I might have just saved my in-laws from being scammed.

[Tobin S.]

My father-in-law was checking Craigslist for used pick-up trucks. He's been wanting one for a while and he now has decided to finally start looking.

I have had good luck with Craigslist in the past. I've bought an old pick-up truck from someone there before. I've had work done on my house by people posting ads in the service section. When I have something that may be useful to someone else that I need to get rid of, I post it in the free section and set it out by the curb. Someone always comes and gets it no matter what it is.

But you have to be street wise when you are dealing with Craigslist, especially with cars and trucks. There are scams on there and you have to know how to spot them.

So my father-in-law calls me up and tells me to check out this Chevy pick-up on Craigslist. He wants to get my opinion on the ad. I was telling my mother-in-law that I sometimes have luck in dealing with stuff from Craigslist the other day.

So I look at this ad for the pick-up. It's a 2010 Chevy Silverado crew cab with a V-8 motor and 75,000 miles on it. The ad makes it sound like the guy is just trying to get rid of it and it has a price of $10,000. The price set off alarm bells with me. I know trucks like that are expensive. So while I had him on the phone I looked up the Blue Book price on the truck and it was over $22,000. I told him it was probably a scam.

[intrepidity]

1. What is the smog check situation in your state?

I recently learned something about the OBDII (on-board computer) and smog check issues. If the computer chip, for whatever reason, glitches and prevents the car from passing smog, people will often sell cars for far below blue book.

However, there are ways to resolve the issue and you could end up with a great vehicle for a great price.

[Tobin S.]

2. There is no smog check where I live or anywhere in this state.