Buying A Used Vehicle From Far Away

[longislandcampe]

I'm currently looking for a gently used vehicle but I don't want to buy local. I live on Long Island so we get a double whammy on our cars. No matter where you are on Long Island you are never more than 8 miles away from saltwater. Couple that with the salt that gets laid down on the roads when it snows and you've got a surefire recipe for rust on your vehicles. Throw in the resulting potholes and stop and go traffic too. lol

So I've taken to the internet for my vehicle purchase and am zeroing in on southern and western states which are better on vehicles. I am most likely not going to be able to inspect the vehicle in person simply due to distance. Sure, I'm a little nervous about the process but I"m sure people have been buying cars like this for years and having them shipped to their house without ever seeing the car in person before.

So how does this work? How do I go about getting the car checked out by an independent mechanic before I commit to buying and then having the car shipped hundreds of miles to me? I'm only interested in buying through a dealer. I'm sure the dealer would be more than willing to take some better pics and video of the vehicle and sending them to me but that won't be enough. What are my options?

[riven1950]

jspringator, the boat purchase was through a site like boat trader, similar to rv trader, not EBAY, so no feedback on the seller / broker.

The boat model in question was known for having soft spots in the deck, so I specifically asked about that. He said there was one spot the size of a paper plate. No problem. His paper plate would have needed to be about 10'x10' LOL. Don't know what he was thinking. Guess he figured i'd take it after driving so far. He was a small one man broker outfit so no one to complain to, but he did get an ear full. Good thing is I got my 3000.00 deposit back.

That is why I like EBAY. At least feedback will help weed out the scammers.

[dodge_guy]

dapperdan wrote:
My nephew just fell victim to a long distance fraud deal. He found a '15 RAM 1500 pick up on Detroit's CL (he lives the the Milwaukee WI area) for a "great" price. After texting AND talking to the "owner" they agreed to meet in Chicago and make the deal. My nephew came with cash, the "owner" had the title, and a receipt for the pay off from Chrysler Credit. My nephew asked to see the "owners" ID and he called Chrysler Credit to have the lean payoff verified. The "owners" ID checked out with the info on the title and after the confirmation my nephew test drove the vehicle. All was good at this point so he handed over the cash and was given the title.

My nephew drove back to Milwaukee and promptly titled the vehicle in Wisconsin. This deal took place in early December. Fast forward to about January 20th. He gets a knock on the door from the local law enforcement agency, his "new" truck has been reported stolen in Michigan and they have to impound it!! Of course he's SHOCKED and can't believe it! He's put in touch with the authorities in Michigan and is informed that the REAL owner of the 2015 RAM pick up had been "scammed" by a frauder with a phony bank check! The "real" owner doesn't find this out for a couple of weeks supposedly and alerts the authorities and his insurance company. Michigan tracks the truck back to my nephew and has it impounded, three or four days later it's transported back to Michigan, in the mean time my nephew contacts the local FBI here in Milwaukee and gets them going on the case. So far the authorities here and in Michigan haven't any answers for my nephew. He was told early on the chances of him recovering his 20k is slim to none!

The amazing thing to me is even though my nephew checked the guy's ID at the time of the deal and it matched the address and name on the title AND called and had verification that the loan was paid off he gets "stung" because the "real" owner accepted a phony bank check AND he's got his "stolen" RAM back!!! To top it all off the authorities said he "did everything right" checking the seller out but (they) can't do much to find this scammer. A VERY expensive lesson!!

Dan

I'm guessing the scammer was the guy that got his truck back! Which I'm sure was the guy your son checked out!

[jspringator]

That sounds fishy. He was a bona fide purchaser for value. The former owner actually transferred the vehicle without verifying payment. He should suffer the loss.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_purchaser

[dapperdan]

My nephew just fell victim to a long distance fraud deal. He found a '15 RAM 1500 pick up on Detroit's CL (he lives the the Milwaukee WI area) for a "great" price. After texting AND talking to the "owner" they agreed to meet in Chicago and make the deal. My nephew came with cash, the "owner" had the title, and a receipt for the pay off from Chrysler Credit. My nephew asked to see the "owners" ID and he called Chrysler Credit to have the lean payoff verified. The "owners" ID checked out with the info on the title and after the confirmation my nephew test drove the vehicle. All was good at this point so he handed over the cash and was given the title.

My nephew drove back to Milwaukee and promptly titled the vehicle in Wisconsin. This deal took place in early December. Fast forward to about January 20th. He gets a knock on the door from the local law enforcement agency, his "new" truck has been reported stolen in Michigan and they have to impound it!! Of course he's SHOCKED and can't believe it! He's put in touch with the authorities in Michigan and is informed that the REAL owner of the 2015 RAM pick up had been "scammed" by a frauder with a phony bank check! The "real" owner doesn't find this out for a couple of weeks supposedly and alerts the authorities and his insurance company. Michigan tracks the truck back to my nephew and has it impounded, three or four days later it's transported back to Michigan, in the mean time my nephew contacts the local FBI here in Milwaukee and gets them going on the case. So far the authorities here and in Michigan haven't any answers for my nephew. He was told early on the chances of him recovering his 20k is slim to none!

The amazing thing to me is even though my nephew checked the guy's ID at the time of the deal and it matched the address and name on the title AND called and had verification that the loan was paid off he gets "stung" because the "real" owner accepted a phony bank check AND he's got his "stolen" RAM back!!! To top it all off the authorities said he "did everything right" checking the seller out but (they) can't do much to find this scammer. A VERY expensive lesson!!

