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I think the best way to describe it is "Buyer beware. No, really, watch it." It is very easy to screw yourself over. They try but it's still impossible with the volume of cars they move to accurately describe all of them. I mean, go look at a listing. You get 10 photos of questionable quality and resolution, often with bad light or from a bad angle. You get a vague description of the damage, they tell you if it starts, and if it moves when put in gear. And you get the insurance data with the insurance estimated repair cost and what the insurance paid on the claim.

It's very easy to get enamored with a car and miss clues for damage or neglect, usually hope is a road to disappointment. I approach it by studying the photos carefully several times, several days apart, looking for clues like if you can see coolant in the reservoir, if engine parts are missing, if there's damage on other parts of the car, if the interior is beat, stuff like that. And I always assume it's worse than what I can see, so I set a value based on that and walk away if it exceeds it.

The worst is when you buy a great car that gets damaged in shipping. And nobody will pay you for anything, ever. Copart will not refund or credit you if the car is misrepresented, or if they damage it in their yard, and the trucker will not pay you anything, they'll say it was like that when they got it.

So basically there is a lot of risk and it's all on you. You have to have good judgement and also be a gambler. I've only been burned bad once and even then it only cost me like a grand extra to repair a car. Most of my buys were average 10 foot cars, and twice I ended up with near flawless, beautiful cars. My dad bought 10-20 cars a year and would get burned about 10% of the time. You just eat the cost and fix the car. The safest way to buy is if the car you want shows up at your local yard, so you can inspect it yourself in person. But that's not common.