Best places to "shop"?

[ViperMan]

So I really feel like I'm ready to get serious in my search for a round-taillight 'Cuda.  I'm kinda looking for a unicorn - with the amount in intend on spending, I really want "what I want."  In the past I've bought vehicles that were "close enough," but since then I've held out for the right car, and I end up liking those so much more than the ones that weren't really what I wanted.

I get emails daily from eBay but I wonder if there's a newer, better source to shop.  I know Facebook Marketplace is new but it's far from polished, and of course there's craigslist but it's hard to sift through the junk listings...  What else do people use when they're really looking hard for the right car?

[Spikedog08]

I just sent one I saw in a local auto trader that looks like a solid car for a pretty good price!  1972 . .  318 car, looks solid, said it was from California and could pick it up for probably $15K.  Located in Michigan but still . . . I like it.   

[ViperMan]

You gonna go look at it for me if I call the guy? 

**EDIT**  Never mind - it sold.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Personally I still like eBay since it is such a huge audience for sellers. I just found my 71 Barracuda on there so good cars do come along if you are ready to pounce. And by pounce, I mean money ready to go and ready to take a flight for a personal inspection. Remember it's not just the car you are inspecting, you are also checking out the seller who is a stranger so you can feel better about not getting screwed after transferring money to him.

I've been looking at Facebook marketplace nearly daily and it is aggravating to say the least. Descriptions are extremely poor and there is typically only a couple lousy pictures. The worst thing though is all the flakes. I send messages right away and never get replies on most or days later I get one word, "sold." And after it sells, the nimrods rarely update the ad to show it's sold.

I used to scour Craigslist a lot too but it's even worse than Marketplace.

It's my belief that people who are serious will pay a little bit for a quality ad or auction and because they are paying, they put more effort into creating a good listing to increase the chances of success.

[ViperMan]

Personally I still like eBay since it is such a huge audience for sellers. I just found my 71 Barracuda on there so good cars do come along if you are ready to pounce. And by pounce, I mean money ready to go and ready to take a flight for a personal inspection. Remember it's not just the car you are inspecting, you are also checking out the seller who is a stranger so you can feel better about not getting screwed after transferring money to him.

I've been looking at Facebook marketplace nearly daily and it is aggravating to say the least. Descriptions are extremely poor and there is typically only a couple lousy pictures. The worst thing though is all the flakes. I send messages right away and never get replies on most or days later I get one word, "sold." And after it sells, the nimrods rarely update the ad to show it's sold.

I used to scour Craigslist a lot too but it's even worse than Marketplace.

It's my belief that people who are serious will pay a little bit for a quality ad or auction and because they are paying, they put more effort into creating a good listing to increase the chances of success.

My experiences have been very similar to yours.  I feel like Facebook is for local junk, Craigslist is for out-of-town junk, and eBay is, well, eBay...  What I dislike about eBay is reserve pricing.  I've still never understood the benefit of it.  List the car for what you want and if you don't get any bids, either don't sell it or relist for a new, lower price.  The other issue is along the lines of what you stated: "be ready to travel to look at it."  This isn't always so easy for a guy working 50hrs/wk and with a family, but I realize I'm preaching to the choir here.    The other issue of course is all the of listings from dealers wanting $60,000 plus for a $30,000 car, but of course you just ignore those and wait until the next listing... 

[303 Mopar]

You gonna go look at it for me if I call the guy? 

**EDIT**  Never mind - it sold.

This is a good example of how you need to be ready with cash in hand to go see a car, or have someone go look at it for you. The good deals, are there are still some, go quick.

[70 Challenger Lover]

For me, eBay is just getting it out there. It allows a serious buyer to get in touch with the seller and go from there. On the car I recently bought, the guy had a buy it now price only but he wasn't getting any action. We communicated a few times and ultimately we settled on a deal long after the eBay ad expired. While he didn't sell it there, I would never had seen it and bought it if he didn't have that eBay ad. I sold my SuperBee a few years ago and the eBay ad was seen worldwide. It did not sell and I even had a host of jackasses telling me it wasn't worth far less than I was asking but after the ad expired, I was hit up by a buyer from Germany and sold it for full price. Again, eBay was just a mechanism for buyers to see it, not actually buy it.

If you are lucky, your dream car will appear and it will have a stupid reserve price on it preventing the rest of the world from quickly scooping it up in an auction. All the while, you communicate with the guy and make arrangements to see it or have one of the members here see it. If the guy likes you, he may actually sell it for a fair price. An open auction is a gamble for both seller and buyer.

[cuda hunter]

facebook is horrible.  the one hundred mile distance kills it for me.  There is nothing within 100 miles from me ever. 

Word of mouth works pretty good it seems.  Constant word of mouth. 

What are the specifics that you are after? 

[benlavigne]

Hemmings.com has good-quality ads usually, and you can separate private and dealer ads...
They are starting a new type of auction site soon I think.
cars-on-line is also good

Ben

[RUNCHARGER]

Cars On Line. Other than that, the best cars come by word of mouth.