How to buy a used car on Kijiji (private seller, Canada)

Kijiji vs Kijiji Autos

Kijiji launched Kijiji Autos in 2018 as a separate car-shopping site and app. Today, car shopping happens in Cars and Trucks on kijiji.ca, which has the car tools that Kijiji Autos introduced: make and model, a maximum-kilometres box, price, and a For Sale By filter that separates owners from dealers. Listings also carry price labels from CARFAX Canada, running from “Great price” to “Higher price”, based on the average market price for similar vehicles.

When we checked in October 2026, kijijiautos.ca no longer loaded, which is why so many people search for where Kijiji Autos went.

To see private sellers only:

1. Go to kijiji.ca and open Cars and Trucks. In the app, choose the cars category.
2. Set your location and search radius.
3. Choose make, model and your price range, and enter a Max km if you have a limit.
4. Set For Sale By to owner, so dealer stock drops out.
5. Sort by most recent, so new listings come first. Good private-sale cars go quickly.
6. Save the search with Notify me when new ads are posted. On the web, Kijiji sends matches once a day; in the app you can choose daily or weekly.

The owner filter depends on how the seller registered. Curbsiders, unlicensed dealers who pose as private sellers, post as owners on purpose, so read every listing with the signs below in mind.

Paperwork by province

The rules for a private sale are set by each province. Here is what a buyer deals with in the four biggest car markets.

In all four, the plates stay with the seller (Ontario’s phrase: plates travel with the driver, not the car), and you need insurance before you drive away. Bringing a car in from another province usually adds an out-of-province inspection, so check with your registry before buying from far away.

Curbsiders

OMVIC, Ontario’s dealer regulator, defines curbsiders as illegal, unlicensed dealers who often pose as private sellers. Its warning signs:

• The seller has several vehicles for sale.
• The price is below market value.
• The car isn’t registered in the seller’s name, or was registered to them only recently.
• The seller seems to operate from a business, or uses a yellow mechanic’s plate or a dealer plate.
• They discourage a CARFAX report or the UVIP.
• They refuse an inspection by your mechanic.
• They won’t give you a receipt with their name and address.

The catch is protection. OMVIC says people who buy privately from a curbsider aren’t protected by OMVIC, its compensation fund or the dealer law. Buy from a real private seller, or a licensed dealer, never something in between. Outside Ontario, the regulators are AMVIC in Alberta and the Vehicle Sales Authority in BC.

Kijiji’s vehicle scam warnings

Kijiji’s Help Centre has a page on vehicle scams, updated in May 2026. The core of it:

• “Never send a deposit before inspecting the vehicle.” Scammers ask for deposits before they let you see the car.
• Kijiji does not partner with any shipping, inspection or escrow companies. Anyone offering to hold your money “for Kijiji” is a scammer.
• Avoid wire transfers and money-transfer services; use a payment method you can trace.
• Check the CARFAX Canada report and the VIN, and make sure the seller’s ID matches the ownership papers.
• Be suspicious of prices well below market, sellers who won’t meet in person, and stories about being overseas or deployed.
• Meet somewhere public and well lit, such as a police safe exchange zone.

If something has gone wrong, keep copies of the messages and payment records and report the ad: Kijiji scams explains how, and who else to call.

Paying

The safest way to pay for a car is at a bank, at the handover, after the inspection.

• Bank draft or certified cheque, which the seller can confirm by calling the issuing bank. Better, go to the bank together and have the draft issued or the transfer done there.
• Interac e-Transfer is fine for a small balance at the handover, but many banks set daily limits lower than the price of a car, and once it’s deposited it can’t be reversed. Never send one as a deposit. E-Transfer scams on Kijiji covers the tricks.
• Cash is risky in large amounts: count it at a bank, not in a parking lot.
• Never a wire, gift cards, crypto, or a payment to a “shipping” or “escrow” company.

Before you pay, run the lien check again if days have passed, and get a bill of sale with the VIN, price, date, both names and both signatures.

Filter Kijiji cars with Sift

Sift is a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. On a computer, in Chrome, Edge or Brave, it works on Kijiji’s car listings:

• Year range and maximum mileage, read from Kijiji’s listing data and from the title and description, in kilometres or miles.
• Branded titles hidden: salvage, rebuilt, flood, as-is and for-parts listings, including French terms such as VGR.
• Dealers hidden or tagged, using Kijiji’s own dealer flag plus dealer wording in ads posted as “owner”.
• Top Ads hidden, so newest first means newest first.
• “Check this” chips on deposit-first and “I’m overseas” ads, and green chips for one owner, service records or a clean Carfax.
• Alerts as often as every 15 minutes, instead of Kijiji’s once a day, for up to 10 saved searches.

And because many Canadians shop both sites, one click runs the same car search on Facebook Marketplace. Our guide to buying a used car on Facebook Marketplace covers the checks there, and Facebook Marketplace vs Kijiji compares the two for car buyers.