Private Seller and Marketplace Inspection
A private sale is the one purchase where nobody is looking after your side of it. The seller knows the vehicle, you have seen some photographs, and the money moves in cash. We put an inspector in front of it first, and we will show you how to ask the seller, and what a scam looks like before you get there.
$189
Standard inspection
Nationwide
Any city, any driveway
24 hrs
Report turnaround
160+
Photos in a typical report
Asking for an inspection
How to ask a private seller for an inspection
Most private sellers say yes, and the ones who will not are telling you something worth hearing. The whole thing turns on how you ask. You arrange it, you pay for it, and you make it easy for them to say yes.
You arrange it and you pay for it
Never ask a seller to go and get the vehicle inspected, and never split the cost. That turns your request into their errand. You book it, you pay the inspector directly, and the seller only has to be there for about an hour.
Ask in the first message
Ask before you agree a viewing, not after you have driven three hours to see it. A seller who is going to refuse will refuse early, and that saves you the trip as well as the money.
Make it easy to say yes
Work around their schedule, offer to meet at their home, their workplace or a shop near them, and keep it to an hour. The easier it is, the less it looks like an inconvenience and the more it looks like a serious buyer.
Treat the answer as information
A no is not automatically a scam. Plenty of honest sellers are wary of strangers and time-wasters. But a no combined with pressure, a price that is too good, or a vehicle you are not allowed to see properly is a different thing entirely.
What to send, word for word
The first message
Hi, is the [year make model] still available? I am interested and I am a serious buyer. Before I come out, would you be open to a pre-purchase inspection? I arrange it, I pay for it, it takes about an hour, and I will work around your schedule. If it checks out I am ready to move quickly.
If they ask why
Completely understand, and it is not personal. It is just that I am buying from photographs and I have been caught out before, so I have every vehicle I look at checked. You are welcome to be there for it, and I will send you the report either way.
If they hesitate on price
The inspection is at my cost, not yours, and it does not commit either of us to anything. If it comes back clean it helps you too, because it tells the next buyer the same thing. Can I book it for [day]?
If they say no
No problem, I understand. Would you be open to meeting at a shop or a public lot near you instead? I can bring everything and it will not take long. If not, I will leave it there. Thanks for your time.
Confirming the appointment
Great, thank you. I will book the inspector for [day and time]. The inspection takes about an hour and the inspector will call you when they arrive. Could you confirm the address and a good contact number? I will send you the report afterwards.
What a refusal is really telling you
“I would rather not, I have had bad experiences with strangers.”
Usually genuine, and worth working with. Offer to meet at a shop near them, or to have them present the whole time. Most sellers come round once the arrangement is theirs.
“It is sold as is, no inspection.”
A private sale is sold as is either way, and an inspection does not change that. If they will not allow one at all, you are buying on photographs and a conversation.
“I have three other buyers, cash only, today.”
Pressure is the flag, not the interest. A seller with real interest can still hold the vehicle for an hour. Someone who cannot is asking you to skip the only protection you have.
“The car is not at my house, I am selling it for a friend.”
Common and often true, but it means the person you are dealing with is not the owner on the title. Ask who is on the title, and make sure the name on it is the name you are paying.
Spotting a scam
The red flags that come with a Marketplace or Craigslist car
Marketplace and Craigslist are where the good deals and the worst ones sit side by side. Almost every private-sale scam follows the same handful of patterns, and each one falls apart the moment you insist on standing next to the vehicle.
Run the VIN first
Ask for the VIN before you ask for anything else. A seller who will not give it, or who sends a VIN that decodes to a different vehicle than the one in the photographs, has answered your question already. A history report and a recall check cost nothing to run.
Reverse image search the photos
Save two or three photographs and search them. Listing photos lifted from a dealer site, another seller, or a vehicle that was sold months ago are one of the most common patterns on Marketplace, and it takes under a minute to find.
Ask for the address before you agree a time
A real seller has a real address. A vague meeting point in a retail car park, or a seller who will only meet somewhere convenient for them, removes your ability to see the vehicle where it actually lives.
