Why would a used car dealer or anyone that sells multiple cars hide the fact that they have other cars for sale? Most of the ads of cars for sale are too good to be true and I stay away from them but what do they hide by showing they are for sale by owner?

I have used Craig's List to find a used car and some deals are too good to be true and I hate to see young folks buy these reconditioned cars that CARFAX can't list because of the laws in 29 of the 50 states not making it mandatory to list wrecked or totaled cars.

 

In some places they will be saving the business and registration fees that legit dealers would pay. Also, some people will think the deal they are getting is better - don't forget, when you look at price guides, the price for a car purchased from a private individual and the price of the same car from a dealer has a fairly wide spread. So by pretending to not be a dealer people can sell a car without sending the red flags that purchaser would normally be aware of because they were being offered a deal that is too good to be true.

Case in point: I purchased a Fit for 12600 from a private person via craig's list (and they were, grad students returning home) but I would have been very suspicious if I had been offered that price by a dealer.

Or was this a rhetorical question? In which case ignore.

 

There's another reason a used car dealer would prefer to pose as a "private" seller: If the car has flaws that this dealer is aware of there's a better chance that the sucker er, buyer might not come after a private seller for a refund, thinking that the chances of recouping would be next to nil from someone who is as broke as many folks are.

But that same buyer, upon discovering that he'd gotten a lemon, might very well chase down a dealer because dealers have the means to refund the money.