Buying a car on the internet is the quickest and easiest way to quickly compare prices for any vehicle make or model that you are looking for. However there are a few things you should be aware of when thinking about buying a used car on the internet, especially if it is to be your first time. Whether you use the internet to find a seller locally by browsing through local listings or if you decide to buy the car sight unseen you'll need to have the car checked out.



If you have a relatively good idea of the kind of car you want in terms of make, model and year then your first step is to obtain a Kelly Blue Book or go to KBB.com to get an accurate estimate of how much you should be expecting to pay.

Now that you have an idea of how much the car should be worth the easiest places to find used vehicles online are Autos.com, Cars.com or Ebay.com for both local and national listings. In many areas there are state specific websites such as RICarDealer.com for residents of Rhode Island. Try a few searches if you can't find what you want on the major sites. Once you start shopping for a car this is an easy way to compare prices.

Once you have found the car and figured out what a fair price should be, it is time to start negotiating. If you are buying the car from Ebay.com there actually is no negotiating nor should you try to negotiate after you have won the bid, your high bid is the agreed upon price.

After hearing and gathering all the price quotes from dealers and private owners take the lowest one and inform the other dealers what price you were offered for the same make and model that they are trying to sell for a much higher price. Inform them that you will be going with the lower price and thank them for their time. Most times you will not even have to ask for a lower price, they will get back to you with a matching or lower price. This is a process and you will have to repeat this step a few times until the price stops dropping.

When the prices stop dropping contact the lowest seller and tell them that you want to purchase the car.

After you have found the car you are looking for write down or copy the vehicle identification number or VIN. Once you have the VIN it is possible to look up the history of the car by getting a report from Carfax.com. If the car has been in a minor fender bender or a major accident it will show up on the report. While the report is not free, it will cost about $30, it is worth it if you want to avoid any headaches down the road.

When you plan on buying a car from Ebay.com there are a few differences. Once you have won the bid instead of sending your money to the owner directly it is advisable that you use an escrow service like Escrow.com. These services are designed to protect both the seller and the buyer from fraud. How escrow works is, both the buyer and seller agree to the terms of the deal. Then the buyer submits the money to escrow, escrow verifies the payment, the seller is authorized to send the car and the once buyer receives the car the seller receives payment from the escrow service.