I saw an ad for a low mileage 3 year old Altima at a very good price on the Buffalo NY Craigslist.
I called the seller and asked him where the car was kept. He said Buffalo.
When I asked him why there were Palm trees in the photo he hung up on me.
Now that’s funny… 
I suppose it depends where you are, but in the Bay Area the vast majority of private sales are listed only on Craigslist. Refusing to consider buying via that channel cuts you off from many good cars. It isn’t any riskier than buying from a newspaper classified ad (except that they hardly exist around here.) Buying at a distance is just stupid, however you found the car.
We have palm trees in Baltimore.
On a barge that is used as a dance bar. It isn’t open in the winter. Surprise!
Nevada_545 Back in the old days when most people were honest I made many purchases from newspaper classifieds or the weekly IGA shopper. I was never scammed. I blame the anonymity of the internet and the current concept that if you get scammed it’s your fault. I have only been scammed once on an auto repair. It was so obvious that with the help of my state attorney generals office consumer affairs division and VISA I came out unscathed.
Last Friday wifey and I decided on a new car and were going to go in on Mon. They offered minimum trade value, $1500, with an average resale of 4k for the 2003 Windstar 87k, well mantained, good runner but occasionally wacky guages and the exhaaust system going and passenger side door occasionally refusing to open. Good tires and good brakes S I threw it on craigslist, first $3000 takes it. Sat am wife wants to go now, so turned down 3 offers as we would have had to put up the extra $1500. I got 2 emails of interest and one I want to buy the car for someone and will put 3k in your paypal account. We decided to close the deal on Sat., Traded it in and emailed back sorry van no longer available. I am not sure that the person so ready to buy was going to be one kind of trouble or another, more time and I might have played the game.