Buying privately

Buying a car sight unseen — the checklist

Buying remotely is not reckless if you replace the walkaround with something better. An independent inspection and a payment structure where nobody goes first do most of the work.

Last updated 17 August 2026

What you lose by not being there is a specific set of things: the cold start, the way it drives, the smell of the interior, the panel gaps, and the impression you form of the person selling it. Every item below exists to replace one of those.

Before you commit to anything

Verify the seller owns the car

• Photo of the title with the VIN legible
• Photo of the seller's driver's license — the name must match the title
• Confirm there is no lien, or find out which lender holds the title and how payoff will work

Verify the car is the car

• Photo of the VIN plate on the dash and the sticker in the driver's door jamb
• Both must match the title and the listing
• A vehicle history report you purchased yourself, from a provider you found yourself
• Check the report for title brands, odometer inconsistencies, and a registration history matching the seller's story

Get media that cannot be faked easily

• A continuous walkaround video, one take, no cuts, all four sides, wheels, interior, engine bay, and underneath if possible
• A cold start recorded from before the key turns — this reveals more mechanical trouble than any photo
• The odometer photographed with today's date handwritten on paper next to it
• Specific photos you name. Ask for the driver's side rear wheel, or the passenger footwell. Someone with the car sends them in minutes. Someone without it stalls.

Questions worth asking directly

• Why are you selling it?
• How long have you owned it, and do you have the service records?
• Is there anything currently not working, however small?
• Any warning lights at cold start?
• Has it ever been in an accident, including anything not reported to insurance?
• Are there two keys?
• When did the tyres and brakes last get done?

You are listening for specificity and for willingness to volunteer a flaw. An owner who says "the AC needs a recharge and there's a scuff on the rear bumper" is more credible than one who says everything is perfect.

Payment and handover

1. Do not send a deposit. Not to hold it, not in good faith, not any amount.
2. Do not wire in advance. A wire is final on arrival with no chargeback and no reversal right.
3. Use a structure where the money is held until you have the car and the signed title. Escrow does this. So does transferring at the seller's bank if you can both be there.
4. Confirm how the title reaches you. If you are not present at the handover, agree in advance whether it travels with the transporter or is couriered separately, and do not release funds until you have it.
5. Arrange your own transport, or at minimum verify any transporter the seller proposes exists independently of what the seller told you.
6. Insure it before it moves. Call your insurer with the VIN and bind coverage.

When it arrives

• Photograph it before it comes off the truck, from every angle, before you sign anything for the transporter
• Check the VIN against the title and your paperwork
• Check the odometer against what you were shown
• Note any transport damage on the bill of lading before signing it — signing clean forfeits the claim
• Start it, drive it briefly, and check everything the seller described

If something is materially different from what was represented, raise it immediately and in writing. A gap of days weakens your position considerably.

The honest limitation

None of this makes a remote purchase identical to buying locally. You are accepting some residual risk about condition in exchange for access to a car you could not otherwise buy. What the checklist eliminates is the catastrophic version — paying for a car that does not exist, or one with a title you cannot register. That is a reasonable trade. Sending money to a stranger and hoping is not.