Buying a used vehicle safely

A used vehicle is the largest amount of cash most people will ever hand to a stranger, and it is the category where the scams are best rehearsed. Four things protect you: check the title, check the VIN, have a mechanic look at it, and never send money before you have seen it.

Before you go

• Ask for the VIN in the message thread and run a history check on it, through Carfax, VehicleHistory or an equivalent. A seller who will not give you the VIN has told you something.
• Ask whether the title is clean and in their name. Get the answer in writing, in the Jinu thread, before you drive anywhere.
• Compare the price to the rest of the results. Far below market is not luck.
• Tell somebody where you are going, when, and who you are meeting. Send them the listing.
• Book an inspection. An independent mechanic is worth about $100 and is the best money in the whole transaction.

Where to meet

Somewhere public, well lit and busy, in daylight. Use the Propose a meetup control in the conversation: it suggests real public places near the listing, police station lobbies and public libraries among them, and it can add the meeting to your calendar with a reminder. A seller who insists on a private address or a quiet industrial estate, or who wants to bring the car to you so you cannot see where it lives, is worth refusing.

At the vehicle

1. Check the VIN on the car matches the paperwork. It is on the dashboard at the base of the windshield and on the driver's door jamb. Two that disagree ends the viewing.
2. Check the name on the title matches the person's identification. If they do not match you are dealing with a curbstoner, an unlicensed dealer flipping cars in someone else's name, and you may be buying a vehicle they cannot legally sell.
3. Never buy a vehicle without a clean title. No title, a title in a third party's name, a title marked salvage, rebuilt or flood, or a promise the title is coming in the post, are all reasons to leave.
4. See it cold. A warmed-up engine hides starting problems. Ask them not to run it before you arrive.
5. Take the mechanic's inspection seriously, including a lift check for frame or flood damage.

The scams that run in this category

• The vehicle that is not there. A seller who is deployed, moving abroad or traveling, who wants a deposit to hold it and will ship it to you. There is no vehicle.
• Fake escrow and fake buyer protection. A link to a site that looks like an escrow service or claims to be a marketplace protection program. Jinu has no escrow, does not process payment between members, and will never send you to a third-party site to pay.
• Overpayment. A buyer sends a cashier's check for more than the price and asks you to wire back the difference. The check bounces days later.
• Title washing. A salvage vehicle re-titled through another state to lose the brand. This is what the history check is for.
• Odometer rollback. Compare the reading against the service records and the history report.

Never pay by wire transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency, and never pay a deposit to hold a vehicle you have not seen. If something feels wrong, leave. You owe a stranger nothing.

Reporting it

Report the listing from its more menu, choosing Spam or scam, and block the seller. If you have lost money or been threatened, email safety@jinu.app and see Urgent safety concerns. I think I have been scammed has the full recovery checklist.