Got any tips we missed? Share your experiences!

I've found masking tape under rockers that they failed to remove after fresh paint on a "completely original" car. One tip I'll pass along, pop the hood & look at all the bolt heads along the fenders. It will be self evident if the fender has ever been removed from factory installation.

It doesn’t matter what I sell on Craigslist, someone always tries to scam me. I always tell them to come negotiate with me and pay me cash in person or I am not interested in selling it to you.

way to look out for your viewers, thanks D.G.👍

Irregular prices. I've seen late model cars with low prices (clue #1) but the price would be something like $5,628. No legitimate seller would post a price like that.

You guys nailed it. Most scams are around for decades now, though. For me as a legit collector/ buyer from abroad it is always hard to overcome the sellers scepitism in Canada and the US. If you do it right there is no place for scams in the automotive world!

Always check under the hood/truck as well as door jams for body panel alignment; any shifting metal work will reveal clean metal underneath, areas may have been stretched/compressed on impact

A further word of warning about car histories/Carfax. I know a guy who's an electrician. Unofficially, though, he is an absolutely incredible mechanic and car rebuilder. New cars and trucks with major damage get shipped to him all the time from the Philly/NYC areas. He repairs them for cash, and they're back on the dealers lot for sale (pre-owned/no damage). I watched him pull apart the front end of a 6 month old, fully loaded Nissan Ultima. When he got down to the subframe, he realized that it had ALREADY been rebuilt by someone else - this was it's 2nd major front end repair.

Everything goes to Deboss Garage.😎 Love you guys. Thanks.

This video was good.....feels like I was part of the shop talk during morning coffee or after work beers.

I tell them the car is free just show up and pick it up. Nobody ever shows up. Ever. Never.

Great video with good tips! Totally agree with the second opinion, even if it isn't a scam, it is far too easy to rush into a bad deal.

If you're buying something that the current owner still has a loan on, do not write a check in the full amount to the owner. Demand to know what the payoff is and make the check out to financial institution in the amount of the payoff. This way you know the item will be paid off.

When I was buying a first gen camaro I found the perfect one that was a great deal but when I went to look at it the title had a VIN that was one character different than the cars VIN. Always triple check the title vs the cars VIN number.

WOAH, Gene Hunt just appearing really got me! I had to go back and check a few times he hadn't been there all along.

Know what local (provincial or state) requirements are to get it on the road and the costs involved. A safety inspection here runs about $70 but obviously doesn't include cost of whatever needs to be done, at the same time a vehicle integrity check is sometimes required and just that inspection is going to be maybe $500 or more not including further repairs if it does not pass. A $1500 pickup which looks good but still needs an integrity check is not a great deal.

Ill admit it I got scammed. 92 First gen cummins for 2g... everything told me it was a scam and i knew it but i had this feeling "what if its not?" Well i went out and tried to get it. 4g later I never got it. While I am upset about it it happened when I was young, and I saved up A LOT of money so it didnt dent my account to badly. The way I think of it, if something bad happens to everyone, then I rather have it happen now than when im older and need that 4 grand

Friend of mine was doing the right thing and was heading with 20k cash to buy a charger and got held up at gunpoint at a rest area middle of nowhere... his gun was in the truck. Crazy but true story.

Google phone numbers check that the contact info matches , also beware of scammers when selling cars too, when i know it's a scam I always ask the to call me back at my work number then i give them the local sheriff department or police stations number they never bother me again. If you absolutely must look at a car you think is a scam as to meet at the police station or court house if they're not comfortable with it don't go. The last car i bought ticked all the boxes for being a scam but i had to have it, turned out it was just a friendly little asian guy that wasn't big into muscle cars.

When in doubt just say no and walk away :) Great video guys.

I've had em go both ways. Saw a 96 Cummins for 2500. Guy wouldn't answer my emails or texts. Wouldn't answer questions or send me pictures. Turns out he was an older guy and wasn't tech savvy. The truck sits in my driveway. I drove it home the same day I went to look at it. No blow by, runs and drives beautiful. Sold a '80 Mercedes to a guy in Alabama, he sent someone else to pick it up, and a cashier's check mailed to me to pay for the car. Money went through fine. One tip I have is if you use Google chrome, right click the images and click search Google for this image. I saw a nice set of jetskis for sale on an aluminum trailer, knowing they were worth about 5 grand each plus the trailer value, listed at 4500 obo. Reverse image searched and found the same listing in California, New York, Tennessee, Florida, and several other places. Bought a welder on Amazon for 200 bucks. Ended up getting money back and having to pay 600 bucks for one. Probably shoulda just saved and got a tig but I like my little welder.

