The 'Private Seller' Selling Six Cars a Month

Curbstoning is unlicensed vehicle dealing dressed up as a private sale. California requires a license to be in the business of selling vehicles, and someone moving cars regularly without one is avoiding the obligations that come with it — which is precisely why the arrangement is bad for you.

Why it matters to the buyer

A licensed dealer operates under a regulatory framework with disclosure obligations and a license that can be acted against. An unlicensed seller has none of that, and typically no fixed address you can return to.

The practical consequences show up in predictable ways: undisclosed history, a title that is not in the seller's name, an odometer that does not match the paperwork, and a vehicle whose problems become apparent the week after the seller's phone number stops working.

The signs

• The title is not in their name. This is the clearest single indicator. A genuine private seller owns the car they are selling.
• They want to meet in a parking lot, a kerbside, or anywhere other than where they live.
• The same phone number appears on several listings for different vehicles. Search it.
• They are vague about how long they have owned it, or the story keeps adjusting.
• Cash only, today, and pressure about other buyers.
• They resist an independent inspection or want to bring their own mechanic.
• Multiple cars visible at the meeting point.

What to do about it

Walk away. That is genuinely the whole answer — there is no version of this where the deal is good enough to justify a seller who is not the owner and will not be found afterwards.

If you have already bought and the transfer is not going through because the title was never in the seller's name, that is a DMV problem and potentially a legal one. Get advice rather than trying to paper over it, and do not drive the vehicle on the assumption it will sort itself out.

The simple protection

Ask to see the title and identification, and check the name on the title matches the person in front of you. Then meet at their home address. A genuine private seller has no difficulty with either request. Someone who does has told you everything you need to know, in about thirty seconds, for free.

Where insurance sits in this

It does not protect you from a bad purchase — insurance covers losses, not regret. But there is one useful checkpoint: getting a quote on the specific VIN before you buy occasionally surfaces something about the vehicle that the seller had not mentioned, and it confirms you can actually cover the car the way you intend to.

It takes a couple of minutes, it costs nothing, and it happens before the money moves rather than after.

Send us the VIN before you pay — a quick check while you still have options.