Before Craigslist, you had to grab your local newspaper or Auto Trader magazine to look for vehicles. You would call the phone number in the ad, ask questions about the car, and set up an appointment to see it. Today, you simply head over to Craigslist, look or search for the vehicle, click and read the ads, look at the pictures, and so on. You either call or email the person who placed said ad, ask questions, and set up an appointment.

Why do people go to Craigslist? It’s a scavenger hunt; you search and scour trying to find the dream car at an unbelievable price. Most times it’s someone trying to sell you a 2008 Mercedes E-Class for $4500. But, sometimes, you do uncover diamonds in the murky soup. If you want a racing lawn tractor, a Daewoo Nubira wagon, or a 1989 BMW M3, you can find them all on Craigslist (pictures below).

How did I get hit with the cult of Craigslist? Let’s go back to March of 2009; my 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix decided to spill all its oil at my workplace. I didn’t realize this until I started the car and heard loud scraping noises coming from the engine. I got out & walked around the car to find a huge puddle of oil underneath my car. After swearing for a few minutes, I called home & my dad picked me up. We both knew that a new car was in order.

With a budget of $2500, I started my search for the replacement. We looked over many vehicles ranging from a Subaru Outback with transmission problems, a 94 Volvo that had brakes that pulled to the left, and a Taurus that had the same pattern of rust on both of its rear fenders and was smoking after a test drive. I was all ready to give up and just start walking to work, when I found the car: a 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo Sedan for $2450 down in Southfield, MI. I called my dad to tell him, and ask if he could take a look at it. Two hours later, the phone rang…

“Hey Dad, did you look at the Volvo�

“Yes, I bought it.�

“You did what!?�

“I bought it.�

“Ok, you bought it.�

The Volvo has been with me for almost a year, and it’s still running quite well. During my search, I started by hunting for vehicles I knew I couldn’t afford, to see what was there. I couldn’t believe it; I was entering a barn and uncovering something precious. Want a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16V? Oh, there’s one in Denver. Looking for a dashboard for a Volvo S70? Someone in Portland has a nice looking one. Craigslist became the place for me to look up a vehicle I had in my head, and either find one at a nice price or one to be made fun of. After I joined Twitter, I decided to put my Craigslist addiction to good use. I created the hash tags of #craigslistnightcap and #craigslistsunday to share my finds with all of the twitterverse.

There are craigslist services like CraigsLook.com, which searches ads around the United States to help people find whatever they are looking for. Blogs, Forums, and Twitter accounts show what a person has found, and share the rest.

Craigslist is a place where you can find the good, the bad, and the ugly of vehicles. You can waste hours looking at the ads, either seeing your dream car or making fun of the vehicle. It’s how I found my car and all others I post. But you must excuse me; I just saw this Mercedes, and I need to go look at it in person.

You can follow William Maley, aka “RealMudMonster,� on Twitter

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