My local police are setting up a public service for people to buy and sell cars. They have parking spots at two precinct offices dedicated to showing vehicles. This seems like the safest spot to show your car or look at someone else’s vehicle. The police also allow parties to use the lobby for paperwork. If your local police aren’t doing this yet, you might mention it to them. There are about 300 police departments in the US doing this now. We still need to be careful about who we give the keys to, but having the police only a minute away is a great way to make transactions a lot safer than they otherwise might be.
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This is very interesting. In my local town the community college has a weekend car fair. You have to pay to get in and show your car but it also gets listed online. I think it is a bit safer but I doubt they do much for the money transaction of the part.
Get the option to have it checked out by a trusted mechanic?
That seems an excellent community idea.
That sounds like a good idea. I live in a small rural town, so I doubt that our budget could support it. But in areas where there are problems with safety during car sales, the idea sounds good. In high car theft areas, perhaps the cops could even look up the VIN numbers to ensure the vehicles aren’t stolen… although I can’t imagine any car thief would bring the car to a police station to try to sell it! 
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If car thieves were smart, they wouldn’t BE car thieves…
Written by Car Talk contributor, Jim Motavalli…
I like this idea. The only real cost to the public is a bit of parking lot next to the police station.
I used to meet Craiglist buyers at a local gas-and-shop quickie mart because of the security cameras and the customers that were always around. Not exactly a police station but there were police there on a regular basis for coffee, doughnuts and sandwiches.
I agree that it is a minimal cost to the municipality. There are also a lot of places where it isn’t necessary to do this; the town is safe. Maybe @“the same Mountainbike” is fortunate to live in one. I live in a YOOGE metropolitan area, and criminals don’t have to go far to have access to over 10 million people. My immediate neighborhood is pretty safe, but not as safe as, say, rural Montana where there are no strangers in town.