How to buy a used car on Facebook Marketplace without getting burned

Step by step

1. Set the full budget. Price, plus sales tax, registration, insurance, an inspection and a buffer for the first repair. In Ontario, for example, you pay 13% retail sales tax on the price or the car’s wholesale value, whichever is higher.
2. Search with filters. On Marketplace, choose Vehicles and set make, model, year and price. Read past the photos: the description tells you more about the seller than the car.
3. Price-check before you message. Compare similar cars on Marketplace and elsewhere, and look up a private-sale value (Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds in the US, Canadian Black Book in Canada). A price far below the rest needs an explanation. Our guide to whether a price is fair shows how to read the market.
4. Ask the right questions. The VIN, whether the title or registration is in their name, any accidents, service records, the reason for selling, and whether money is owed on it. Vague answers to specific questions are a warning.
5. Run the VIN. Order a history report and, in the US, run the free NICB check (see the table below). Check that the year, model and colour match the listing.
6. Check for liens. A lien search, or the seller’s UVIP in Ontario. Do it again on the day you pay if days have passed.
7. Get an insurance quote. Some models, and most branded titles, cost much more to insure.
8. Meet in daylight, somewhere safe. The seller’s home matches the address on the registration, or a busy public place. Bring someone with you.
9. Inspect and test-drive. Use the checklist further down.
10. Book an independent inspection. A pre-purchase inspection by a mechanic you choose. A seller who refuses one is telling you something.
11. Negotiate on facts. Tyres due, brakes worn, a missing service: each is a number. More in how to negotiate on Marketplace.
12. Pay, sign and register. At a bank, with a bill of sale, then register the car and insure it before you drive away.

History and lien checks by country

In the UK, also look at the V5C log book. The name and address on it should match the seller and the place you’re viewing the car. In Ontario, the seller is legally required to give you a Used Vehicle Information Package, which shows the car’s registration history, any liens and its wholesale value.

Car scams on Marketplace

Car scams are worth knowing by their scripts, because the details change and the scripts don’t.

• The seller who can’t be there. Deployed, working away, moving abroad, going through a divorce. The car is “with a shipping company” or “at a transport hub” and will be delivered once you pay. Kijiji’s advice holds on Marketplace too: be suspicious of sellers who won’t meet, or who say they are overseas or deployed.
• The deposit to hold it. “Lots of interest, send $500 and it’s yours.” Never send a deposit before you’ve seen the car in person. More in deposit scams.
• Fake vehicle purchase protection. An email that looks like it’s from eBay Motors, Facebook or an escrow firm says it will hold your money until you approve the car. It’s a fake site. Facebook’s Purchase Protection covers only orders paid through its own checkout, and cars aren’t sold that way.
• Curbsiders. Unlicensed dealers posing as private sellers, often selling cars with hidden problems or rolled-back odometers. In Ontario, people who buy from a curbsider aren’t covered by OMVIC’s compensation fund.
• Odometer rollback. Compare the odometer with the mileage in the history report or MOT records, and with the wear on the pedals, seat and steering wheel.
• Title washing. A branded car re-registered somewhere with looser rules to hide its history. A history report from a national database catches most of it.
• Fake history report sites. Aimed at sellers: a “buyer” insists you buy a report from a site they choose. If you’re selling too, buy reports only from providers you find yourself.

Title words to know

The exact terms and rules differ by state and province, so check your local licensing office before you buy anything branded.

Why some Marketplace cars are so cheap

There are honest reasons and dishonest ones, and the listing rarely tells you which.

• A quick sale. A move, a new baby, a second car that isn’t needed. Private sellers don’t carry a dealer’s costs, so some prices really are lower.
• A problem in the small print. A rebuilt title, a failing transmission, a big service due, very high mileage.
• Not the real price. Dealers often list the down payment or a bi-weekly payment as the price, with “plus tax and licensing” or “OAC” in the description.
• Bait. A price well under the market is the hook for deposit and shipping scams.

The test is simple: ask why it’s priced where it is, and check the answer against the history report.

Inspection and test drive checklist

• Cold start: ask the seller not to warm the car up before you arrive. Listen for knocks, rattles and smoke.
• Warning lights on the dash should come on at start, then go out.
• Fluids: oil level and colour, coolant, transmission fluid if there’s a dipstick.
• Tyres: even wear, matching brands, tread depth. Uneven wear can point to alignment or suspension problems.
• Body: mismatched paint, uneven panel gaps and overspray suggest past repairs. Check for rust under the doors and wheel arches.
• Under the car: leaks, rust on the frame and brake lines.
• Inside: water marks, a musty smell or silt under the carpets (flood signs); every window, lock, seat and the air conditioning.
• On the road: straight-line braking, smooth shifts, no pulling, no vibration at highway speed.
• Papers: the VIN on the dash and door matches the registration and the history report.

Paying and paperwork

• Pay at a bank. A bank draft or certified cheque is fine if the seller verifies it by calling the issuing bank on a number they look up themselves. Better still, meet at the seller’s bank or yours and do the transfer there. Don’t carry thousands in cash to a stranger’s driveway.
• Get a bill of sale. The date, price, VIN, make, model and year, both names and addresses, and both signatures. Keep a copy.
• Transfer the ownership. In Ontario, you must register the car in your name within 6 days at ServiceOntario, with the UVIP, bill of sale and proof of insurance; you’ll need a Safety Standards Certificate before you can put plates on it. In the US, the seller signs over the title and you register it at your state’s DMV within its deadline. In the UK, the seller updates the V5C online or by post, and you must tax the car before you drive it, because tax doesn’t transfer with the car.
• Insure it before you drive it.

In Canada, paperwork and taxes change by province: buying a used car on Kijiji has the province-by-province table, and it applies just as much to a car you find on Marketplace. For how each payment method protects you, see Marketplace payment methods compared.

Filter the noise first

A car search on Marketplace fills up fast with dealer stock, rebuilt titles, cars with no mileage given and the same listings you saw yesterday. Sift, a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, clears those out on a computer before you start reading:

• Year and maximum mileage, read from the listing data and from the text (“150K km”, “93k miles”), in kilometres or miles.
• Branded titles hidden: listings that mention salvage, rebuilt, flood, as-is or for parts.
• Dealers hidden, or tagged “Dealer”, using financing wording and stock numbers.
• Green chips for one owner, service records and a clean title or Carfax, and “Check this” chips for deposit-first and “I’m out of the country” sellers.
• Price-drop badges on cars whose price has fallen since Sift first saw them.

It reads only what the seller wrote, so it doesn’t replace the history report or the inspection. It runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer, not in the Facebook app.