boltonblue

OK folks, I figure a few us us may have purchased a car from a person, not a dealer, who was remote. ( Patty?)

I'm curious how the deal went down once you got to yes.
How did you ensure that weren't a scam that you were kissing your money goodbye?

that is short of flying out to execute the deal?

jukngene

I can only give you comments on my one transaction when I bought my '08 in August to replace the '01 I totaled, but maybe it will help.

I just happened to see a post on Facebook in one of the many S2000 groups when the owner was responding to another post from someone who was looking to buy an S in the Illinois area. He stated he had the '08 for sale and was relatively near Illinois in Indiana. The car really caught my eye and the pictures he posted looked like it just came off the showroom floor, plus it only had 33,500 miles or so. I immediately sent him a PM explaining my situation and we corresponded back and forth via PM several times. Then, I made him an offer which he accepted. I just had a good feeling about him based on our correspondence, so I guess you could say I acted on faith that he had represented it fairly. At first he wanted cash, but no way was I gonna take over $30K in cash on the flight to Indiana, so he agreed to accept a wire transfer. He gave me his banking information and I went to my Credit Union and arranged for the transfer, which he got that afternoon. I had already bought the plane ticket for a flight out the next morning, so he met me at the hotel and I followed him to his house in my rental after I arrived. The car was everything he said, plus some, so I knew I had made the right decision and drove it home the next morning. So, I really had no guarantee that he wouldn't take my money and run, except for the gut feeling I had about him. YMMV.

Morris

Gene, I'm glad that worked okay for you. I'm not sure I would have that much faith in someone I never met.
Jerry I would at least try to find someone in the area to check out the car for you. I'd also ask to look at their registration and drivers license to make sure they matched. You could do that yourself, live, with Facetime or another app.

tof

I bought a Galant VR4 remotely, although I did fly up to pick up the car in Pittsburgh. I had it inspected by a local shop and they reported some "surface rust" on the underside of the body. A year later and I was able to poke my finger through this surface rust in several areas. I don't think the previous owner was aware of how much of an issue the rust turned out to be. He was very up-front about the turbo that didn't really seem to do much and which I had replaced before I picked up the car.

I bought my NSX from someone with a long history on NSX Prime. That is always a good indicator. And it turned out to be a great and accurately represented purchase.

I sold the VR-4 to a guy who came in from Wisconsin with a buddy to drive it home. I was up front about the rust but he still wanted it. I sold the NSX to a guy in Chicago who bought it sight unseen and who had it shipped. I think his trust was secured by my participation in NSX Prime, extensive documentation, and the fact that the previous sale of the car were well documented on Prime..

Hope that helps a little.

Scooterboy

When I bought my latest S2000 I found it on Facebook. The seller sent me lots of pictures and we agreed on a price. I couldn't close the deal for two weeks as we were leaving for Europe the next day. I offered a non-refundable deposit if he would hold the car until I could get to Charlotte to check it out. He accepted and took a load of cash and made the deal.

Lainey

So what are you looking at, Jerry?

We never purchased remotely. When we purchased the 2016 P car, it was purchased from a dealer, but it was there on consignment. If they had bought the car outright from the seller, the existing warranty would have been voided. Technically, we bought it from the owner.

The dealer was very upfront with the details, and had good reviews (not a P car dealer) The dealer not having the title in-house made me a bit nervous. Thankfully, all went well.

boltonblue

I'm not jinxing anything yet. the last few times I thought I had a deal something went sideways.
I suspect you know the brand.
I had an SL600 project car lined up for three grand but screwed around to long figuring out transport details, kind of looking for the perfect answer.
Mean while he sold the car. It was a no brainer as well. the wheels on the car were worth the entire transaction. including shipped. Dumbass.
And did I mention it was in my favorite MB color emerald green. Who knows maybe I was just reluctant to squeeze the trigger.
Who knows maybe by the end of the day I'll buy two.

or not, just got text saying missing detail not checked yet.

boltonblue

JackTs2K

Here's how the last on line sale I did went. Car was advertised on autotrader. Buyer agreed to the price I wanted and would fly down to SC to pick the car up. His payment plan was interesting. He asked if we banked at any national bank. We did and he opened an account (online) at the same national bank my wife used. He then deposited the agreed funds in his newly opened account. When he came to pick the car up we went to the bank, and he transferred his funds into my wife's account. At that point I signed the title and we were done. No wads of cash, no worrying if checks/MOs were real, no fuss, no muss. If I were to buy a car online again, this is the way I would do it also. And I never should have sold that car - 2004 GPW with about 40k miles.

dlq04

That sounds like a really good safe way to handle the transaction.