5 Tips to Spot a Classic Car Scam Online
After years of poking around the corners of the internet, it finally appears: The perfect car. It has the right color, a flawless interior, the powertrain you want, and the price is just right. You contact the dealer, and they ask for a deposit to get the process started.
Whoa there. Before you drop by the Western Union to wire the cash, be wary: For every honest seller looking to pair a driver with their favorite car, there seem to be two looking to split a driver and their wallet. Luckily with a small amount of due diligence, you can find out if that dream car you found is actually just a dream.
We love finding good deals online, and YouTube channel Pleasant Green enjoys finding scammers. Host Ben Taylor recently posted a video tracking down a couple scammers who were trying to sell vintage cars. Included in the video are a few great tips for keeping your money safe. We break them down here.
Tip #1: Reverse Image Search
Pictures on the internet are incredibly easy to steal. That is what makes these scams so easy to set up—and easy to spot. By right-clicking on an image, you can trigger your browser’s “reverse image search” function, which scours the internet for similar pictures, often catching duplicate images or lightly edited photos in the process.
Scammers have been getting wise to this method, however, and are starting to do light photo editing in attempts to fool such search functions. The video above highlights an example where the license plates and backgrounds have been scrubbed of the original dealer’s information and logos and the scam business logos edited in. If you are still unsure …
Tip #2: Request a Current Photo
A dealer with a car sitting in inventory should have no issue with taking a current photo including some artifact proving they have the car on site. Ask for the local paper to be in the photo, or simply a note with the day’s date and the seller’s name written on it. Taking digital photos and sending them via email are basically free, so you should face limited pushback to such a simple request.
Tip #3: Look up the Location
Any reputable dealer or seller will give you the address of their business. Type that into your favorite maps software and let the ever-present cameras of the world tell you what you can’t physically see from afar. Does the street view show something that looks like a car dealer? Do the backgrounds of the photos listed on the dealer’s website match the environment of that street address?
Discrepancies between the photos in a car listing and third-party images of the address are typically not the most telling flaws in an ad, but they can raise a red flag and give you cause to look at everything else more critically.
Tip #4: Pick Up the Phone
Call whatever phone number is listed on the website and have a chat. A good salesperson will not come off as pushy, and they be happy to answer any questions you have about the car. There was a time when accents or out-of-state phone numbers would be a red flag, but as a person with a Kansas phone number who lives in Michigan, I’ll tell you that rule just doesn’t hold up anymore. A good conversation will reveal information that may be hidden if you make assumptions based on an area code.
Tip #5: Put Eyes on the Car
I’ve bought a handful of cars or motorcycles from sellers who were states away. Whether I trusted them or not, one stipulation of the deal was that someone other than the seller would need to see the machine before I sent any funds. Project vehicles, of which I’ve bought many, are an exception: Since I expect them to be broken, I tend to skip an inspection that will simply tell me what I already know. If you aren’t looking for a project vehicle, you’d be wise to go for an inspection if you value your time at anything above zero.
While traveling to see the car prior to purchase can seem inconvenient, it is the easiest way to prevent basic scams. If you are shopping outside of your own driving range or otherwise cannot venture to look at a car, put in a little effort to find someone who can and will. Reach out within a national club or group, and you often will find someone within range who is more than happy to have an excuse to go look at an example of a model they already like. I’ve performed such a service for people buying a car and it was actually really fun to be a part of the process, even though I didn’t get paid for my time.
In short, buying vintage cars is risky in the even the best scenario. If a potential purchase seems too good to be true, treat it as such until all the information you gather points to the opposite. Being respectful while being skeptical will serve you well: Even if you think the person on the other end might be a scammer, there is no reason to be a jerk until you have the proof. Even then, it’s best to report the ad or website and move on with your life, happy they didn’t catch you.
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
My last 2 purchases were from dealers but before that were 2 AutoTrader purchases, a BMW MCoupe and a 318ti, both not close to me in the SanFran East Bay. The first one, the MCoupe was in San Antonio and the start was the vibe that the ad gave off. I talked to the seller a couple of times and got some details that his mechanic provided, flew down with a cashier’s check for a personal inspection and test drive. We went to his bank and they phoned my credit union to verify the check. The second, a cash transaction in LA included me bringing the 318ti to the local dealer who found several body damage and bondo frosting applied liberally and we agreed on some price reduction. Both cars were fun and reliable. The only downside was driving across TX from San Antonio to meet my wife at PHX airport: it was the day that Ragean died and that was all that was on the radio for about 10 hours.
Almost any really good deal involves some risk but you can do several things to reduce the risk. When I get an address I do the Google maps search and look at the location and the other homes or businesses around it and compare them to the pictures provided. I like to talk to the seller since I am evaluating the seller as much as the item. I ask for very detailed pictures that allow me to judge the item condition as if I were standing there. I explain that this keeps me from wasting my time or that of the seller if it isn’t something I would buy. I will give a small deposit to hold the items I am likely to buy and quickly go there to complete the deal.
