Perils of buying a used car from a private party in CA or AZ?
Thread Starter
AudiWorld Super User
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,047
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From: Las Vegas
Perils of buying a used car from a private party in CA or AZ?
I'm seriously considering selling my 01 TTR because it is approaching 90K miles and getting a low mileage 05 or 06. Buying from a private party is usually cheaper plus if you buy from a private party, NV does not charge any sales tax when you register the car which will save me over $2K. Obviously on eBay you can check the seller's feedback but what about cars.com or autotrader.com? More than likely, I'll be buying the car in AZ of CA because there are few TTs here. (Did you know that 65% of all TT roadsTTers are sold in CA?) With the sophistication of Photoshop and other computer tools, how do I guarantee that the title I'm offered is valid, lein free, and really owned by the person selling the car? I don't think CARFAX can help me with these issues. I'm particularly interested in answers regarding CA and AZ.
AudiWorld Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Madison, AL
If you can't inspect the cars yourself.....
You can use a service such as carchex. Also I believe that CARFAX will guarantee that the title is valid.<ul><li><a href="http://www.carchex.com/">http://www.carchex.com/</a</li></ul>
Junior Member
Joined: May 2006
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Ask to see the DMV registration via e-mail...
Have them scan it. If it checks out with DMV (you can call them) then you are probably good to go. Of course, if you are that concerned about a forged document from who you are buying, you might want to investigate whether or not it's worth buying from that type of person. I highly doubt the occurrence of such an act is very large, but still, never too safe. I'd go with the DMV angle though. It's hard to forge a state computer record with photo ID, etc. etc.
New Member
Joined: Sep 2006
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Re: CARFAX only guarantees that the title is not salvaged, etc.
I bought a TT from a dealer,I checked out Carfax, which did not show that the car had had a LOT of body work. The car was also purchased at a dealer bacause of the extended warrenty, 300 point check, which also did not mention any paint and body work.
Crawl under the car, look under door rubber, etc.
good luck.
Crawl under the car, look under door rubber, etc.
good luck.
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Just curious...what's on a carfax report? My VIN shows "15 entries".... but I know the car is clean.
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