Foo - FSBO used cars

I haven't bought a car since 1999. One of them is a bit long in the tooth and I may need a new one sooner than later. I would rather not go to a dealership. Other than the local newspaper, is there a good source for cars sold from a private party? Back in the day, Auto Trader was great but now it seems it only has dealership ads.

stay away from carmax, craigslist is ok for a source but you have to be vigilant of who your buying the car from at all times. most of my friends have bought cars from dealers that post there with no problems with them or the cars my girlfriend bought her 99 sahara from a private party on CL

I bought a car in 1999 from a FSBO, the car was just parked along the street with a for sale sign on it. It was a 1991 Subaru. I'm not much of a car mechanic, but I knew a few things to look for that might go wrong with a Subaru. It looked good to me so I bought it right there. I drove it with no major issues until last fall when I bought a 2001 Subaru from FSBO from an ad in the paper. Both these sales were from the original owners with a stack of maintenance reciepts. No problems with the 2001 car yet.

When someone is selling a car, there's a reason. Some reasons make it a good deal for you, and some reasons make it bad. I've bought a couple of used cars: One was from a student who needed money more than he needed transportation; and one was from a co-worker who was moving to another country and couldn't take the car with him. Those were good reasons. There are lots of bad reasons...

Be wary of car dealers masquerading as individuals selling potentially shady vehicles. I know this occurs in Austin sometimes where someone buys a bunch of cars that were wrecked or flooded, does cosmetic work, then sells them pretending to be an individual. Later when stuff happens (corrosion fries something in the electric system), the person is nowhere to be found, and the vehicle can't be sold because its marked as salvage.

Be wary of car dealers masquerading as individuals selling potentially shady vehicles. I know this occurs in Austin sometimes where someone buys a bunch of cars that were wrecked or flooded, does cosmetic work, then sells them pretending to be an individual. Later when stuff happens (corrosion fries something in the electric system), the person is nowhere to be found, and the vehicle can't be sold because its marked as salvage.

Read the Title Very Carefully...Salvage will be in BIG Letters!!