Look at the top rows of fasteners that hold on the fenders when the hood is up. Those are painted after assembly, so if there are scratches from a socket taking off those fasteners, then it's likely to have been in an accident. The check engine lights are supposed to come on for a second or two when you turn on the engine. If you crank it up and no warning lights come on, then they removed the bulb for the check engine light to fool you. You can get a simple, cheap code scanner on Amazon for less than $20 that Bluetooth connects to your phone. Take that with you to every car you test drive. Check for codes. If the car or truck has been modified, then throw the odometer reading out the window. All miles on modified cars are very hard, abusive miles. Lowering kit? Lift kit? Super dark tinted windows and custom rims? Run away! Those boy racers tear up stuff with zero regard for the next owner. They are likely to have chopped up wires from stereo mods, extra light mods and whatever else, that spells nightmare to repair. Walk away from modded automobiles!

Great video!

thanks for sharing these tips... it's especially true if #6 isn't, or, your buddy can't not get it like right now (that was my buddy... who now has a deadish car in his parking lot.)

Lol. Been there done that .... Make sure check engine light isn't painted over. ... And you are rich ....

I saw a picture of a truck someone was selling here in Idaho... There was palm trees and surfboard in the background.

Check vin on frame/core support and dash and make sure title is not skipped or signed already! Stupid me bought a 99 4wd ram 1500. Turns out it had a 2wd dash vin that matched the title so I didn't really question it. I failed emissions twice, put a new cat on - passed, then go to register it and realized the title was skipped also. Carfaxed both vins and both trucks were salvaged/rebuilt, mileage didn't match odometer. Took me 6 months to get a clear title with new VIN number after bonding for title and too many trips to DMV and state police

Seeing a lot of craigslist posts now of suspiciously (but not excessively) low priced vehicles where all of the images are photos of pictures on an lcd screen, monitor or laptop display. Like you can use your phone to take pictures of pictures on your computer, and post an ad, but can't use your phone to take pictures of the item and post an ad? Or just use the computer with pictures of the item and post the ad? Over and over in all different areas. Is this trying to circumvent some image search filter?

Will never try selling a car on auto trader again, my wife and I had to shift through 3 different scam buyers before we just said screw it and parked the car at the head of the driveway with a for sale sign on it... Horrible experience; got both the 'I'm over seas' scam and the 'here is extra money for shipping' scam; beware peoples

I have a 2013 dodge dart, It was in an accident before i purchased it, it was written off at 25,000km and someone did repairs before i bought it. The car passed the safety and it has ran well ever since with proper maintenance. I tried to sell the car so i could buy a truck in mid July of this year, The damage was disclosed to buyers in the add. I had maybe 7-10 offer's at $9500 on pay pal with broken english, willing to pay now and have someone come and pick up the car without a test drive. If i could give any adive for sellers, it would be to take cash upfront or cheque with a test drive before hand. Don't let people "Pay pal Scam' you, pay pal allows a 7 day unsatisfied cash return. so if someone pay pals you 10 grand, without a test drive, they can walk away with your vehicle because the are "unsatisfied"

I've bought a few items in forums before but I think I'll use legit websites such as Ebay or Amazon that has protection from being scammed. If I dont meet the person somewhere in a public place where he drives the car or trailers it I'm not going to buy it. Something as expensive as that should always be paid in person and not on the internet. I even see Derek on Vice Grip Garage go out to see the car, fun to watch really.

The funniest one is when people think they are scamming you, but they just have NO idea what they are selling... ;)

Hey I got 13 vehicles in my field. I just might put you in the will. But I like you guys. lol

How about a video on buying a car with a lien on it, or transferring a car on a lease into your name... Thanks

Once bought an old Suzuki Swift GT that the owner had spent a crazy amount of time underneath. Filled the whole floor with spray foam, carved it with a knife and sprayed about an inch of rock guard on er. He even had the foam shaped to look like the contour of the original metal, it looked mint. Should have realized that there was no way a mid 90's Japanese car in Nova Scotia would have zero rust underneath.

A scammer just tried to take advantage of me a few days ago. I posted my car for sale and within hours I got an email from someone saying they're overseas and were eager to buy it, without even seeing it. If they say they can only use PayPal and want to buy it sight unseen then it's definitely a scam

im Québec, Canada and these are easy to spot as i list my stuff in french. got alot of "You have exactly what we need we want to send you money as a prepaiment" funny how it was always the same email. Screw these people after nobody ever trust anyone. But ive never had any bad experience i guess its a good thing my mom never trust anyone. 🤣 the only weird thing that i had. i knew i didn't like the buyer but sold it my 1st impala SS 95 and he was buying it with an attack from a reseller. but we still got to the SAAQ to proof im selling this car to a car dealer. got a call from the laval police 2 years after because the SS was seized for driving with a Dealer tag. but the reseller got it out with his proof of ownership like dealer thing but for a day i thought i could of get it back. that would of been funny.

