Yeah buying anything online is a risky affair - you're behind your laptop/Phone gazing longingly at potential dream purchases, you never know who is waiting eagerly for your hard earned cash to fall into their pockets it could be scammers and the likes.

It wont be fair to demonise all online "sellers", as lots of hitch -free car deals are completed daily and it opens you up to a variety of cars. But there are a few things you should pay attention to before you head to the any classified/ blog site to search, especially when it comes to important purchases like a car.

Where are you Searching?

Who are you buying from? The possibility that you'll be able to give a 100% certain answer to this question is a bit of a myth. But when you are buying a car, for the primary common sense reason of safety, you want to be sure that you are buying from a reputable source. Some sites better than others do some sort of verification but you want to shop at a credible source the likes of , , and even nairaland.com/autos.

So be wary of….
1. Fraudulent ads.
2. Demands for advanced payments before you've you know, seen (OR DRIVEN!) your potential new ride.
3. TOO good to be true prices.
Do some Digging

If you find a great deal, become an online detective. Do a Google search for the cars make and model or VIN(if available) to see if the image you see appears elsewhere. If it does, the image may have been copied from another site.
Likewise, you should search for the phone number associated with the ad by putting it in quotation marks in the search box. They'll find any other place online where the number has been used — perhaps even scam warnings.
Beware of too-good-to-be-true claims. If an ad touts 30,000 miles on a 5-year-old car, ask the seller to take a picture of the odometer and email it to you. If they balk, you've spotted a scam.
Also you will find some other ads posted by the seller look for off-markers(extreme low prices, previous failed deals) and simply avoid such persons.
Stay Safe in Person

It's likely that you'll eventually have to meet in person to make the deal. These tips can help you stay safe when meeting face-to-face:
Meet in a very public, well-lit place.
Always takes someone with you.
Better safe than sorry. If you feel uncomfortable prior to meeting, call it off.
Do not meet at night.
Mechanical Stuff

One of the easiest tell tales of the amount of wear and tear on a car is the mileage i like to stay safe with a mileage under 100,000km(not miles). Although Nigerian dealers are notorious for rolling the mileage backs some of the tips to help confirm mileage is
Using a Free vin check you can get an estimate of what mileage was on the car in the abroad at vincheck.info .
Also checking the car for frame damage and weld marks can be a good check for damage, water damage should be checked and poorly done car conversions.
Most importantly ensure a trusted mechanic who has vast knowledge of the car listed and a scanner to check hidden faults.
NOTE: Cars with engines replaced the mileage displayed isn't a true representation of the engine wear.
Making Payments

Always make payments to an account with the same name as those on the car particulars(after ensuring the particulars are authentic), check C-number no as well for authenticity.
For effective and easy customs duty clearance verification, you can dial or send SMS to these numbers 094621597 with your vehicle C-number, the year you paid the duty and the port or location where the vehicle came through into the country, the last number which is 7 in the digits 094621597 can be either changed to 8 or 9.

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