Buying a car sight unseen.

[vintage chromoly]

Do t do it!
If the car is worth buying, it's worth the time and cost to go see it yourself.

 

[Jason69 RR]

When I bought my Roadrunner, we used FaceTime which I found beneficial. I then booked a flight, and spent a day going through the car. For me it was part of the adventure. Probably the best money and time spent. Hope the car is everything you want it to be. Good Luck!

 

[Ranger16]

Too many cars are nice from far, but far from nice. I'd never buy sight unseen. Found my Road Runner on Craigslist. Looked nice so I flew out to DTW to see it in person. It WAS nice and I drove it home.

I recall my buddy buying an early '70's Deville off Ebay. Car looked nice, but wasn't so nice close up when he saw it in person. He walked and ended up forfeiting a non-refundable $500 deposit.

 

[67440chrg]

I found my car on ebay. I set my range around 200 miles I think. I drove to look at it and drove it home. I may have found one faster looking Nationwide buy felt better being able to see it

 

[TxDon]

I agree with almost everyone that an in-person inspection and test drive is the best way to buy if you can do it, although even that is not 100% foolproof. That said I have bought 4 cars sight unseen. 3 were Ebay cars, all had issues and one was a major POS. On the 4th car I paid for a third party inspection and the car arrived with no surprises. I doubt I would buy that way from a private party without an Ebay or dealer backup organization for payment issues. IMHO the best way to handle the money is deposit via PayPal and balance via bank wire transfer, I keep a small checking account just for wire use. All the paperwork should be sent to you immediately after payment rather than trusting any of that to the transport driver. Good luck!

 

[NJRR]

If you absolutely can't go see the car yourself, definitely get it inspected. I bought my second 70 Satty ragtop from a guy in Iowa. I had an inspection service check out the car, cost $300. he drove it, put it on the lift and took over a hundred pictures that he sent me. After that I knew exactly what I was buying. I was actually surprised when I got the car because I thought it was in better shape than the inspector made it sound. Better to be surprised on the upside than the downside tho. I also used a 3rd party escrow service. Basically, I sent them the money. They informed the seller they have my money. He shipped the car. I tell them I received the car and all is good. They released the money to the seller. Everyone was protected. I think it cost 1-2% of the selling price. I also used Horseless Carriage in NJ to ship the car enclosed. They were excellent.

 

[GTXperience]

@SteveSS, did this purchase fall through? Let us know.

 

[super-bee_ski]

SSteve is MIA fellas!