Good advice guys! However I’m guilty of buying & selling items via e-mail, haven’t been burned yet but I have dodged a number of the scams you mentioned.

Thanks for making this video. Thanks for helping me though the dm. Wonder if I was the idea for this 😂😂 btw i spoke to you through dm about the 1st gen white 250 for $2500

Will never have a plate even a blocked off plate And like you said too good to be true is too Good to be true always

I heard Jack Black was trying to pick up some extra work by posing as a Canadian on KZfaq but I could never verify it...

The I'm overseas is definitely a scam. I was in the Navy on a ship with about 5000 onboard when deployed and I didn't ever hear of a single person trying to sell a damn car while out to sea.

I was almost scammed trying to buy a BMW from a service member stationed in Europe. I searched his name on Facebook and he is a legit service member but when I hit him up on messenger he assured me he did not own any BMW for sale and had no idea what I was talking about. I let him know somebody was using his identity to run a scam and gave him all the information I had and left it at that. Close call. Great video!

there as also a rental scam on Craigslist for house rentals they list empty houses that are for sale that they don't own with really low rent of course they reply with the out of town over seas crap

I know someone who wanted to buy a 2014 f150 that had a 5.0. in the pictures it had the Ecoboost bumper. Nothing was on the Carfax but I had my doubts. My friend didn't believe me so they emailed the dealership. Never heard back

Where did you get that cutout of Christopher Hitchens for the car behind you? Very cool!

Stick it up on a hoist. Saved my brother an expensive mistake with a chev truck. Pinched off transmission cooler lines etc. And stay away from used car lots.

My daughter got the pay pal scam done to her over a painting she did , ,,, lost 700 ish USA ,,, she pretty much stopped painting after that ,,, It sucked with little recourse .

Here in nsw australia, buy from a licenced dealer. They are legally required to guarantee title.

i think everyone has had an email from a Nigerian Princess ? Cheers from Australia guys :)

Yeah,guy tried to scam me when I was looking for my bike. He even said he will pay for shipping himself. Had a perfect reason (had a baby now, needed money for bigger car), great photos of motorcycle, but what gave him away was that he was sending pictures of him and his family. Kinda desperate to proove that he was legit. He also swapped the names and genders of babies 😁 .

He said to avoid broken english. I live in south Florida USA and more than half of the population here speaks broken english or no english at all. Doesn't mean it's scam.

When the mechanic said it just needs xyz simple repair for xyz low price. If it was that simple or cheap you would fix it and then sell it instead of taking the hit on the price. Also Google image search the vin. If it's ever been in an auction it will show up.

When they reply to your ad, often via text, with "Hi, I'm interested in your [exact title of the ad]. Please email me at [some random hotmail account]" and they refuse to communicate any further via text. A good tip is to simply call the number they replied with.

Michelle from card services hahaha

Yes the Moma's knw whats up..If Im called a Moma boy so be it...Im blessed to have her..I dont even do banking on line..If im dealing with cash..I wanna do it in person...Cash is King...So yea thanks but I live in North Carolina...So I have bought lots of cars and trucks through the years..so if im not seeing the car in person..Im not buying it...Always look under the car or truck..Put it on a lift..do anything you can to look the truck over...We work everday for our money..and most of all GOD blesses us with the health to do so...PS are ya ever gonna fix that darn tractor thats all apart in your shop..LOl...Have a blessed weekend Deboss & Family.

I had a scam from a guy that wanted to buy my scrap car for $600, he said hed send me a cheque with $800 and $200 was for the tow truck driver, apparently he had a buyer for my car somewhere in florida. he said hed send it in the mail and expect it to show up 2 weeks later, the cheque never showed up and I scrapped the car before the two weeks anyway. I was going to give it away if he would of gotten the tow truck to show up lol, it was just the shell, no wheels, driveline, brakes etc. I think I got $80 for scrap

I watch yr videos all the time big fan ik u hate ford's or a least some models and I agree with everything I've heard I was wondering if u could do a review or yr thoughts on the obd1 ford trucks I have 2 of them with the 300 in line 6 and I personally love them I gotta 95 f250 and a 92 f250 4x4

Good information

When you get to that midget project dont cut that hood. I will buy in need of a good one haha

Another one I've seen in Toronto is a high mileage vehicle that they say the engine has been swapped but it looks just as old as the vehicle. Matching the vins on the block and frame like you said will show you they're lying and if they lie about that what else are they BS's you with?

found a full turbo kit for an LS for $350. it was legit tho lol

Guy with his family pulled to check out my. Suddenly car started running bad. Said he would pay cash at a discounted price....he has disconnected a spark plug....

most pcm computers can be programmed with alternative vin number so its not for sure to be original

So, Invent Help sucks.

