Red Flags in FB Marketplace Car Deals

5 Red Flags to Avoid Scams on Facebook Marketplace When Buying a Car

In this episode of Women Buying Cars, we discuss how Facebook Marketplace can be a cost-effective way to buy a car but also highlight the pitfalls and red flags that could lead to scams. The host, joined by her daughter, outlines five key red flags to watch out for. The episode also includes a segment on understanding traction and vehicle stability control features. Practical tips on meeting sellers safely and a reminder of the benefits of buying from a reputable dealer are also shared. This is the episode for you if you have ever thought, "Should I buy a car off Facebook?" "Is it safe to buy a car off Facebook?"

00:00 Introduction to Buying Cars on Facebook Marketplace
01:03 Meet the Special Guest: My Daughter
02:32 Red Flags to Watch Out For
04:44 Understanding Car Pricing
07:29 What Does This Button Do?
09:42 More Red Flags and Safety Tips
12:49 Final Thoughts on Buying Cars on Facebook Marketplace
14:39 Q&A Session

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Transcript

0:03

Buying a car on Facebook marketplace could save you money, but it's also full of pitfalls. Today on women buying cars, we're gonna go over five red flags you should watch out for so that you don't get scammed or stuck with a terrible car. Hey there. Welcome back to Women Buying Cars. Thank you so much for joining me. You are very much appreciated. If you have an idea for a show or if you have any comments, there is a place at the top of the show notes where you can send me a text. I would love to hear from you. If you're in the Kansas City area, we would love to help you find a car. We are at Reynolds Automotive in the suburb of Merriam. You're in luck today. We have a very special guest joining us. It is my daughter. Say hello, daughter. Hello. What would you like to tell us about yourself? I am nine, almost 10. I'll be 10 in August. Um, I have a puppy named Lucy and she's right here next to me. Lucy, can you say hi? Okay. Lucy's probably too busy chewing something up and ruining it right now if I were guessing. Yeah. Yeah. so Iris, what is the number one best thing about having your parents own a car dealership? I get to help them with like checking in cars and stuff, and I get paid like $1 a day if I do my work, but I should get a raise. Oh, really? Well, yeah, because I empty the trash, I get the trash around the building. I file papers, I hang up the keys, I do homework. I make sure that there's more. Paper in the printer. I need a raise. Tell me if I should get a raise. Listeners. Text me the links in the show notes and let me know if you think we are underpaying Iris to do this work. Keep in mind, she's nine years old. Almost 10 Alright Iris, thanks for coming on the show and uh, have a safe trip home. I'm home. All right. Thank you. Today we're talking about red flags. You must look out for when buying a car on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook Marketplace is known for being a great place to find a good deal, and sometimes it's nice to know that you're buying from. Someone in your community. However, it's also a place where a lot of scammers hang out. So before you make a major purchase like a car I want to give you some red flags to look out for. Number one red flag is a price that is too good to be true. If it is thousands cheaper than similar listings. There's a reason. And it's probably not a good reason if you are looking for a particular car, let's just say a 5-year-old Acura, MDX, you need to go in with an idea of how much that car costs. A great way to do that is to take the info from the listing, go over to edmonds.com, there'll be a section that says, what is my car worth? Put in that information and then it will give you an idea of how much that car should cost at resale. You can also look around at. Local car dealerships, websites and see what they are charging for a similar vehicle. now it's reasonable to think that you could get it on Facebook marketplace at a cheaper price than what a car dealership is charging, but it's not going to be several thousand dollars cheaper. it's still going to be roughly the same ballpark. And again, if you see other listings for a certain price. But one of them stands out as being really cheap. I would be very leery of that. It could be a scam. It could be a salvage title. And I have a whole episode about salvage titles. If you don't understand that, please go back and listen. It could be a stolen car, and I have a episode about stolen cars and the epidemic of stolen cars in this country. So it could be. Any of those things, so be very careful for a bottom barrel price. Having said that, when you're trying to get an idea of how much a car should cost you, make sure you are paying attention to mileage and trim. I just did a little bit of research on a 5-year-old Acura, and the price range that you can expect is about $10,000 wide. Based on the mileage and the trim. If you have a base model with cloth seats and very few upgrades, it's going to be significantly cheaper than the highest trim level. If you are buying a car with 20,000 miles versus 120,000 miles. Else the price is going to vary a great deal. So you do need to keep that in mind, and that's why taking the information from the car and putting it in at Edmonds or Kelly Blue Book is a great idea. I don't love Kelly Blue Book. I don't think it's as accurate, but it would least give you an idea. Alright, red flag number two. Vague or missing information. The listing needs to be able to tell you. The mileage, the year, the VIN number, the condition of the car. If they don't, or if they're dodging your questions or giving sketchy answers, then you need to walk away it. There is no reason to hold back any of that information and getting the VIN is very important.

Meredith 6:08

One thing you can do is google National Insurance Crime Bureau. While there, you can do a free VIN check. And then check to make sure that's the ven on the car that you're actually test driving. Once you meet in person,.

