Long distant transactions
 

I am looking to buy a car where the original owner has relocated to the west coast and the car is on the east coast. The car is about 5hrs from me and being cared for by a friend of the owner, he has the title on the west coast (yes I have verified this isn't a scam). My bank issues me a certified check made out to the seller, so here is my plan:

1) Pay a PayPal deposit
2) the seller will send me a notorized bill of sale (any ideas of what to include)
3) I will send him the certified check effectively purchasing the car (I feel pretty good I will be happy with the car)
4) He will mail me the title
5)I will pick up the car from his friend


Any concerns/thoughts?

If at all possible, I would try to make the title and payment transaction with the friend of the seller in person. This will give you an out if the deal is not as expected. Good luck.

Look into using an escrow service to hold and disperse the funds.

I don't know if this will work for the seller, but I will check. The check is certified and he can call and talk to the bank, but if I were him that would make me nervous. That said one of us need to take the risk :)

The issue is the check has to be to him, so for him to feel secure he needs to cash the check or at least that is how I would feel as a seller.

How do people do this when buying/shipping a car sight unseen? Someone has to take a risk and I assume that it is the buyer correct?

One thing to keep in mind is that my bank requires accurate info from him to make the check out.

You forgot the real first step: Personally inspect and drive the car.

There are a myriad of title transfer hoops to jump thru. Not doing this face to face complicates things.

Escrow is a good plan. So is the owner granting his buddy power of attorney for this sale so you can do this face to face.

-- Chuck

No, we are doing this as described above. I will own the car before I drive down to get it. It is a risk, but I guess that is what it takes sometimes to secure something unique. Hopefully it works out, this will be the 3rd car I have bought site unseen and the only regret I have is selling the first one :). This is the first transaction though with the seller at a different location than the car itself, which is what I struggled with. I guess all I will have is a notarized bill of sale and all of his info that will be needed for my bank to issue him a check.

This seems like a bad idea all around. I would never buy a car sight unseen unless it was a new car and I had already driven a representative model.

Have you at least had a Pre Purchase Inspection (PPI)? What's stopping the guy from conning you the money? Maybe this is a great deal for an extremely unique car, but everything I'm reading would tell me to stay far away.

As far as buying site unseen, people do it all of the time, that isn't what I was asking for input on. It all just depends on how good you feel based on talking with the seller. Like I said this will be #3 site unseen and so far I have been happy. I am not sure about the PPI I hear mixed things and sometimes it is a waste. The seller provided maintenance records from the local BMW dealer and they are very detailed and up to date.

With regards to what is stopping him from taking my $ and taking off, just a notarized bill of sale and that I will have all his info. Yeah if he does that this could turn into a big PITA, but I will let everyone know :)