My girlfriend Nancy is looking for a new used car. She doesn't have a lot of money, and subscribes to the theory that the best way to drive is to by a five thousand dollar used car, as it's already absorbed most of the depreciation hit but has lots of useful life left. Drive it into the ground, make a car payment to yourself, then get another $5K car. The strategy makes sense. I think she should get a newer car, because she's sharp about routine maintenance, and thus controls the car's care from Day One. But I get paid a lot more than she does, and so the costs are relatively less.

So Saturday we got on craigslist and located a 2000 Toyota Echo only a couple miles from my house. Owner seemed like a nice guy, and the car was great. It drove straight, didn't pull, smooth idle and engine, no body damage except for a couple parking lot door dents, and nice paint. Only 54,000 miles which is really low for 2000. And it was really, really clean which made me think the previous owner had been a car dealership. The owner said he got it from a private owner.

Everything looked great. We gave him $100 to hold it and then went to her place in Cincinnati to finish the weekend. But we did get the VIN number, and tried a Carfax search.

And therein lies rub. Turns out the car was crashed in November 2007 and totaled out in December. Sold as a salvage title in February 2008. Resold in February 2009 to the current owner. With a rebuilt title.

Naturally the owner didn't mention the word 'salvage title' at any point of our conversation on Saturday. Nor did we suspect for any reason the car had one. We figure it was sold to a part-timer who buys chosen cars, fixes them up, drives them for a bit then sells them for a modest profit. The repairs explain how clean the car was inside and out. But none of that matters to Nancy's insurance company. They won't insure a car with a salvage title. End of discussion. The fact that Ohio requires an inspection before such cars can be returned to the road matters not. What is totaled once stays totaled.

So the deal is off. The problem now will be getting Nancy's earnest money back. That may be hard, despite the fact that such things must be disclosed in Ohio. And we've learned to do a bit more research before dipping our foot back in that well.