Confusion between rebuilt - engine and rebuilt - title. Shouldn't happen but it does.

I ran on to one in Columbus Ohio..Ohio Auction or something like that.. Anyhow everything they had was s R title and it showed them being from Baghdad Iraq..Was on Craigslist Athens Ohio area..check them out.

Let's talk aboot it!!!!

Awhile Back I was selling a 1995 f150 that i had just rebuilt the engine on and it kept breaking (ford big surprise) (driveshaft, Idler pulley) kept coming left and right so I was done threw it up on craiglist 2200$ 2 hours after posting had a guy message me area code halfway across the country so i played it out because why not he said he was getting for daughter and she would love it said no problem with the price will throw in 200$ extra to hold onto it for him cashiers check (asked for my info to send out right away) will have a shipper come grab it after check clears so sounded all good way to go to be true though so i asked if i could call him to just finalize and instantly got defensive at that point just cut him off

good info

Any updates on the 60 grand GTO?

Iv had the scam where they send you a cheque for a larger amount to pay the shipping. I sent him a video of me burning the cheque and he called me telling me he was going to call the police haha

Not really a scam at least idk if it is or not but I hate those false hits you get on a car where people are trying to "help you sell your car"

Craigslist is horrible for scammers.

This is a great vid btw

Found a 2014 focus SE hatchback with 65k miles for 2 grand. Seems legit and i ran the vin and its not stolen. Thoughts?

So you guys up there in Canada know anything about the mythical 1987 Honda ATC 250r?

Boughtin is that a Canadian word.

Watch out for the "white van scam" they got me :( Selling extremely cheap stuff with widely inflated MSRP.

Never buy a vehicle / equipped with PayPal. Your not covered !

It's not just about being out the money, who is going to give you back the hours out of your life you spent away from your family and doing what you like to EARN the money. I also realized why the police and prosecutors don't care. If they catch a drug smuggler they can confiscate and sell (or use) the persons big house or Ferrari, or airplane, if they catch a scammer or identity thief what are they going to get? A used computer!

I did put you guys in my will, but I need $100 to get you a certified copy of the will hand delivered. ;-)

I had someone try to scam me when selling some rims. they even sent me the check for the shipper, I never went through with it.

So how much do I have to pay to become a Canadian Prince? Are Canadian Tire dollars still a thing?

Or you ask questions if your buying something like I saw a whole bunch of cars in the back and asked about them and says do you not trust me

the Nigerian prince I told them to open a paypal deposit $9500 in it and send me the email and password for the account so I could verify that the money was in their and we could talk about me helping, Never heard back from them. Had a motorcycle for sale on craigslist had someone wanted to buy it was going to send a shipping company for it said they would send a check I told them that would be a waste the bike does not go anywhere until the check clears and that it would just be easier to send it through paypal, Never heard from them again

#2 Vinwiki

I was looking at a van on ebay when i asked for there info to send a inspector to look at it i never got no reply.

Mmmmmm, smoked deer.

If you remove dodge from your searches it really cuts down on the scams. Can you believe they call that clearcoat and paint!!! 😉

Any thoughts on govdeals or iron planet/govplanet?

I was looking at a pair of Yamaha banshees that SEEMED like a good deal for what I remember $1800. I assumed the atvs were either destroyed or it was a scam. A quick google search of the photos and I found the original banshees for sale in Texas and the same atvs for sale in Kentucky. Never figured out who actually owned them I just remember I quickly bailed on the two yamahas

Bottom price is the listed price. Go away El Cheapo.

General Motors - the BEST !!!

If the English is terrible it’s probably from my area. I’d be wary if it’s very professional

when the car you want to buy is no were to be found and one comes around after 3-4 or 8 years... nothing else matters will shit bricks and eat grass if i have to, whatever it takes.

Use commons sense!

Don't give away your money? Bye bye Patreon, hope YT's ad revenue is enough to keep you alive! lol

🤔👍

I try to sell stuff on Craigslist and we talk when ya coming how good of shape how much...etc ok can I have your address talk some more and after every text they ask can I have your address and once I give it to them they say no more the day they’re sposed to be here I ask a bunch and they say nothing meet at a Kwik trip NOT YOUR ADRESS