Craigslist Car Ad Template

Template 1 — Standard by-owner ad

Click the template to select it, then copy. The first line is your posting title; the price goes in Craigslist's price field.

POSTING TITLE: [YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL] [TRIM] - [MILEAGE] miles - [hook: 1 Owner - Clean Title]

[YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL] [TRIM] for sale by owner. [ENGINE], [TRANSMISSION], [DRIVETRAIN]. [MILEAGE] miles. Runs and drives great — daily driven until listed.

Condition:
- Exterior: [honest one-liner — clean overall, normal rock chips for the miles]
- Interior: [honest one-liner — no rips or smells, non-smoker]
- Mechanical: [recent work with month/year — tires, brakes, battery, fluids]

Known issues: [every flaw, each shown in the photos — door ding on passenger side, slow leak in one tire]. Nothing hidden; the photos show the car exactly as it sits.

Title status: [Clean title in hand, registered until MONTH/YEAR]
Price: $[PRICE] [firm / OBO]. [Cash / cashier's check verified at the bank.]

VIN: [VIN or "available on request"] — run your own history report.
Reply through Craigslist email and we can set up a look and test drive at [safe public location]. No shipping, no PayPal, no "buying for my relative" arrangements.

Template 2 — Detailed (records-heavy or enthusiast cars)

Craigslist buyers read long ads when the car deserves one. Click to select, then copy.

POSTING TITLE: [YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL] [TRIM] - [MILEAGE] miles - Full Service Records

[YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL] [TRIM], [EXTERIOR COLOR] over [INTERIOR COLOR]. [ENGINE], [TRANSMISSION], [DRIVETRAIN]. [MILEAGE] miles, [X] owners, [accident status per history report].

Service history (records in a folder, come look through it):
- [Oil changes every X miles — where]
- [Big-ticket items done: timing belt/chain, water pump, plugs — item + mileage]
- [Tires: brand, month/year installed, tread depth]
- [Brakes/suspension: what and when]

Equipment: [the features that matter — tow package, sunroof, heated seats, upgraded audio].

Known issues: [complete list, each pictured — clear coat fading on roof edge, worn driver bolster, exhaust rattle on cold start]. I'd rather you know now than waste both our time in person.

Why I'm selling: [one honest sentence].

Title status: [Clean title in hand]
Price: $[PRICE] — [how you priced it: against local comps / KBB private-party]. [Firm / OBO with reasonable offers.]

VIN: [VIN or "available on request"]. Serious buyers welcome to a pre-purchase inspection at your mechanic, your cost. Contact through Craigslist email first.

Template 3 — Quick sale

Cheap and honest beats cheap and vague — vague-but-cheap is exactly what gets flagged. Click to select, then copy.

POSTING TITLE: [YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL] - [MILEAGE] miles - Mechanic Special / Priced to Sell

[YEAR] [MAKE] [MODEL], [MILEAGE] miles. Priced under market because [honest reason: moving by DATE / needs work I'm not doing]. The price reflects everything listed below — no surprises.

Works: [what's solid — starts every time, cold A/C, good tires]
Known issues: [everything — check-engine code P[XXXX] (O2 sensor), rust bubble on rear arch, window regulator slow]. All of it is in the photos.

Title status: [Clean title in hand]
Price: $[PRICE] cash, firm. First come, first served — no holds.

VIN available on request. Reply through Craigslist email to set up a time at [safe public location]. Local sale only — no shipping, no escrow, no exceptions.

Worked example — a finished ad

Template 1, filled in for a real car.

POSTING TITLE: 2018 Honda CR-V EX AWD - 78k miles - 1 Owner - Clean Title - Dealer Serviced

2018 Honda CR-V EX AWD for sale by owner. 1.5L turbo, CVT automatic, all-wheel drive. 78,400 miles. Runs and drives excellent — daily driven until listed.

Condition:
- Exterior: clean overall, normal rock chips on the nose for the miles
- Interior: no rips, stains or smells; non-smoker, garage kept
- Mechanical: new Michelin CrossClimate2 tires (March 2026), front brakes at 64k, every service at the Honda dealer — records in hand

Known issues: small door ding on the passenger rear door and light curb rash on one wheel — both shown in the photos. Nothing hidden; the photos show the car exactly as it sits.

Title status: Clean title in hand, registered through November 2026.
Price: $18,900 OBO. Cash or cashier's check verified at the bank.

