Junk car buyer red flags

Watch for these six warning signs from any junk car buyer:

• An “up to” price with no number for your actual car
• No straight answer on whether towing comes out of the offer
• A lower number at the curb with a vague reason
• Pressure to sign the title before you’re paid
• Payment promised for later
• A request to leave the buyer’s name blank on the title

None of these proves a buyer is dishonest. Each one is a way the amount you’re handed can end up lower than the amount you were promised, or a way you can lose the car without getting paid. Here’s what each looks like and what to do.

You’ll see this in adverts everywhere. It isn’t an offer. It’s the top of a range, and nothing says your car is anywhere near the top.

What it looks like: you describe your car and the answer is still a range, or “it depends on what the driver sees”, or the advertised maximum repeated back to you.

What to do: ask for a number for your car as you’ve described it. A buyer who’s asked the right questions can give you one. If they won’t, you have nothing to compare, and that’s the point.

Tow fees are the easiest way to make a high offer smaller. The number sounds good on the phone; the fee comes off at the curb.

What it looks like: the buyer talks about the price but not the tow. Or says “free pickup” but later mentions a “hook fee”, “distance fee” or “admin fee”.

What to do: ask directly, “Does anything come off this number for towing or anything else?” Write the answer down. For the record, our towing is free and nothing comes off the offer for it; you should hear an equally plain answer from everyone else.

This is the classic bait-and-switch. High quote on the phone, then the driver arrives, walks round the car and offers much less, counting on you not wanting to start again.

What it looks like: a reason that’s vague (“the market changed”, “it’s worse than you said”) rather than specific (“you said it had wheels; it doesn’t”).

What to do: ask what exactly differs from your description. If you described the car accurately, you don’t owe anyone a discount. You can say no. The car stays with you, and you call the next buyer on your list. Describing your car honestly in the first place is your best protection here, because it takes away every legitimate reason to change the price.

The title is what transfers ownership. Once it’s signed over, your leverage is gone.

What it looks like: “Just sign here and we’ll sort the payment out”, or a driver who wants the title before handing anything over.

What to do: get paid first, then sign. With a buyer who pays at pickup, the two happen at the same meeting anyway, and the order shouldn’t be a debate.

Payment in a few days, a transfer that “needs processing”, a cheque in the post. Some legitimate businesses pay by transfer, but if the car leaves before you’re paid, you’re trusting a stranger with both the car and the money.

What to do: ask on the phone exactly when and how you’re paid, and get that before the tow is booked. For the record, our payment comes at pickup, at the moment the car is collected, in cash or by digital transfer (Zelle, Cash App and the like).

A title signed with the buyer’s details left empty can be passed on to someone else without a record of who took the car from you. If that car later turns up somewhere it shouldn’t, your name is the last one on it.

What to do: fill in the buyer’s details yourself, or watch them do it, and keep a record of the sale: a bill of sale or at least a photo of the signed title with the buyer’s name on it.

Mostly, yes. Buying junk cars is an ordinary trade and most buyers do it straight. The red flags above aren’t there to make you suspicious of everyone. They’re there so you can spot the few who make their money in the gap between the quote and the payment.

The easiest protection is the same for every buyer: give identical details to each one, ask the same questions, and compare what each would actually hand you. That method is set out in full in compare quotes the safe way. And if you want to see how we answer those questions, how our offer and pickup work spells it out.

If you’ve already been caught out by a buyer who changed the deal or didn’t pay, write down what happened while it’s fresh: dates, names, the number you were quoted, what was said at the curb. Then you can file a consumer fraud complaint with the Illinois Attorney General.