buying cheap beater privately - lien check?
 

Hi,
I am buying a beater for $4000.
the car is 2008 mitsubishi lancer with 240,000kms.

would I bother getting $50 carproof for lien check?

why would anyone put a lien on such item with almost no value?


I think the risk this car has any lien on it is so low that it is worth it to save $50


what's your thoughts?

Hell yeah. Last beater I bought was 8k and got a lien against it. Owner basically use the sales price to pay off the lien.

Why not just split the cost of the check with the seller?

Personally I'd do it for sure regardless.

That's like 1% of your purchase price. Pretty cheap insurance to me.

also, I'm sure you can make a condition of your sale....they'll probably move 1%.

Give me the vin and I can run carproof for you son.

$50 is 1 tank of gas.. Like really we ain't talking hundreds here. Just don't go out to eat for 1 day.. Boom $50 in your pocket.. You never know, maybe the previous owner couldn't afford the full value of the vehicle so went with payments instead.

$50 is peanuts for information that could potentially save you from a $4000 mistake.

What the others have said, even buying a cheap car always factor a few $75 CarProofs into the budget. It's cheap insurance that could save you a pile of headache.

i never done it, bought over a dozen vehicles and never had one with a lien on it... that said for $50 its pretty cheap insurance to get the vehicle history and lien check

i bought a 1000 car that had a lien on it before.

i would always do it just as a precaution since debts follows the car

I just bought a cheap beater and didn't bother with a carproof, make me want to check now lol

if it had a lien wouldn't it say on the title that the owner is the private seller and the financial institution that the private seller use to buy the car? also since its a 2008 car whats the chance that it will have a lien on it considering its a 9yr old car it should be paid off by now if ever no? i just a bought a 08 car aswell now im worried if it has a lien on it :( can you run a inspection for me tofu? please

purchased 17 cars, only two expensive ones i have ran checks on. 10-20k used.
never had a problem, but you never know.