Frequently Asked Questions About Buying a Vehicle
Buying A Vehicle
Understanding Your Vehicle:
- Questions & Answers: We want you to fully understand the vehicle that you are interested in. Click that Ask Question button and get answers to the questions that you are seeking. Once we have your question, we will reach out to the seller for their answer and will provide you the answer directly, and post it on the site for all others to learn from as well. If you have a follow-up question, that’s ok, just let us know, we’ll run down those questions for you.
- Dive Deep On Vehicle Condition: Review the listing thoroughly, including modifications, known flaws, the vehicle inspection report (if applicable), recent maintenance, photos, etc. Check out those photos with as much detail as possible.
- Pre-Purchase Inspection: Are you ready to make an offer on a vehicle, but want a pre-purchase inspection done to ensure that it meets your standards? If it’s a Make An Offer format, you can make an offer with a pre-purchase inspection contingency. With your offer accepted (with the PPI contingency), you can arrange the PPI with the seller directly at a reputable shop in their area, or via Lemon Squad (see our blog post on inspections with Lemon Squad). Note that pre-purchase inspections are most typically paid by the buyer.
Make An Offer Format
- Offer Contingencies? What if you want the vehicle, but want that pre-purchase inspection completed to ensure that there’s not any major issues? No problem, note those contingencies in your offer and we can communicate those to the seller.
- Does It Cost Anything To Make An Offer? It does not cost you anything to make an offer. When an offer is accepted and the purchase is completed, you, the buyer, will pay the Curated.Bid premium equal to 5% of the purchase price.
- Can I Cancel My Offer? No. Once you make an offer on Curated.Bid, we expect you to purchase the vehicle if the offer is accepted (with contingencies met, if any). We only want you to make an offer that’s serious.
- Can I lowball? Yes, and no. Each seller has a price that they are willing sell something for. Sometimes it’s their list price, sometimes it’s something lower, and sometimes much lower. Curated.Bid doesn’t know where these lines are, but we generally know that offering 50% of a seller’s price, for example, won’t go anywhere. Bottom line, go ahead and make an offer, but be respectful of the seller’s and Curated.Bid’s time.
Your Offer Is Accepted. Now What?
- Inform You: We will immediately let you know when the seller accepts your offer, and step-by-step instructions on what happens next, including introducing you to the seller.
- Curated.Bid Premium: We will instruct you on how to pay for the Curated.Bid premium which is equal to 5% of the purchase price. We will place a credit card pre-authorization for this 5% and finalize it when we learn from you and/or the seller either directly, or via our partner Key Savvy, that the purchase has been completed.
Once the pre-authorization is complete, we will connect you directly with the seller to complete the purchase. If you and the seller decide to not complete the purchase of the vehicle, we will cancel the pre-authorization of the Curated.Bid premium.
Seller Transaction, Payment, Shipping, & Insurance
How do I pay the seller safely? We strongly recommend using KeySavvy’s platform to conduct a transaction. Their platform helps sellers and buyers finalize the transaction with secure payments, title checks, and more.
For buyers, you are guaranteed to receive a clear title free of any liens, provide identity protection to ensure that you are buying a vehicle from its true owner and avoid buying a stolen vehicle you cannot register, loan protection that helps you purchase the vehicle when their is a lien on it, and finally pay online securely without any trips to the bank. When your offer is accepted, we’ll communicate the benefits of using Key Savvy to both yourself and the seller to complete the transaction.
How do I pick up the vehicle? There are many options for how to collect your new vehicle, such as booking a one-way flight and driving home, or shipping it home. Check out our blog post on shipping your vehicle with RunBuggy.
How do I insure the vehicle, especially if it’s a van or overlander? Insuring a van or overlander can be a more nuanced process than insuring other vehicles. Make sure that you consider the total value of the vehicle, including any additions that have been made to it such as water, and electrical. Check out our blog post on insuring your van or overlander.Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions. Simply email us at [email protected].