The danger of the internets

You want to buy a car yet you don't own three garments factories. What do you do if you're a regular person without massive bank accounts? You could rob a bank itself but that requires watching a lot of heist movies and finally coming to the conclusion that it's too risky. So you take the plunge and dive into the internet. You browse, you scour the classifieds and then you start wondering is the internet a lie?
Buying cars off the net is nothing new but it is not for the faint of heart. It starts off with the slow internet speeds we are constantly faced with. Click, wait, go watch a movie and you will have reached your desired virtual destination by the time you are back. Still, having tackled the speed issue, where do you go? There is no lack of sites for the discerning car buyer. Clickbd and Cellbazaar are couple of the older and more prominent sites that offer cars and bikes new, old and barely held together by string. These have recently been joined by Bikroy, Apnardeal, Ajkerdeal, etc. These will give you a lot more choice. But some sites are known to take postings from other sites, posting that have even been discontinued. Of course all you do is call to find out whether the item you want is still available.
Next comes deciphering what you see. First you need to see the car you are buying. It helps if the classified you are browsing has the actual picture. You can usually tell from the pictures just how badly and emotionally scarred a particular car might be. Will it be a happy car or something psychotic that wants to kill you at every opportunity? You want to differentiate between the private sellers and the garage owners trying to sell off a car that they just repaired. I'm not saying you never get good stuff from a garage but it is just that much more difficult to tell the flaws apart. Also, see if the picture is of the actual car. Sometimes, you will get postings of old cars in immaculate condition. This is Bangladesh, most cars older than 10 years have had more reconstructive surgery than Megan Fox. Unfortunately, the cars don't appear as good looking. So in the pictures of a really old car that looks too good to be true, see if it has a local or foreign number plate. That will tell you whether it's real or not. Unless the plates are blurred in which case, what are they trying to hide?
Then there's the matter of price. On the internet, the prices are usually jacked up way more than in real life. Don't get scared, call and ask and make an offer. What's the worst that could happen? You can also find out how long the same car has been on sale. On the same site, usually you can look at the profile of the seller to see what other items have been put up for sale. If a particular car you like has been there for months, either it's overpriced or in bad shape. Use that information in your negotiations. They say knowledge is power. Know about the car you want, know its price and look for it. The best thing about the net is that it will find you a lot of options of what you want but without the footwork. Happy hunting.