RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

About 10 months ago, I went to look at a 1980 Firebird that was posted only on Craigslist. The owner was a perfectly nice guy, lived in a nice neighborhood and nothing bad happened at all. I didn't buy the car, but the experience was just fine. That's certainly not the first one from CL that I've gone to look at, never had any issues. If you know the region, then you know what areas to avoid in the first place....same would be true regardless of the listing venue (sometimes even ghetto cars have an AutoTrader ad.) Things get a bit more tricky if you're from out of town, but again that could be an issue no matter the listing source. Often, you can tell whether or not the owner is worth contacting just by how the ad is written, and then a phone call gives even better insight.

I do agree that many of the nicer cars often don't get listed on CL, but that's not always the case. About 2-3 years ago I found a #2+ condition Chevelle SS396 listed exclusively on CL. This was a $30k+ collector car, not listed anywhere else. I was really more in the market for a driver, but after stumbling onto this I was heavily tempted to replace my Nova with it:







The car was priced about 15-20% less than what it would have likely listed for at a "specialty/collector" dealer. It sold quickly.

You can certainly find plenty of upper tier collector cars on the pay sites and/or Ebay, but affordable driver-level stuff seems to have shifted almost entirely to Craigslist in my area. Searching for antique cars in the ~$10k-and-under "driver" category on AutoTraderClassics.com, ClassicCars.com, etc., nets you almost nothing within ~100 miles of my region in comparison to what you'll find on CL. That trend shifts in the opposite direction when you get above ~$15-20k or so.

NC01TA

Millions of successful CL transactions happen. Let's be clear, you are right. Of course you are meeting a stranger but think this way. You are advertising a nice car locally, telling every scumbag in your city that you have a rather expensive car for sale. If a seller isn't 'street smart' he might just give out his address to anyone that calls. Within 5 -10 minutes he might have a gun shoved in his face. This stuff happens. As I stated earlier, it is rare, but why open up yourself up to the criminal element just because you want a 'freebie'?? Of course arranging a meeting at the local police station or Sheriff's office is the way to go with CL if you want to use it. Our small town here in NC encourages use of their lot for CL transactions.
With 'national' publications/ads, your local scumbag isn't perusing those ads for victims within a '25 mile radius'. Not as likely anyway. I haven't heard about many Autotrader murders/robberies, etc.., but CL? Yeah, unfortunately. With 25 years of law enforcement behind me, I don't look for trouble anymore and I tell my family and friends the same advice I dispense here on this site. I look for a peaceful existence now. Wouldn't it be something to have to use deadly force now while a retired citizen after never needing it during my career? I'm always prepared but why increase the odds? So many cars out there without the added risk factor. I don't look and I don't sell. No one has to agree with me but when someone, like the OP asks, I express my thoughts about CL. If I help even one person from a bad experience, my time posting this was worthwhile.

Haggyrae

Your car is probably 1 of 650 ever made.1300 or so convts in Red. 600 or so with the CME 345hp center exhaust..worth $17,000. All day long