How To Buy A Car From A Private Owner

Basic Considerations

If you’re going to buy a used car from a private seller, there are a few things to consider. For example, you shouldn’t try to finance it. Private sellers don’t have to report to the Better Business Bureau, and if they’ll let you finance, they’ll find their own way to keep you honest. Avoid that, buy outright, and do it proper. Here’s a few tactics to help you get a good deal:

• Bring Cash

• Check The Blue Book Value Before Examining The Car

• Make An Offer Below Asking Price

• Put The Vehicle Carefully Through Its Paces

• Have A Notary Public Sign The Title, Know The Selling Reason

Bring Cash

When you’ve got the cash available on-hand, and you can show that to the seller, you have a better chance of buying the vehicle at a lower cost than the asking price. Also, you’ll own the vehicle outright after you buy, meaning you can insure it and so keep from being impacted too negatively by unexpected issues like mechanical problems. 

Check The Blue Book Value Before Examining The Car

Prior to driving to the seller’s property to examine the car, look up the make and model on Kelly Blue Book to see what you should expect to buy it for. If it’s too far above or below the average, there’s a reason. Either it’s got a mechanical issue, or the seller is trying to get more out of you than he or she should. If you know the blue book, you can use that to haggle.

Make An Offer Below Asking Price

Say a seller is asking $10k on a vehicle. Offer him $7k, he’ll maybe drop his asking price down. You come up, he comes down. Go to the seller willing to pay the full amount. If the vehicle is a real peach, you won’t mind. But never buy without haggling a little. 

With a private seller, you can commonly knock $200 to $2k off the price—just point out the vehicle’s issues and squint like you’re really thinking about it. 

Put The Vehicle Carefully Through Its Paces

Pop the hood. Tap the brakes. Rev the engine. Work the windows. Work the locks. Turn the radio on and off, tune it up and down. Try the cruise control. Try the high beams. Work the e-brake. Drive the car up a hill and watch the RPMs. Take it on the interstate. Activate windshield wipers and washer fluid. Adjust the seats and mirrors. Pop the trunk. Check out the spare. Do everything you can think of to determine what condition the vehicle is in. 

Have A Notary Public Sign The Title, Know The Selling Reason

If everything looks good once you put the car through its paces and haggle with the seller, then both of you head to a bank to find a notary public and assure the title is legally signed over to you. A salvage title isn’t necessarily bad, if you know the reason there’s a salvage title. 

Always ask the reason a seller is selling so you know if there are hidden issues, like a slipping transmission. It’s unwise to buy if there is no available title, or the seller is too vague. 

Getting A Good Deal From A Private Seller

Test the vehicle, handle the title right with a notary public, pay cash, haggle at least a little, know the Blue Book value going in, and be sure you know the reason a seller is selling. 

Do these things and you may get a better deal buying from a private seller than from a pre-owned vehicle dealership—but not always. All situations differ. To learn more about these and other vehicular intrigues, be sure to check out our Anybody’s Autos blog.