If you consider that fraud runs within the auto industry anyway, it is easy to conceive that it would run rampant when it comes to buying vehicles online. There are so many more ways to rip an honest buyer off when there is little or no face to face contact.

Online services

Despite the rather large risk for fraudulent activity, the internet is selling more and more cars every year.

Online services are making a killing. Running without the added expenses of showrooms and sales staff salaries allow them to exist with much lower overhead and a much larger profit margin.

Individual buyers

Individual sellers are also finding the online community a fundamentally easier place to market their used vehicles. While individual buyers have an almost infinite number of resources at their fingertips.

Print ads are slowly becoming obsolete, in large part because many sellers prefer to have their ads online where a larger and more targeted audience has access to them.

With so many choices, who can you trust?

Having so many choices and options at your fingertips may not always seem like a good thing. There is a point where everyone needs a little bit of direction to get where they are going most effectively.

Because not many of us are used car dealers, chances are we will need a little direction when it comes to the purchase of a used vehicle online.

Worth noting

Doubtless everyone in America remembers Hurricane Katrina and the intense damage she inflicted on the southeast coastal portion of our country.

Consumers who are prepared to purchase a vehicle online should beware that flooded cars are making their way back onto the market.

In fact online used car ads are a great place for a con artist to sell flooded titles that have been laundered back to normal status. No matter where you buy your used vehicle, you should without a doubt check its VIN history report to assess the cars road worthiness.

Concentrate on the big guys

As with any online purchase it is important to stick with reputable names. Not to mention that as a consumer you have a responsibility to yourself to be realistic and cautious.

It is very likely that if you are defrauded by someone over an online used car purchase you will never see your money again. Infinite possibility and lack of personal contact make it easy for a smart con to elude even intense investigation.

Who to trust

When buying a used car online stick to some of the larger brand names, that have been in business for many years and have a successful track record.

Remember that when you answer ads placed by personal individuals, there is only so much even big names can do to protect you if you are not a prudent buyer.

Never make an agreement to buy a vehicle without seeing and test driving it first