6:25

Red flag number three is any problem at all with the title. I would ask them to send me a picture of the title before I ever go meet anyone. The name on the title needs to match the person that you're speaking with, and you can ask for a picture ID to verify that you need to look at that title and make sure it does not say salvage, rebuilt, or bonded. Those all mean roughly the same thing. If an individual is selling the car, they need to have the title in hand. It's different with a reputable car dealership, including my own. Because we have companies called Floor Plans that lend us the money so we can buy all the cars that are on our lot, but they hold the title until we sell the car and give them the money that we owe them. That's a different situation. An individual absolutely should have title in hand, Before we go on to any more red flags, we're gonna stop for a little segment I like to call. What does this button do?

Meredith 7:31

The button we are going to talk about today, I'm actually talking about two different ones, traction Control and Vehicle Stability Control. Now, what's a little confusing is that either one of them could have the same symbol, which is a car, which Wavy tire marks behind it as though the car were swerving. The make and model you drive will determine what the button exactly looks like. but that's a general idea of what it's gonna look like. Sometimes the traction control button might just be a tc or it might be that wavy lines with the car and the letters tc. Vehicle stability control, from my understanding, is typically the car with the swerving lines. Sometimes it has a triangle around it. If you're not sure, you can always Google your make and model with Traction Control icon and see what it says. They do similar things. Vehicle stability control became mandated for every car starting in 2012, so chances are your car has this. It is there to prevent skidding, and sliding, especially during cornering or other sudden maneuvers. Traction Control does something similar. It is preventing wheel spin when you're accelerating by reducing the engine power or applying brakes to the spinning wheel. I would recommend you keep these on all the time. There's no reason not to, and it can really make a big difference if you were to hit some loose gravel if it were to rain, if you had to swerve suddenly for some reason. So it's a really important safety feature. Both of them are. The only time you would want to turn them off is if you are stuck in mud or snow and your wheels are not getting traction. You could try turning those off so that your wheel can spin more freely and hopefully regain traction. That's really the only time I would ever want to see someone turn it off. Otherwise, they're great features. You don't have to think about it. It's doing a lot of work for you. Keeping you safe. Let's get back to some red flags about Facebook marketplace.

9:46

Red Flag number four, they want to communicate off a Facebook. I have people do this to me all the time. I list our cars that are for sale on Facebook marketplace. I have people ask me a few questions and then say, well, could you just call me so we could talk about it? And my answer is always, I'm sorry I don't call people from Facebook, but here's the landline to my business. If you would like to give us a call and you can verify that number online. Usually they don't call. Some of those are probably legit customers, but most people these days know. That people aren't going to call them That's a sign of a scammer, and so they're not going to ask you to call them unless they really are a scammer. So do not go to WhatsApp, do not text them, do not call them. There's no reason why you can't work things out Via personal messaging on Facebook. The fifth red flag Is that they are not available to meet you, or the car is in another city and they're willing to ship it to you. If you can't see the car in person, if you can't test drive it, if you can't meet the person, in person, that is a no go. Do not buy a car. If they say they'll ship it to you, or they'll use a third party service. Or they are showing you documents, proving that they're gonna ship this car to you. Do not believe them, even if you actually end up getting the car shipped to you. You could drive it and it could have a transmission that's about to go out. And then have no recourse at all. You've got to drive the car and preferably make an appointment to take it to a mechanic and have it looked over before you purchase it. I would definitely be asking if there's a way that could be arranged. You could be getting in over your head on a car that you have no warranty on and no recourse for. So a few tips to keep you safe when meeting people. What I advise is to meet up in a police station parking lot. If this is a criminal, they're going to probably shut that down pretty quickly, and then you're going to know, this is not someone I wanna do business with. But otherwise, that is a nice, safe place to meet during daylight hours. If you can bring a friend. It's always good to have another person. Doesn't even have to be a car expert, just another body there to gauge the situation and help you determine if this is something you wanna do. You absolutely have to have a signed bill of sale because you will need that for DMV purposes. You'll also want to ask to see their ID to make sure that the name on the title matches the ID of the person you're with.

Meredith 12:50

Do I suggest you shop for cars on Facebook Marketplace? Well, as a car dealer, my opinion is, no. I don't think it's the best thing to do unless you are looking for something very specific that you can't find anywhere else. Then looking at Facebook Marketplace might be a good idea. When you buy from a dealer, there's going to be things in place to keep you from getting scammed, you should check the dealer's rating online to see if they've. been in business long enough to rack up ratings, and are those positive? Depending on the state you're in, you may be entitled to a certain amount of warranty because you bought from a dealer. For example, in the state of Kansas, the dealer has to offer at least one month or 10,000 miles on the engine and transmission that is mandated by the state of Kansas. If you're buying from Facebook marketplace, there is no warranty, there's no guarantee, and that person could skip town tomorrow. if you're buying from a dealership that didn't just open their doors last week, they have a reputation that they have to uphold. That doesn't necessarily mean that all dealers are gonna do right, but it increases the odds that they will. Not completely scam you. Cars are complex machines. It's not like buying a toaster over Facebook marketplace, so it's not what I would recommend. For your first stop in shopping for a car. The more educated we are, the more empowered we are when we're car shopping, and the less we have to rely on others. If you're in Kansas City, come see me at Reynolds Automotive thanks for listening and happy driving.

14:39

Could you do like three more questions? Maybe one more. Compromise two. That's not a compromise. Compromise would be one and a half. I said three. You said one. So two. Um, let's see. Any big plans for the summer?