How to Buy a Used EV Safely: Meeting, Paying and Checking the Paperwork

Staying safe when you buy a used EV comes down to a few habits: meet in person, check the paperwork yourself, and never pay before you have seen the car. Here is the full list.

What Frunkery does and doesn't do

Frunkery is a classifieds site. We publish listings, and we are not a party to the sale.

We review listings and screen messages, but we don't inspect cars or verify what sellers say. We don't check titles, confirm mileage or measure battery health. We don't take payment for a car, hold money in escrow or transfer titles.

So the checks below are yours to make, and they are worth making on every car, from any seller.

Meet in person

• Meet in a public place, in daylight. Many police stations offer a safe-exchange zone.

• Bring someone with you.

• Be wary of a seller who won't meet in person. The reason changes, such as a deployment, a relocation or a shipping company. The request stays the same: pay first, see the car later.

Check the car and the paperwork

• Match the VIN in three places: on the car, on the title and in the listing. If they don't all match, stop.

• Check that the title is in the seller's name, and ask whether there is a lien (a loan) on the car.

• Run your own title check with an approved NMVTIS provider. The US Department of Justice lists them. A report can show title brands such as salvage or flood, and odometer readings.

• Check for open recalls with the free NHTSA recall lookup. You will need the VIN.

• Get an independent inspection before you pay. Not every mechanic can test a high-voltage battery, so ask first. For an EV, ask for the battery's state of health, measured, with the method stated, and ask how the car behaves on DC fast charging.

• Treat a refused inspection as your answer.

Pay safely

• Never pay by wire transfer, gift card or crypto to "hold" a car. The same goes for Zelle, Venmo or Cash App to someone you haven't met. The FTC says no real business will ask you to pay with a gift card, and that wired money usually can't be recovered.

• Pay at a bank or credit union, in person, where the payment can be confirmed. A cashier's check drawn there is one way to do it.

• Get a signed bill of sale.

Scams to watch for

The escrow site. Someone sends you to a website that will "hold your money safely until the car arrives." Frunkery doesn't hold money and doesn't run or recommend any escrow service. Treat any site that claims to escrow a Frunkery sale as a scam.

Someone claiming to be us. Frunkery will never ask you to send banking details, a password or a login code by message or email. If you get a message like that, don't reply.

The price that is too good. A car thousands below similar ones, with a reason attached. The reason is the warning.

The seller's own "vehicle history report." A link to a report site you have never heard of, which wants a card number. Run your own check instead, at a provider you chose from the list above.

Anything with a link in it. Treat a link from a seller you haven't met with suspicion, and don't enter a card number or a password on the page it opens.

If something feels off

Stop and walk away. There will be other cars. If a listing looks wrong, report it from the listing page.

When you are ready, browse used EVs.