EBay Moters can either be the best car-thing to ever happen to you, or the worst. Obviously it can also fall somewhere in between. You can use it to your advantage, like thousands of car dealers and private sellers, you can ignore it or you can get badly cheated.

EBay Moters sells more cars than all the car dealers in the United States combined. This is an enormous advantage for you. Cars that are popular in one part of the country (and so sell for top price), often aren't worth nearly as much in another area. For example, not many people in Detroit are going to want a Japanese car; that makes it a great place to buy one though. If you're looking for a pick-up truck in Texas, you probably aren't going to have much luck negotiating on price-why should the seller come down on his price for you when he could sell the truck the next day for his asking price? Ebay Moters allows you to compare prices on the car you want from sellers all across the country.

Wherever there's money like eBay Moters generates by selling so many cars, crooks will try to get a piece of the action.

So number 1, Ebay can help you find the perfect car at a great price, but number 2, you can lose a lot of money here too.

The biggest causes of fraud on eBay Moters are people offering to sell you a car who disappear as soon as they get your money. Of course, you never get the car. A lot of other people are dismayed when the see the car they've just bought-it's not what the seller said it was going to be.

As we say with all used-car purchases, get the car inspected by a trustworthy mechanic. Ebay will help you find such a person. You can go out yourself to inspect the car, but if you're not qualified, don't scrimp here.

As far as avoiding paying for a car you're never going to get, proceed with caution. There are tons of legitimate car sellers here. Use your common sense as you navigate your car purchase. You can also see what eBay has to say about protecting yourself at http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/buying_paying.html.

One final point on this subject of fraud: it's not unique to eBay Moters, obviously. People have been getting ripped off buying cars for 100 years. But with whatever car you're seriously considering at eBay, get its VIN and go to one of the (free) sites eBay points you to. This verification will tell you the vehicle's history (has been in a wreck, was it ever stolen, etc.) This information can help you decide whether to go ahead with your purchase.

A lot of people wonder how they're going to take possession of a car they've bought it on eBay when it's 1,000 miles away. There are several ways. My brother got an amazing deal on an Audi TT in Atlanta. It was the middle of winter in Cleveland, so he didn't mind spending $149 for a one-way plane ticket and driving it home. My wife bought a Honda Pilot in Dayton, Ohio for $3,000 less than she could have bought it in Colorado. We made it an adventure to fly out there and drive our new car home.

You can also have the car shipped to where you live. EBay will help you with this. Expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $700.