The vehicle advertisements with the claim “Good engine, won’t start, A/C blows cold” is not unusual. This is not the fault of the Craig’s list system, this just how the general public (that own junk cars) thinks.
Thirty years ago people advertised junk cars in the local newspaper as “good transportation” or “needs TLC”. The only thing that has changed is most people don’t subscribe to the daily paper today.
The yahoos also don’t realize they can just edit their ad instead of making 5 different ads with different prices on them lol.
Indeed John, using the edit feature you can reduce the number of unnecessary posts.
One of my favorites is when they say “good second car” or “good car for a High schooler”. Essentially it means you would need another car to go to the store and by parts for this one.
“Good Station Car” - Don’t try to go far in it.
What I don’t understand is, its free to post ads and respond to ads on Craigslist, how does Craig make his money? Its gotta cost something to maintain the website, doesn’t it?
One I see around here, in our state a car over 20 years old, you can put “historic” plates on it and you don’t have to pass the state safety inspection, so, anyone selling a car 20+ years old advertises as a selling point “State safety inspection not required”. . . of course the part left unsaid is. . . it’ll NEVER pass that safety inspection anyway because its all rotted out and/or worn out underneath.
“in our state a car over 20 years old, you can put “historic” plates on it and you don’t have to pass the state safety inspection.”
That is also true in my state, but in order to retain that “historic” status, the vehicle must be brought to the inspection station once each year in order to verify the number of miles that it was driven over the preceding 12 months. The mileage limit is–I think–a maximum of 5k per year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if your state had a similar restriction on annual miles driven on a “historic” vehicle.
There have been more than one Craigslist ads in the Buffalo NY list for immaculate cars at half the right price. These cars are garaged locally and the owner is a serviceman transferred out of the country soddenly and after you wire transfer the money using a service that “guarantees” the transaction he will give you the contact information for his cousin/brother/uncle who will give you the car.
There were also palm trees in the pics of the locally garaged cars.
@oldtimer I’d be interested in the car if it came with a Russian bride.
There are some that will fall victim no matter how much guidance or protection they are given.
I figured I’d revive an old discussion since I’m the OP for this one
I was warned that I was reviving an old discussion, and was asked if I’m sure about it 
I saw a new ad on craigslist, which made me bust out laughing 
Some guy was selling his old truck, and he claimed it was the best vehicle he’s ever owned, and it never let him down
it had fairly high miles, over 250K, I believe, and it looked like it had led a hard life. But he wasn’t asking peanuts, he wanted several thousand
He straight out mentioned that he’s been using 50 weight motor oil, to keep the low oil pressure warning light from coming on
Since he’s being so matter of fact, I’m surprised he didn’t just mention the sawdust in the diff fluid 
Maybe some sucker will buy it for full price, thinking it’ll give him another 10 years of trouble-free service 
Russian bride strong like bull!
Car, not so much… 
I wonder how many people just look at Craislist ads just for amusement. I do.
I’d never buy a car off of Craigslist unless I was shopping for a classic or antique and went to check it out. But there’s no question that they do an enormous number of transactions. To me the same basic rules apply, any used vehicle needs to be thoroughly checked out hands-on, with the added issue of having to check the title out more carefully and in many cases having to check out the legal implications of buying out of state and the transportation-to-home issues.
Russian brides… yeah, I’m sure a few of those get bought covertly over Craigslist too.
Speaking of classics (and, yes, I have bought one or two off CL), my favorite line is “We believe the mileage is correct” on any car with a 5 digit odometer, showing 30,000 miles.
I haven’t checked out the Russian brides…hmmm
Never having bought a used car, the question comes up:
If not for Craigslist, how do you buy/sell a used car?
You put a sign in the window and park it out by the road 
Back in the day, the next step was to take out an ad in the newspaper. Now there is CL and LetGo serving the same purpose but much faster and wider audience…
…and an audience filled with many scammers…
CLL is a good concept. It’s sad that there are so many crooks out there abusing everything that could be good.
I use Craigslist to buy and sell old scooters. Sure, there’s a lot of pretty silly stories, and some scammers, but if you keep your head on straight and understand the legal rules about cars, you can do OK. How is that different than any other way of buying a used vehicle? No matter how you shop, it’s a chancy business, and Craigslist has been a great resource.
They make money by charging for help wanted ads and maybe real estate, too.
It seems those who hate car dealers also distrust individuals selling vehicles locally advertised via the internet.
Nomatter. When it comes to buying something as expensive as a car, I distrust EVERYONE! 