I Bought a Car From a Private Seller and Got Burned. Here's What I Check Now.

Two years ago i bought a 2017 Hyundai Elantra from a guy on Facebook Marketplace. He seemed nice. The car looked clean. He said he was selling because he got a new truck. Price was fair, maybe even a little below market. I thought i was getting a solid deal.

I drove it for three weeks before the check engine light came on. Took it to a mechanic who told me the catalytic converter had been hollowed out and replaced with a straight pipe. The previous owner had also disconnected the rear O2 sensor to keep the light from triggering until the computer eventually caught it.

Cost to fix: $1,400. And that was just the start. Over the next two months I found out the rear brakes were metal on metal, the power steering rack was leaking, and two of the motor mounts were cracked. Total repair bill by the end: $3,800.

The seller? Blocked my number.

Private sales are the wild west

When you buy from a dealer, you have at least some protections. Lemon laws in many states cover dealer purchases. The FTC's Used Car Rule requires dealers to display a Buyer's Guide. And if the dealer committed outright fraud, you have legal recourse.

Private sales? Almost none of that applies. In most states, private vehicle sales are "as-is" by default. Once you sign that title and hand over the money, the car is your problem. Unless you can prove the seller committed intentional fraud (which is hard and expensive to litigate), you have very little legal standing.

According to Consumer Reports, approximately 30% of used car transactions in the US are private party sales. Thats millions of cars changing hands every year with minimal buyer protections.

And honestly the rise of Facebook Marketplace and other peer-to-peer platforms has made private sales even riskier. The old Craigslist days were sketchy but at least people expected it. Facebook gives everything a veneer of legitimacy because you can see the seller's profile, their friends, their history. It makes you let your guard down.

What I check now (the hard way learned list)

After getting burned i developed a checklist that i follow every single time. No exceptions, even if the seller seems trustworthy. Especially if the seller seems trustworthy.

Before you even go see the car

Get the VIN before the visit. Ask for it via text or message. If the seller refuses to give you the VIN, dont waste your time going to see the car. There is no legitimate reason to withhold a VIN from a potential buyer.

Run the VIN through multiple sources. Check NHTSA for recalls and safety complaints. Check NMVTIS through vehiclehistory.gov for title history. I built OTDCheck specifically to cross-reference databases in one place so you dont have to do this manually. Dont rely on a single source.

Check the seller's story. Look at their profile. Have they sold other cars recently? If someone is selling their "personal car" but has posted 6 cars for sale in the last year, they're a curbstoner (an unlicensed dealer pretending to be a private seller). Thats both illegal and a huge red flag.

Compare the asking price to market value. Use KBB or Edmunds to get a realistic number. If the asking price is more than 10-15% below market for the year, mileage, and condition described, something might be wrong. Good deals exist but suspiciously good deals usually aren't.

At the car

Bring a friend. Safety first. Meet in a public place during daylight. Tell someone where you're going. This isn't paranoia, its common sense. There have been real incidents of people getting robbed or worse during car sale meetups.

Cold start the engine. Ask the seller not to start the car before you arrive. A cold start reveals problems that a warm engine hides. Rough idle, unusual noises, smoke from the exhaust, slow cranking. All these are more apparent on a cold start.

Check every light. Turn the key to the "on" position (but dont start it) and verify all warning lights illuminate. Then start the engine and make sure they all go off. If the check engine light doesnt come on during the key-on self test, someone may have removed the bulb or disabled it.

Pop the hood while its running. Look for leaks, listen for unusual sounds, check the oil condition (dark is fine, milky is bad), look at the coolant (should be the right color, not brown or oily).

Test drive for at least 20 minutes. Not around the block. On the highway. Through a parking lot at low speed for turning noise. Over bumps for suspension noise. Hard braking (safely) to check the brakes. Turn off the radio and listen to the car.

Look underneath. Get on your knees and look under the car. Check for fresh oil drips, rust on the frame, exhaust damage, and evidence of recent undercoating (which can hide rust).

The paperwork

Title must match the seller. The name on the title must match the person selling the car. If they say they're selling it for a friend, a family member, or "the title is in my LLC," walk away. Title jumping is illegal and it means theres no accountability.

Check for liens. Some states show liens on the title. If theres a lien, the seller needs to pay it off before transferring the title to you. Never buy a car with an open lien unless you're doing the transaction at the lender's office.

Get a bill of sale. Write up a simple bill of sale with both names, the date, the VIN, the odometer reading, the agreed price, and both signatures. Some states require this for registration. Even if yours doesnt, its documentation that protects you.

Verify the VIN on the car matches the title. Check the VIN plate on the dashboard (visible through the windshield) AND the door jamb sticker. Make sure both match the title. If they dont match, or if either looks tampered with, walk away immediately.

The curbstoner problem

The National Association of Attorneys General estimates that curbstoning accounts for a significant portion of private used car sales. These are people who buy cars cheap (often with problems), do minimal fixes, and resell them as private sellers to avoid dealer licensing requirements, inspections, and consumer protection laws.

Red flags for curbstoners:

• Multiple cars listed for sale simultaneously
• They want to meet somewhere other than their home
• The title is not in their name
• They know very little about the car's history ("I just bought it for my daughter but she doesn't want it")
• Cash only, no paper trail

The bottom line

I wish someone had given me this list before i bought that Elantra. The $3,800 in repairs taught me every single item on this checklist the hard way.

Private sales can save you money. No dealer markup, no documentation fees, no sales pressure. But the tradeoff is that you are your own consumer protection agency. Nobody is going to verify the car for you. Nobody is going to back you up if something goes wrong.

Take the extra hour. Do the checks. Bring a mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection ($100-200). Run the VIN. Check the paperwork. And if anything feels off, just walk away. There will always be another car.

The one thing i know for sure: the cost of being careful is always less than the cost of being burned.