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SALT LAKE CITY — People shopping for a car through the classifieds know there are a lot of options. But buyers beware a certain kind of seller: those advertising cars that could be loaded with undisclosed problems.
John Taylor recently bought a 1995 Honda Accord from the classifieds to give to his daughter for her 16th birthday. The car looked good, drove great and the woman who sold it to him didn't give him any reason for concern.
"She was absolutely convincing," Taylor said. "The ad and then she herself was convincing."
But after he handed over cash for the car then went to get it checked out, he discovered some big problems.
"On the way to the dealership, that's when we saw the odometer wasn't working," Taylor said.
Taylor tracked down a prior owner and discovered the Honda had been on the road for more than 300,000 miles, not the 135,000 miles he was staring at on the broken odometer.
Making matters worse, Taylor found out he paid nearly twice the amount for the car than the seller he bought it from paid to the prior owner. Taylor paid $2,900; the seller bought it for just $1,550.
"I knew this wasn't some minor dishonesty," Taylor said. "This was an all-out scam."
"It's a huge problem," said Sgt. Larry Ball with the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division. "I've been dealing with it for 26 years."
1. If the VIN number on the ad is different from the VIN number on the car, even if it's off by one letter or digit, beware.
2. If they try to sell a car with the title in somebody else's name, don't buy it.
3. Do a quick search of the sellers phone number in the classifieds. If it comes up multiple times for recent car sales, they are likely curbstoning.
The problem is called "curbstoning."
Simply put, it's when someone sells more than two cars in a year without a dealer's license. Many times those cars are loaded with problems.
"Some (sellers) buy them at auctions," Ball said. "You have these salvage auctions that are selling these wrecked vehicles. They'll buy them there, take them to a body shop, do a quick job on them and put them back on the road."
Chasing down curbstoners is a nonstop job for motor vehicle enforcement officers who have to deal with these sellers on a daily basis.
The department's latest catch had a couple of big red flags: the seller was selling three cars, none of which had his name on the title. The officer cited him with four misdemeanor charges.
"I'm not dealing drugs," the seller said. "I'm not killing anybody. I'm not breaking into homes. That's ridiculous."
The seller's story is that he's selling cars as a favor for friends. As it turns out, it seems the story has become a very popular one among other curbstoners as well.
To find out how prevalent the practice is, the KSL Investigators searched through the classifieds to track down suspected curbstoners. First, the investigators looked for sellers with multiple car listings, sent a text to meet up, and finally had a face-to-face to take a look at the vehicle.
Problem No. 1: The VIN numbers in the ads did not match up with the numbers on the car.
When one seller was asked why the VIN numbers in the ads didn't match the VIN numbers of the car, he was vague in his response.
"I don't know," a seller named Oscar said. "My son put it in, I don't know, maybe (he was) confused with that."
If the VIN number is off, you can't get a CARFAX report, which means you don't know the history of the vehicle before checking it out.
Problem No. 2: They're selling cars with the titles in somebody else's name.
When asked if he had a title under his name, a seller named Manuel said he had a title, but it wasn't under his name.
"No, it's in the other guy's," Manuel said. "I (bought) it from the other guy. It's (his) name, not my name."
When it comes to legal documentation, motor vehicle enforcement officers say curbstoners rarely use their own names. While some claim to know nothing about the law, or their recent sales, there are others who are fully aware of what they're doing.
A seller named Jose said he knows what he is doing is illegal, and he said he won't try to sell that way anymore.
Not every car sold by a curbstoner is a lemon. Taylor said he likes his car, but he doesn't like losing money based on someone else's lies.
"I actually like the car," said Taylor. "I just don't like having been scammed."
The Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division says it cites hundreds of people for curbstoning every year.