Here is an example showing some strange deals do work out. About 15 years ago I was selling a 1987 Honda Magna on eBay for $2500. I got a message from a man in Qatar(the country) who said he wanted the MC. I ignored him. The next day another message restating he wanted it. I determined the eBay name matched someone in my state of NC. In a round about way I contacted that person through eBay suggesting their information must have been stolen. The next day the man contacted me saying he was from NC but working in Qatar and would be back in the states in 3 weeks on a visit and asked how we could make the deal happen. I told him if I woke up the next day and he had deposited $500 in my PayPal account I would hold the bike for him. The next day it was there, 3 weeks later he met me, paid the rest in cash and took the bike! Strange things do happen!
Great tips to know if you’re thinking about buying a car. Especially useful are the experiences of so many readers who’ve bought & sold cars. Everything always comes down to research, research, research. And if anything feels shady, back off and let the deal go.
Reading the comments about various horror stories, I consider myself lucky after purchasing a car off Ebay Motors, sight unseen in 2007.
I had been searching for two years for a black 1997 Ford Thunderbird LX Sport 4.6L Modular…an actual JJJJ spring-coded door-jamb sticker’d Sport model with the 157A Option Package that had the performance upgrades & goodies, such as the bigger wheels/tires/brakes, beefed up suspension, trunk wing, lower stance, etc. Today, they’re extremely rare to see or find, but if you know them, you know what I’m talking about. An actual Sport…not one of the various mish-mashes that Ford produced in the last couple years to empty the parts bins.
After two years of searching various online resources, I finally found her on Ebay in Texas calling my name. I researched her as hard as I could with the rudimentary online resources we had in 2007, using her VIN & various reports to verify all info, talked to the owners on the phone a few times, and got more photos & copies of the dealer maintenance receipts from them. They even had the infamous cracked nylon intake manifold replaced with the upgraded version at the dealer under Ford’s recall. Everything checked out and felt good.
It was a dream situation: 47K miles, no accidents, clean reports…and owned by a well-to-do retired couple who bought the car for the wife, although they had other cars & SUV’s. She used the car a couple days a week to go to her ‘keep busy’ part-time job a few miles from home and the occasional towing of their small boat to a nearby lake with the grandkids. Even had their address and Google-mapped their very large home to see the car sitting off to the side of their very large driveway. Back then, Google Maps was new and all we had were the overhead satellite photos of neighborhoods we could zoom in on…not great resolution, but enough to identify the car.
Decision made, I pulled the trigger and sniped her in a hot bidding war for $4,000. Yeah…only $4K. After winning, spoke to the couple again to arrange to overnight them a cashier’s check. Once received, they’d overnight a set of keys, title, and other paperwork, then I’d arrange to have her transported to my home in Vegas.
The only heart attack moment was that UPS delivered the keys & title to the wrong address. I received the UPS delivery email notification…but no package…and commenced having a heart attack. On a lark, I went on a street by street, house to house search until I found my package at someone else’s front door. Whew.
A day later, the wife/owner called me with some bad news: They had forgotten that years earlier, they clipped a deer while driving one night, which crimped the driver’s front-edge of the hood. There was no other damage to the car, so they never reported the deer hit to the insurance company. They simply had the hood replaced at the Ford dealer body shop, paying for it out of pocket. Because I hadn’t known that before committing to the sale, they offered to cancel the sale and return my check. Texans…God bless ’em…honest as the day is long…gotta love ’em.
I thanked them for their honesty, but declined the sale cancellation and continued the process of buying/transporting the car.
Ten days later, the car arrived on a flatbed transport that had tracking.
Everything was perfect and as promised/expected with the car when she arrived.
(big sigh of relief)
And I still own & drive her, to this day.
Now it’s 2024 with 68K miles on the clock and she’s almost 30 years old. She’s always garage kept, so the Vegas summer Sun doesn’t destroy her, like a couple previous cars. I’ve always adored this beautiful car and baby her, keeping her well-maintained and clean & waxed myself, knowing she’s one of the few left on the planet in original near-factory condition.
In all these years, she’s never had a major issue or repair. Just the usual maintenance & wear item replacements, such as tires, a belt tensioner, plugs, fluids, etc. And I recently rebuilt/replaced her entire braking system with new & hard-to-find OEM Motorcraft parts, although it was fine, but did so because of age. Twenty-seven year old factory-original calipers, brake hoses, pads, rotors, master cylinder, etc…yeah, it was time. So I rebuilt all four calipers and replaced everything else. Also recently replaced the spark plug wires & both ignition coils with Motorcraft ones, just because of age. She purs like a kitten.
Ford did a great job with the MN12 platform and got everything right with the ’97 Birds…then ended production. Wonderful car…except the placement of that damn oil filter that plagues all MN12 owners…LOL.
The car always gets compliments or buy offers from strangers, even today while getting smokes. Younger people in their teens & 20’s don’t know what these cars are and always ask…and their reactions are funny when they realize the car was built before they were born.
Anyway…good deals can be had on Ebay or other places…just gotta be patient, level-headed, thorough in your research, have a little bit of luck, and willing to walk away if your spider-senses start tingling.
Thanks for listening…we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.
Not so long ago I looked at a C10 pickup. One of many questions I had asked before making the 6 hour round trip pulling a trailer was “any rust in the floors?” No was the sellers answer and he was right…there were no floors. Really? Needless to say I left after a 45 second inspection in a very poor mood.