1997 Toyota MR2, E-SW20

Treat this as two groups. Required items protect you from payment loss and fraud — if a seller resists any of them, walk away. Ideal items help you assess the car's condition; when one is missing, factor it into your risk and your offer rather than treating it as automatic fraud.

Required fraud and payment-loss prevention

• Confirm title status. Clean, salvage, rebuilt, or no title — and the title's jurisdiction — should be clear before you wire.
• Confirm the car is importable to your location. That's your homework, not the seller's; if the import path is unclear, step back and verify before paying.
• Read the bill of sale before you wire. "As-is" with no warranty is normal; anything that removes inspection or payment protections is a red flag.
• Use a third-party escrow service; never wire to a personal account. For dealer sales, a wire to the business account named on the invoice is normal; for private-party sales, use escrow.

Ideal vehicle-condition diligence; factor missing items into risk and price

• Ask for the export certificate. If the car was exported from Japan recently, the deregistration document can help confirm provenance and timing.If unavailable: certificates for older imports are often filed away, so absence is a risk signal, not automatic fraud.
• Ask for underbody, engine bay, and rear-quarter photos. Those areas reveal rust and repair work that hero shots can hide.If unavailable: the car may still be in transit or storage; review existing media and ask for fresh shots once it's accessible.
• Consider a third-party pre-purchase inspection (PPI). A specialist inspection can catch issues that change the price.If unavailable: a PPI is often not feasible while the car is still overseas, so price the added uncertainty instead of treating it as proof of fraud.

Read the full Trust & Safety checklist →