We just recently bought a car on CL. The dealer seemed so low key (just a few cars) that we checked them out. He was what he claimed, and things worked out well, and we saved a ton of money.
The rule:
If you are buying a car from a private seller, you go to the DMV and do it there. The seller comes in with you. Now you might want to escape taxes somehow, but it’s not worth it. I cannot tell you how many people I know bought a car (sometimes for thousands) and at the office found the car had liens or wasn’t even the seller’s to sell.
I know someone who spent thousands and found the car was a rental car with a counterfeit title. It had been reported as stolen.
If you tell the person to meet you at the DMV and the money will only be handed over when the title is confirmed, a crook will scuttle.
See my post 24. I agree. Buying a car? Handle it at the DMV.
And anymore.. If you are SELLING a car. Go to the DMV as well.
Make sure the buyer registers it. So that you are released from liability as owner. In case the buyer runs over someone, crashes into something, runs up big toll bills and so on.