How my $1000 Jeep Wrangler Wasn't A Scam: Part 1

There are many sellers on craigslist that try to rip us off. You see the car of your dreams, and somehow the price is thousands below what similar makes and models normally go for.  They included a picture, but the only thing the description mentions is that the car has ABS brakes and includes an air freshener – nothing else. When you email them they mention that the car is nearby, but they are in some random African country and will need for you to send a money transfer before you can test drive the car. You could give them your credit card to make things easier, if you wanted.

Once you have identified these bastards, you can move on and actually find some really good automotive deals. Not everyone knows what their cars are worth. Better yet, their perceived value of cars is a lot less than what an automotive enthusiast views it as.

Knowledge can sometimes be worth a lot more than a paycheck. Having that “Club Dirty Potential” image in the back of your mind is priceless.

This is an older version of the app, but same features exist.

One morning while at work, I check my Cragslist pro app on my phone. The best features of this app:

1. 1. Multi-region searching: I haven't discovered the limit yet, but I have at least 10 different regions near me on some of my searches. Craigslist determines these regions, and sellers post in which region is closest to them. 


2. 2.Saved criteria/keyword searches: For this story..I had "Jeep" as my keyword, "for sale-by owner" as my refined search, $0-$3000 as my price, and the 10-or-so regions in the order I chose. For vehicles, I have lots of regions. For parts, I could chose just 3 Craigslist regions that are near me (to avoid driving 400 miles for a rear-view mirror).


3. 3. Labels new searches/ones you have already looked at: "Oh yea. That is the shitty car I looked at last week. Only thing different is the owner put a default picture from the manufacturer into the description." Enough said about this feature.


4. 4: You can see how long ago they posted the post without clicking into the ad.

So with my saved criteria, I saw an ad that had posted 10 minutes beforehand. A 1997 Jeep Wrangler, for $1000 Dollars! There was a phone number, so I immediately texted them (If you are super serious, give them a call before texting). The ad included a phone number, and a crappy description that was all of 20 words max. Knowing that it might be a scam, I went in cautiously by asking questions to make sure he was a real human and actually had a Jeep for sale.

Do you have pictures? What condition are the tires? Is there any mechanical issues/check engine light on?

After texting for a couple of minutes, the ad was removed from Craigslist. he stated that he had tons of people blowing up in his phone for the short 20 minutes it was online. Believe it or not, I was second in line: someone had already called him within the first 9 minutes of the post being online.

  

I received pictures of the Jeep. It looked like a sketchy action hero, wearing blue with random white stripes. Paint completely covered this Wrangler, inside and out. The pictures made the Jeep look uglier than it was in person. I asked when I could test drive the Jeep. He stated that he was buying another car, and needed to get one before selling the Wrangler to anyone. If this Jeep was average priced, I would have walked away. I kept asking every day what the status was, or ask more questions to further reinforce my full intent to buy the Jeep. The first person that made contact with him gave up, and I was his main contact for buying the 1997 Wrangler.

4 days past before I received the golden text. He had purchased another car. We set up a time to meet that weekend. Persistence had paid off in this hunt.

I will continue to post about the evolution of this Craigslist Jeep find, and all the things I have learned along the way (Buying/Selling tips, Bodywork/Paint, Used Parts Selling/Tips, Negotiation skills, and much more).

Feel free to leave comments or questions!