carfax

Once ballyhooed as "the Internet's largest marketplace for buying and selling all things automotive," eBay Motors' numbers have been slipping. But eBay's attempt to goose profits at Motors looks more likely to put them in reverse.

Hurricanes Irene and Lee flooded thousands of cars across the Northeast, totaling them. Such heavily damaged vehicles get "salvage" titles to warn potential buyers, but thanks to greedy scammers and lax interstate oversight, many of those "total losses" are about to resurface on America's used car lots -- with clean titles.

I did a good deed this week. I caught a shyster trying to sell a car that likely didn't exist and in the process learned a few things about how to protect yourself when buying a car online. It's been a while since I last bought a car. Back then, the idea of completing the entire process online...