VIN available on request — run your own history report; it comes back clean.
Reply through Craigslist email and we can set up a look and test drive at the Target lot on Route 9. No shipping, no PayPal, no "buying for my nephew overseas."

How Craigslist actually works for car sellers

• By-owner car ads cost about $5 in the US. Dealer ads cost more; the fee filters out most drive-by scam posts.
• Up to 24 photos, compressed to 600×450. Upload sharp landscape shots — soft photos turn to mush at that size.
• Use 12+ photos. Ads with two or three photos routinely get flagged as scams by other users, no matter how real the car is.
• Keep photos natural-looking. Overly studio-looking or watermarked images pattern-match to dealer spam and stolen stock photos — a common flagging trigger. If you enhance the background, keep it believable (clean driveway, plain wall), and never alter the car itself.
• Don't repost within 48 hours. Edit or renew the existing ad instead; rapid reposting triggers flagging and ghosting.
• Title format: Year Make Model + hook. The price has its own field. No ALL CAPS, no asterisk borders, no keyword lists of other car models.
• Expect skepticism. Craigslist buyers assume scam until proven otherwise — the VIN, complete photos and a "Known issues" list are what flip them from suspicious to serious.

What every car ad must include

• VIN — posted or "available on request." Decode yours first with the free VIN decoder to confirm the exact spec and check open recalls before a buyer does.
• Exact mileage — plus a dashboard photo proving it.
• Title status — clean, rebuilt, lien. On Craigslist, silence on the title reads as "salvage."
• Service history — what, when, and whether records exist.
• Known issues — all of them, each pictured. Unsure of the exact trim or model year? The free car identifier reads it from a photo.
• Reason for selling — one honest sentence.
• Price + terms — firm or OBO, and which payment you'll accept.

Photo order that survives 600×450

Upload in this order: front three-quarter (this becomes your thumbnail), rear three-quarter, both sides, interior front and rear, dashboard with the mileage readable, engine bay, then a close-up of every flaw. Because Craigslist compresses hard, shoot in good light and fill the frame — the full shot list is in How to take car photos that sell. Before writing your "Known issues" line, run the photos through the free AI damage checker so the list is complete before a buyer finds something you missed.

Most sellers list on Facebook Marketplace at the same time — it's free, allows 20 photos, and reaches different buyers. Use the Facebook Marketplace car listing template for that one; the format rules are different.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to list a car on Craigslist?

Cars-and-trucks-by-owner ads cost about $5 in the US (dealer ads cost more). The fee exists to cut down on scam posts, and it works in your favor: paid listings carry more credibility with buyers than they did in the free-posting era.

How many photos can I add to a Craigslist car ad?

Up to 24 photos. Craigslist compresses them to 600×450 pixels, so upload sharp, well-lit landscape shots — fine detail gets lost at that size. Use at least 12: listings with only two or three photos routinely get flagged as scams by other users.

Why was my Craigslist car ad flagged or removed?

The usual causes: too few photos (looks like a scam post), a price far below market (classic scam signal), reposting the same ad within 48 hours, posting the same car in multiple cities or categories, keyword-stuffing the title, or photos that look like stolen dealer stock images. Fix the trigger and post once, in one city, in one category.

How often can I repost my Craigslist car ad?

Don't repost within 48 hours — that's a fast route to flagging and account trouble. Use the edit and 'renew' functions on the existing ad instead. Renewing bumps an active ad back up the list without creating a duplicate.

What should a Craigslist car ad title say?

Year Make Model plus one or two strong hooks: '2018 Honda CR-V EX AWD - 1 Owner - Clean Title - Full Service History'. The price shows in its own field, so don't burn title characters on it. Skip ALL CAPS and strings of asterisks — they read as spam to buyers and to flaggers.

Should I put my phone number in a Craigslist car ad?

Start with Craigslist's email relay — it hides your real address and filters the first wave of spam. Once a buyer replies with specific questions about the car, move to phone or text. Posting your number directly gets you robocalls and 'I'll buy it sight unseen via shipping company' scams.

Can I use enhanced or edited photos on Craigslist?

Yes, with judgment. Cleaning up a cluttered background is fine, but overly studio-looking or watermarked photos pattern-match to dealer spam and stolen images, so other users flag them. Keep enhanced photos natural-looking — a clean driveway or plain outdoor scene, never a showroom void — and never let editing touch the car itself: paint, dents and scratches must look exactly as they are in person.