With Spring rapidly approaching, the car selling season will soon pick up steam. Sadly, online scams frequently target our generally good-natured enthusiast community, ruining what can (and should, in our opinion) actually be an enjoyable process. In today’s Market Monday, I’m sharing a handful of shady online car sales tactics to watch out for when you’re buying or selling a classic or collector car.

One of the reasons I chose to become an appraiser is to help buyers and sellers of classic cars understand the value of their vehicle to protect themselves from loss. That loss could be from an undervalued and underinsured car totaled in an unfortunate accident, but it could also be loss from an unscrupulous internet schemer intent on stealing your money under false pretenses.

Below I’m highlighting a handful of online schemes that use half truths or full on lies to separate you, the buyer or seller of a collector car, from your money.

In this scenario, an online poster presents themselves as a fellow enthusiast looking to add cars to their growing collection. This person claims they are not a dealer, but an individual seeking interesting cars. Their promises include fast cash payment with no hassles.

While there are certainly collectors out there trying to acquire a special car by casting a wide net, this person is almost certainly not a collector, but a dealer or flipper looking to source cars at below market prices to resell for profit. Collectors have a defined goal or focus for their collection and are usually looking for something specific. In contrast, you may find this person posting the same message to pretty much any collector car group with no obvious focus, suggesting they’re not really a collector at all.

This person’s goal is to get you to lower your guard in the hope of securing an off-market sale , hoping you’re either naive, desperate or unaware of the value of your vehicle.

What to Do:
If you see someone post this message on your enthusiast site or social media group, check their profile by clicking on their name before you respond. See what they’ve posted, how long their account is active, and if they show up in a search outside of Facebook. On more than one occasion, I’ve found these shady buyers have revealed their true business elsewhere.

If you’re thinking of selling your car, consider having it appraised by a professional appraiser, or use any of the plethora of online resources available to stay informed on your car’s value.

You’re excited to receive a message on FB marketplace from a buyer who is interested in your car. You engage with them a bit, and they’re very interested but can’t offer your price. They’ll tell you that the classic in your garage is their dream car, or they plan to restore it with a son/daughter. Perhaps they wrenched with their father on one when they were young and want to relive those tender moments.

It’s entirely possible these stories are true, but it could also be a dealer looking to buy your car cheap to turn around and flip it. It’s hard to imagine these lowball offers paired with an emotional story actually work, but it takes just a few sentimental sellers to make a quick buck.

What to Do:
Channel your inner detective and check out their profile page. Maybe their profile was recently created, they rarely post or have little personal information. Sometimes, they’ll foolishly promote their business from their profile which will tell you all you need to know.

If you’ve worked with an appraiser or worked to understand the true market value of your car, stay firm on your price. Their irritated reaction to your steadfastness will confirm your suspicions.

While searching for that dream car you’ve always wanted, you encounter a very professional car dealer website that lists dozens, maybe hundreds of different collector cars for sale. You may have been linked to their inventory from one of their listings on popular classic car sites like Hemmings where they watermark or brand the images with their company name.

When you dig deeper, you find that the listings are all disclosed as “consignments,” which is perfectly legal, except that the dealer has no real access to many, if not all the cars because the vehicles are located all over the country. You don’t see too many palm trees in Fargo.

In a blue moon, you’ll find those cars are also listed by their owners on other car listing sites, such as Ebay Motors or Autotrader at a much lower price. While these dealers may be legitimately promoting the car on behalf of the actual seller for a fee, the risk is that not only is the car sight-unseen by you, it may also be sight-unseen to the consignee. Is it actually “rust-free”? Are the mechanicals really in excellent condition? If the dealer’s “inventory” includes hundreds of cars they’ve never actually seen, how can you trust their representation?

What to Do:
Consignment selling is a 100% legitimate practice, but it’s best to stick to a selling broker or dealer that has actually seen the car, studied it, and knows it as well as the seller does. It’s even better if it’s in their showroom or storage facility. As always, do your diligence to vet the dealer or seller and always try to inspect the car in person. A plane ticket is cheap insurance to ensure you’re not being deceived.

This is pretty nefarious and can play out a couple of different ways. A person will list a car for sale that isn’t theirs using the real seller’s photos. When you reach out to inquire or purchase it, the “broker” will, unbeknownst to you, contact the real seller and play middleman between you and the owner.

The goal is to get you to overpay and the seller to undersell, so that the “broker” can pocket the difference. What makes it scummy is that the broker is pretending to be the owner, and misrepresenting or hiding that they are acting as a middleman. Things get really squishy when it comes time to do the title transfer. When they get your payment, they’ll take their cut and forward the rest to the seller and “float” the title back to you. Sometimes, the “broker” pockets everything and disappears, leaving you with nothing.

What to Do:
If you find a car you like, reach out to the seller and ask detailed questions to gauge their knowledge of the vehicle. Listen for any red flags or indications that they probably don’t actually know anything about the car. Ask for additional photos not listed in the ad, ideally specific aspects of the car that only the actual seller can obtain.

If you get pushback, ask to visit the car in person. If they make excuses as to why you can’t see the car in person, walk away. I always recommend seeing a car in person at a safe and public location if you can, rather than buying sight unseen. Alternatively, work with the dealer/seller to have the car inspected by a shop of your choice.

This one is pretty straightforward but also the most fraudulent. A car is posted to an online group, forum, or social media site with good photos, a decent write-up, and a tantalizingly affordable price. In your enthusiasm, you reach out to the seller who answers your questions about the car and maybe suggests it won’t last at this price.

You agree to send a deposit to hold the car until you can check it out in person and pick it up. Once you’ve sent a deposit, the seller ghosts you and disappears. As it turns out, the photos were stolen and the car sold days or weeks ago by the legitimate seller.

What to Do:
It sounds pessimistic, but reminding yourself “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is” can help you avoid these types of scams. If it has a whiff of authenticity, do a reverse image search on Google to see if you can find the original listing. I have seen cars listed for sale on Facebook that I instantly recognized as having recently sold on Bring a Trailer for far more money. 

I also suggest doing some investigation into the seller’s profile, location and account history. Do they seem real, or mysterious? If the latter, move on.

Sadly, Facebook’s mechanism for reporting these types of fraudulent posts is woefully inadequate and they do not appear interested in addressing this pervasive behavior. It’s on each of us to protect ourselves and each other.

This post is in no way meant to attack or malign reputable classic car dealers who provide the valuable service of selling or consigning collector vehicles in an up front and honest manner. Selling a valuable car involves a tremendous amount of work, and a dealer should be fairly compensated for that effort.

In fact, Wolf and Mare offers both car finding and listing services for sellers, but we will always disclose the nature of the sale and strive to present the car’s condition and provenance completely and accurately. We encourage you to look at our previous listings for examples of thorough vehicle presentations.

My goal is to help enthusiasts out there avoid shady internet car sales tactics that unscrupulous people are using to steal their money. Car buying and selling at its best can be exciting and fun, and we try to do our part to achieve that.

Stay safe out there.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisals, and auction services for buyers and sellers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring an overseas car, give us a call or drop a line!