question about buying a car that you don't personally go and get...

[police1]

how would you guys handle it if you were going to purchase a car from someone that you don't personally go and get yourself as far as paying for it. thanks!

[68charger383]

Fed-Ex a bank certified check........there really is nothing else you can do to protect yourself....its a leap of faith, not much more then buying the car sight unseen.

Tell your friend to read this thread, http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,40552.0.html

[bull]

I wouldn't bother unless you've seen the car in person.

[police1]

a buddy of mine found a car he wants but he doesn't have the time to actually go to where it is. i guess he's talked to the guy and he's sent him everything he's asked for as far as pics, other questions, etc.. he says he has a real good feeling about it..

[Aero426]

a buddy of mine found a car he wants but he doesn't have the time to actually go to where it is. i guess he's talked to the guy and he's sent him everything he's asked for as far as pics, other questions, etc.. he says he has a real good feeling about it..

Buying a car without having someone see it in person first is like playing Russian Roulette. 

[bull]

a buddy of mine found a car he wants but he doesn't have the time to actually go to where it is. i guess he's talked to the guy and he's sent him everything he's asked for as far as pics, other questions, etc.. he says he has a real good feeling about it..

I wonder what the ratio is for people who've had good experiences to those who've gotten screwed when buying this way? I bet it's not the kind of odds we would normally gamble on.

[69bronzeT5]

...*real good feeling about it*. Maybe I should drop my two cents again real quick. I'm gonna say NO. I bought a '68 charger in Seattle a long time ago, the assholes name is Gary Ross who I bought the car from. It was a stolen car he had stored in his garage, I gave him the cash, $1500.00 for the car and he said come back in 1 hour for the title, I did, with the car in my name I thought I would be ok, wrong. He left town. The car sat in a police impound for 5 months till I bought a new title for it and shipped it to me here in Alaska. The org. owner found out about all this crap two years later. Long story made short, I had to buy the car back from him  before I could drive the car and own it legally in my name. Yeah, this was the worst car deal I had ever made. I'm to pissed off now to even explain the hole deal, I owned the car for 6 years, only drove it twice and sold it for $250.00 after all the crap I went through. Leason learned, the hard way. My dad was a cop back then and tried to track the guy down, he was never found. Probably not even the guys real name.

Mark
Edit: in the end of all the crap I went through w/the car, I paid a total of 6 grand in fees and yes, I sold it for $250.00....

Ouch, that sucks

[41husk]

I would at least have some one from the site go take a look at the car for you.  When I bought my 73 I had someone on the site going out to check it out and he could never get the owner to cooperate.  I should have known something was up.  I bought the car with a bank cashiers check had the car picked up and delivered.  I started to get nervouse when the carrier called to set up delivery and said I sure hope you diddn't pay much for this car.  It was much worse than described and more of a project than I wanted to tackle, so I tried to clean it up a bit and sell it at Monster Mopar for the price I had paid and eat shipping.  I couldn't even get a bite.  So I ended up making the wanna bee.  For the money I have in price shipping and restoration, I could have probably bought a real Bee   I would not trust pictures, pictures can be munipulated to make the car look much better than it is.  I had many pictures and the car was described as rust free.  Well, I guess the rust was free, the rest of the car was costly  

[hutch]

a buddy of mine found a car he wants but he doesn't have the time to actually go to where it is. i guess he's talked to the guy and he's sent him everything he's asked for as far as pics, other questions, etc.. he says he has a real good feeling about it..

Buying a car without having someone see it in person first is like playing Russian Roulette. 

Bingo.  Its a total crap shoot.  If anything use the factor that you cant see the car as a reason to low ball the offer if you must have the car for some reason.  You can hire a local shop to have a look at the car if you are a high end collector.

[lilwendal]

Every state will offer to run the VIN for free. I call the local police auto thief unit and give them the VIN to check if it is registered stolen.
9 times out of ten they give me the answer right there while I'm on the phone with them.  Its a nation wide search they run and will at least give peace of mind that your not getting screwed.
Have you ever got half way through a rotesorie resto on a bill of sale car and then wnet to get title and find its got issues?
Luckly that story had a happy ending but if could have been a costly procrastination.

[68charger383]

Great idea to have someone on here take a look or at least call these guys for $100 they will at least physically look at the car and give you a general inspection and do a test drive on the car http://www.carchex.com/

[oldcarnut]

For a small fee I've heard there are some 3rd party businesses or banks that will function as middle person to hold your funds until the owner produces a title etc. or the car has a chance to be inspected.  That way if the seller has been truthfull, he knows he has a payment and the buyer can feel a little more confident.  Once both sides are happy, the paperwork and money are transferred to the new parties.  I wish I could forward a name but I've only heard about it.   I just bought a 70 RR for a SB clone site unseen except for the ebay pics which weren't that good. The car was in Texas and I'm in SC. I really was uncomfortable wiring over money first but I had the guy send me a scanned copy of the title, a promissory note, and I checked out his phone numbers, bank account and addresses to see that everything was as told before I did. If I dragged my feet I stood a chance to lose it. I was told it was a numbers matching, pretty solid car, with only a couple rust issues on original paint. I sweat it out until it got here but for $8500 I expected worse.  Some things were not as bad as he described it but it did have a couple more dents and a cracked windshield that was neglected to mention but overall I feel I did ok so it worked out.  Hopefully yours will too but don't send anything without getting some proof of ownership etc.  Here's what I got.

[DodgeChargerNeeded]

You will be very lucky only if you find a very honest person. Most of the time there is something condition wise always left out leaving the buyer disappointed and once the car is in your hands and the money is in the sellers hands there is next to nothing you can do about it. But you may get lucky. Otherwise its a big gamble.

[Kevin69RTvert]

I've used www.automobileinspections.com twice and have had very good experiences with them.

For $360 they looked at the car, took it for a ride. I received a 5-6 page report with a rating for mechanical, electrical, body, paint. I also received 50-60 pictures. I also had them check specific items such as body #s, VIN, title, etc.

The first car they looked at for me had some issues that were not described in the ad. In the report, the inspector actually advised me to negotiate a lower price.

As for paying for the car, that can be risky. DO NOT SEND THROUGH WESTERN UNION!!! That is only for when your buddy breaks down in another state or needs bail money because that girl wasn't really 18. It is not for people you don't know.

I ended up sending a wire transfer AFTER I had the inspection and did a little research on the person I was buying the car from. This can also be risky but I only did it because the person I bought the car from was an FBI agent and I was sending to the FBI Credit Union.

There are services that will have the carrier you use act as the middle man. The carrier holds the money until the car is on the trailer. IIRC, the people at automobileinspections told me about this method.

-Kevin

[KMPX2]

Depends on the price.

[Magnumcharger]

Hi,
Funny how you ask this question at this time.
I just bought a 1968 Dodge truck on Ebay in December.
I paid the seller by PayPal, in January. No problem.
Then I arranged shipping via a company I found on Moparts, in February.
Again, I paid the 15% deposit by PayPal. No problem.
I drove down to the border two weeks ago, met the shipper there, and paid the balance directly to the driver by cash. I drove the truck back, and it was everything the seller said it would be.
I guess I got lucky.