How GaariBazar works
Three things happen on this site: people buy cars, people sell cars, and a few of those cars go to auction instead of to a fixed price. Here is exactly what each one involves, including the parts other sites leave out.
Buying a car
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Search without an account
Every ad on GaariBazar is public. You can browse all 6 cars in Lahore, read the full specification, see every photograph and use all sixteen filters without registering. That is deliberate: a search engine cannot log in, and neither should you have to.
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Read the two lines nobody else prints
Every ad states its paint condition — all original, minor touch-up, one panel repainted, or two or more — and whether the original file is available. Those are the first two questions on any phone call about a used car in Pakistan, and they are answered before you dial. If a panel has been resprayed, the ad says which one.
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Register to see the seller's number
One mobile number is the whole registration. Email is optional; no password reset by email, no confirmation link to chase. Once you are signed in, the "Show phone number" button on any ad reveals the seller's number and a WhatsApp link. We never publish a seller's number on a public page, which is why sellers are willing to advertise here.
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See the car, check the file, then pay
Go to the car. Match the chassis and engine numbers on the original file against the car in front of you, and match the name on the file against the seller's CNIC. Only then discuss money. GaariBazar introduces the two of you and stops there — we hold no money and take no deposit.
Selling a car
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Fill in the four-step form
Everything about the car is a dropdown or a checkbox — make, model, variant, year, mileage, fuel, engine, transmission, assembly, body, colour, owners, token tax, paint, file, and twenty feature ticks. Only the description is free text, capped at 1000 characters. Structured answers are what let a buyer filter; free text cannot be filtered, counted or turned into a landing page.
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Add your photographs
Up to 20 photographs, and the form tells you the ten shots buyers actually look for — front three-quarter, rear three-quarter, both sides, interior, dashboard with the odometer showing, engine bay, boot, tyres, and the original file. The first one is the cover. On a phone the button opens the camera, so you can shoot the car where it stands.
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Choose a price, or an auction
Set a fixed asking price and say whether it is negotiable, or choose an auction instead and set a starting price. Posting is free — there is no listing fee, no featured-ad charge and no commission today. When that changes, it will be said plainly on this page before it takes effect.
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Wait for a person to check it
Every ad is read by an administrator before it appears — usually within one working day. He can approve it, edit an obvious mistake, or reject it with a reason you will see. On approval he sets how long it runs: 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month. When that runs out, the ad comes down and needs approving again before it goes back up.
Auctions
An auction is an ordinary ad with a clock on it. Any registered member can start one — a private seller, a dealer, or the administrator on someone's behalf — and like every other ad it does not go live until it has been approved. At that point the administrator sets or confirms two things: the starting price, and how long it runs. Auction lengths are 7, 15 or 30 days, and the first is the usual choice.
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Verify your CNIC once
Your CNIC number, photographs of both sides of the card, and your address. Our verification team checks it by hand, usually within one working day. You do it once, before your first bid ever, and never again.
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Bid before the clock stops
Each auction shows the current highest bid, the number of bids, how many verified bidders are in it and a live countdown. There is a minimum increase set by us. You can raise your own bid; you cannot lower or withdraw it. A bid in the last 2 minutes moves the closing time that much further on, so you cannot be beaten by somebody clicking faster than you in the final second.
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Highest bid wins the introduction
When the clock reaches zero the highest bid stands. We put that bidder and the seller in contact with each other and the auction closes. If nothing reached a price the seller would take, it closes marked "Not sold" and nobody owes anybody anything.
Why we ask for a CNIC, and what happens to it
A seller is being asked to hold a car off the market for up to two weeks on the strength of bids from people he has never met. Verification is what makes that reasonable. What we do with it:
- Only the verification team sees it. It is never shown to sellers, never shown to other bidders, and never appears on any public page.
- Bidders appear on the auction page with a first letter only. Your name and number are not visible to anyone bidding against you.
- It is deleted 90 days after the auction closes. Not archived — deleted. See the privacy policy.
GaariBazar holds no money. No deposit, no escrow, no payment through this site at any stage of an auction. A bid is a serious offer that we expect you to stand behind; it is not a contract of sale. See the terms of use.
Three rules that will keep you out of trouble
These are not legal boilerplate. They are the three ways people actually lose money buying a used car in Pakistan.
Never send advance money
Not a token, not a booking amount, not a "hold" payment, not to a bank account and not through a transfer — not before you have stood next to the car. A seller who needs money before you have seen the car is not selling you a car. GaariBazar cannot recover money you have already sent.
Always see the original file
Ask for the original registration file and read it. The chassis and engine numbers must match the car. The name on the file must match the CNIC of the person selling it to you, or he must be able to show you why it does not. Every ad on this site states whether the file is available before you make the trip.
Always complete the transfer
A car that is still registered in the seller's name is still the seller's problem and yours. Complete the transfer of ownership at the excise office, get the transfer letter, and do not accept "I will send it next week". Until it is done, every challan and every token bill on that car has somebody else's name on it.