. For $35 or 5 for $50, why wouldn't you. I don't like having to pay for a Carfax, especially when I don't buy the car, but at the very least I still have my money in my account and no headache. At best, I haven't been scammed!

What's your time, money and safety worth to you? They're either honest and a Carfax was a waste of $35, which most of us spend more on coffee each week, or they're deceiving you and it cost 1% of what you were willing to spend to find out.

There's also Autocheck, if you don't like Carfax. I personally like Carfax.

There's a white Vx on eBay right now. The Carfax I ran on it had more info than the seller supplied Autocheck. Side note; I did not bid on the eBay Vx. I don't trust the seller because of the Carfax and his response to my questions.

Each reporting agency has good/bad aspects. Both will protect you and your investment!




ZO.

[cbaber]

The most common scam on craigslist is that the seller tells a story about how they have moved overseas or out of state. They will want you to pay via money order or wire the money, and they claim they will ship the car to you.

As rmay said, always pay in person with a clear title in your hand, after you fully inspect the vehicle. You should also verify by photo ID that the person selling you the car matches the name on the title. If they have the car, they have a drivers license. A common craigslist tactic is to buy a car, only have the previous owner sign, and then the new owner will attempt to resale the car for profit under the previous owners name.

If they don't respond to you, they are probably trying to scam. They won't waste time on people who seem knowledgeable about the used car buying process.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Runnable 03 and older PRII do sell for under $2k occasionally, go by the NADA value.

I have noticed a lot of craigslist scams, as long as you can
1. Get the VIN (check it with DOT if you don't want to carfox)
2. Pick it up in person
3. Pay in person using normal money assuming title in hand.

How to recognize a vehicle scam attempt on CL:
[...]
Price is unusually low - if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
[...]
Stories about divorcees or departing servicemen needing to sell quickly at a low price are generally fraudulent

I shipped to Basic with three weeks notice, but many Soldiers had more time, even months, and I do not know anyone that sold their car before going to boot camp. Before going to Germany, I had two weeks of leave and the Army would have shipped my car, but I had my sister sell it. I deployed one year later, with months of notice, and the Army would have stored my car if I still had it.

It could happen, though.

I do not know much about divorcées, though, or at least them selling cars.