The red flags, in the order they appear
The vehicle is somewhere the seller is not
The car is in a shipping yard, with a relative in another state, at a base, or in storage. Any version of this story that ends with money moving before you see the vehicle is the classic advance-fee scam. The vehicle does not exist.
A deposit before you have seen it
A holding deposit, a reservation fee, a part payment to keep it off the market, or money for a third party to release the vehicle. There is no version of this that protects you. Cash changes hands when the keys and the title do.
A price well under the market
A price far below every comparable listing is the bait, not the bargain. Check what the same year, model and mileage actually sells for, because the gap is what makes people ignore everything else on this page.
Photographs that belong to another listing
Dealer-lot backgrounds on a private ad, plates blanked out or cropped, watermarks from another site, or the same images on two different ads. Reverse image search is the check that catches it.
A VIN that does not match the vehicle
The VIN on the listing, the dashboard, the driver door jamb and the title should all be the same string. Rivets that look disturbed, a plate that has been prised at, or a VIN that decodes to a different trim or year is where an inspection should stop and a question should start.
No title in the seller name
The title is in my father name, my ex partner has it, it is a bonded title, I will mail it to you next week. Any of these means the person taking your money is not the person who owns the vehicle, and you may not be able to register it.
Payment that cannot be reversed or traced
Gift cards, cryptocurrency, a wire to a third party, or a payment app sent to a name that is not the seller. None of these can be undone, and every one of them is a signal that the seller knows the deal will not survive contact.
Fake buyer protection
A link to an escrow page, a shipping company holding the funds, or an email that looks like it came from a large auction site. Genuine platforms do not handle private sales for you, and no legitimate seller sends you to a payment page you have never heard of.
An odometer that does not add up
Mileage in the listing that disagrees with the photographs, wear on the pedals and driver seat that does not match the number on the dash, or gaps in a history report. An odometer reading is recorded in the inspection report for exactly this reason.
Pressure, and no address
Three other buyers, cash today, someone else is on their way, meet me in a car park, I do not give my address out. Pressure removes the time you need to check anything, and it is the tool that makes every other scam on this list work.
The single most effective protection is also the simplest: never send money for a vehicle you have not stood next to, and never let a seller talk you out of an inspection. An inspector in front of the vehicle removes almost every scam on this page in one step, because a vehicle that does not exist cannot be inspected.
Pricing
A private seller does not offer a warranty
A dealer has a reputation and, often, an obligation to disclose. A private seller has neither. The inspection is the only thing standing between you and a vehicle you bought on the strength of some photographs and a conversation.
Standard Inspection
$189
The full on-site inspection and photo report.
- Engine start and run, listening for misfires, knocks and exhaust smoke
- Undercarriage, frame and brake lines photographed
- Every panel photographed, with close-ups of damage and prior repair
- Interior, fluids, warning lights, glass, tyres and brakes
- VIN and odometer recorded as found
- Report within 24 hours of the visit
Complete Inspection
$249
The full inspection, plus the history check and the number to negotiate with.
- Everything in the Standard inspection
- RIZQ Market Check: a nationwide search for a better example at $29
- CARFAX vehicle history report, including title and odometer records
- Itemized repair estimate at $49.99
- Same-day service where an inspector is available
Private sales are routine work
Driveways, workplace car parks and roadside verges are where most of our inspections happen. A private seller is not a special case for us, and the arrangement is one the seller has usually seen before.
A report you can show the seller
Photographs, measurements and plain language. It is written so a private seller can read it, understand it, and see that you are not simply haggling.
The VIN and odometer are recorded
The report records the VIN and the odometer reading as found on the day, which is the record you want if anything about the vehicle turns out to be different to how it was described.
Questions
Buying privately, answered
What buyers ask us most before handing cash to a stranger on Marketplace or Craigslist.
Book your inspection
Tell us about the vehicle
Tell us what it is and where the seller agreed to meet, add Market Check if you want it, and you go straight to secure checkout.
Standard inspection
$189, or $249 Complete
Have it looked at before the cash changes hands
A private seller is not going to offer you a warranty, and once the money is handed over the vehicle is yours. An inspector in front of it this week is the cheapest part of the whole purchase.
Questions first? Call or text (952) 563-7444.