Dan

[jspringator]

How was the boat dealer's feedback? My only concern about these (and I've done 2 fly ins) is that if you don't like the car it will cost you a fortune to get home. If you drove it wouldn't be that bad.

[riven1950]

. The reverse, I bought a garage kept low mileage hard top convertible on Long Island off EBAY. Flew from NC early one morning, completed inspection,drove it home that night. Stopped overnight in Delaware I think. Had it four years no problems.

Also made a deal for a boat through a Dealer in Ft Meyers. Drove from NC, dealer was a liar, surprise, surprise. Got my deposit back. Drove home empty handed. Nice little vacation though.

[colliehauler]

jspringator wrote:
The good thing about buying a car on ebay s that you can get exactly what you want, and the seller has accumulated years of feedback. I've bought 2 motorcycles and 3 cars on ebay, but I've personally inspected all of them. I would consider an inspection and shipping , but I've never done it. I'm leary of Autotrader and Craigslist because there is no seller feedback.

This is what I go by as well, I usually give a deposit and go down to complete the deal. I have used Craigslist to buy a used boat last fall from a dealer. I consider myself knowledgeable about vehicles as well, some people aren't and could be intimidating.

[jspringator]

The good thing about buying a car on ebay s that you can get exactly what you want, and the seller has accumulated years of feedback. I've bought 2 motorcycles and 3 cars on ebay, but I've personally inspected all of them. I would consider an inspection and shipping , but I've never done it. I'm leary of Autotrader and Craigslist because there is no seller feedback.

[Sam_Spade]

falconbrother wrote:

Anyway, nothing wrong with buying a vehicle on-line as long as you know who your dealing with and have a guarantee that if the car isn't what they said it was you get your money back.

BINGO.

[falconbrother]

I was a police officer for 26.4 years. I spent 19 of those years in the detective division and worked/supervised fraud - computer crimes from 1995 - 2011. I would totally buy a car over the internet but, only from a dealership that I could verify. I was a crew chief in the USAF so, I can fix most things that break on a car. I have a buddy that only buys cars for his family and himself on-line. There are some awesome deals on-line but, a couple of things to remember. When you get a screaming good deal you can count on having to make some repairs. My rule is that as long as my total expenditure is still a great deal I will do it. I want to end up with a car that I know exactly what I have from bumper to bumper and can get 100,000 miles out of it.

Over the years I saw more cases than I can count where people got burned on internet - long distance car deals. In every case they saw something they wanted and sent the money with no verification that it was a legit deal. Craigslist can be dangerous. Going straight to a dealerships website is usually pretty safe. Here's a local dealership that has a pretty good reputation in North Carolina:

http://www.31dodge.com/used-inventory/index.htm

I am just posting this as an example of what I consider to be a legitimate dealership that does a lot of on-line sales. In the middle of NC we don't have issues with a lot of salt. I also think these folks have competitive pricing. I don't work there or have any vested interest in whether they sell a car. But, I do know that I own a Chrysler and I drive from my town to these folks because the Chrysler dealer where I live hasn't treated me or anyone I know very good.

Anyway, nothing wrong with buying a vehicle on-line as long as you know who your dealing with and have a guarantee that if the car isn't what they said it was you get your money back.

[drsteve]

Sam Spade wrote:
I also think that you should not obsess over the salt thing if it will be a recent model.....say less than 10 years old.

Think again. Here in MI there are plenty of ten year old vehicles with major amounts of rust from the road salt. Unless you store it all winter, it's going to get destroyed.

[moresmoke]

I bought a F350 out of Texas sight unseen on ebay. Bought my Mom a plane ticket and sent her to get it. (It was her choice, go to Texas, or watch the kids!) While this one did turn out to have accident damage that was not recorded anywhere, for the price I paid, I had not regrets about it, and no rust. I don't blame the seller at all, he bought it at auction, so had no way of knowing about the previous damage.

That said, I put 150K on that truck before I sold it. And it even was a 6.0...

I have bought a large number of vehicles and equipment over the years. Some I looked at ahead of time, and some sight unseen. At this point, I would say the unseen purchases are ahead for value. I just refuse to overpay, it has to be a bargain deal for me to buy without looking at it. but those deals are out there.

My current truck, I bought more local because I found what I was looking for, and it was a hard to find combination. Now I have a 9 year old truck that has holes rusted in the bed from salt.

[Sam_Spade]

colliehauler wrote:

I disagree with Sam Spade in that salt is a big deal. I have seen new cars rust through in less then 5 years in MN.

I did NOT say it is not (possibly) a big deal.
I DID say "don't obsess over it".

If you have the vehicle where you can LOOK at it and have it inspected, you should be able to tell if it is developing a problem or not.

Cars bodys are generally better built than they were even 10 years ago.

[longislandcampe]

The vehicles ive found are 10 and 15 hour drives so I'd probably have to spend the night somewhere on the way home. Not only that, but I'm looking at stick shifts and being that inns we drive one before I don't feel like learning on a 10+ hour trip home. Lol

[DownTheAvenue]

If you are buying an automobile and not a RV, then a factory certified used car (not a "certified" dealer term) is your best bet. You will get a warranty backed by the manufacturer for usually 100000 miles and 7 years for the powertrain and a 12 month 12000 mile bumper to bumper also backed by the manufacturer. Why not just grab a cheap flight and drive home? Probably about the same costs as shipping!