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?

[colliehauler]

Just purchased a Excursion last weekend in TX. Two years ago I purchased a used 3/4 ton Ford in TX. No salt on the roads.

I bought both on ebay. If you're uncomfortable buying without kicking the tires it might be worthwhile to take a vacation go down and buy a truck. Texas has them in large quantities.

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.

[kevden]

I wanted a southern vehicle for the same reasons. I found our Yukon on autotrader.com it was a private owner selling it. He had alot of pictures online, and took additional ones for me. I was going to use an escrow service that would hold the payment until the vehicle was shipped and I could inspect it. If I did not like it, I would have had to pay to ship it back. The seller did not want to go through that. I flew to TX and he picked me up at the airport with the Yukon. I brought a transport plate from my dmv and an insurance card with me to drive it home, I think we used a bank check or cashiers check for payment.
But, you may not need to go that far away to find a clean vehicle. I have since then bought our pacifica and routan in massachusetts. They were several years old and still looked new underneath. The mechanic where I work bought his truck there and the underside was great as well. They have road salt restrictions there.

[midnightsadie]

I , done this on two motorhomes both worked out well. do your home work ASSUME nothing and everything on paper easy deal.

[windviewer]

Prepurchase inspections on aircraft are done all the time. pay a trusted mechanic to do the inspection and list the results. negotiate price from that report (or decide that the aircraft is not for you)

Works for most anything but you do have to pay for the inspection.

We saved ourselves lots of money after we found an aircraft that looked good to us (we physically looked at it). Sent mechanic up with partner who found a list of problems WAY beyond what we would have found. Didn't buy that one (and salesman was real ticked off at our mechanic).

[FishOnOne]

My BIL purchased a 2007 Ram from Arizona. He viewed plenty of pictures and negotiated the price over the phone. The guy owned the truck and had the title in hand. BIL flew from Texas to Arizona and purchased that truck the same day and drove it back home. We still own that truck as a farm/ranch truck to this very day.

[Bionic_Man]

A few years back I did the same thing. I was looking for a 2500 Suburban 8.1, and I found one in Portland (I live in Colorado).

I had the selling dealer take a TON Of photos (like 100), and then I facetimed with him as he walked all around the car, started and ran it.

The dealer had a good rating from BBB which made me feel a little better. And I had someone that I "knew" from a boating forum go out and check the car out before I pulled the trigger.

At the time, I made an excuse to go to Portland for work, and ended up driving the car home. If I had it to do over again, I would have just had it shipped. The dealer could have helped with that, or I could have just used Uship. The cost to ship wouldn't have been considerably more than the cost to pay for fuel on the drive home.

For me, everything worked out very well. The car was just as I expected.

I have a friend that makes his living buying and selling boats. He buys very few boats in his home area, and sees very few in person. But he follows what I outlined above, and it works out.

Those that say you have to shop near home are missing out on some great opportunities if you ask me.

[Sam_Spade]

cm11599ps wrote:
I am most likely not going to be able to inspect the vehicle in person simply due to distance. What are my options?

Simple. DON'T DO THAT. JUST DON'T.

There are a LOT of scammers out there just waiting to pounce on someone like you. a LOT.

I think you should re-focus your search to an area where you CAN inspect and drive the car......like Virginia and a bit south.

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.

If you buy anything sight unseen the odds are OVERWHELMING that you will be sorry.

[patperry2766]

There are mobile car inspection companies that should do it for a couple of hundred bucks.

When I was in car sales, I had alot of people travel, sometimes great distances to purchase from me and I NEVER misrepresented a vehicle. I would personally take several pics of the car. If it had a scratch, dent or ding it was disclosed and a pic was taken and sent to them.

I personally never wanted my integrity questioned by having a person spend time and money to come buy a car and them not getting exactly what was described. A lot of it is finding a salesman you feel like you can trust and is being honest (they're out there).

You should be able to weed out the hacks from the legitimate salesman by making them in writing agree to pay for at least 1/2 your transportation costs should the vehicle not be as described.

[patperry2766]

There are mobile car inspection companies that should do it for a couple of hundred bucks.

When I was in car sales, I had alot of people travel, sometimes great distances to purchase from me and I NEVER misrepresented a vehicle. I would personally take several pics of the car. If it had a scratch, dent or ding it was disclosed and a pic was taken and sent to them.

I personally never wanted my integrity questioned by having a person spend time and money to come buy a car and them not getting exactly what was described. A lot of it is finding a salesman you feel like you can trust and is being honest (they're out there).

You should be able to weed out the hacks from the legitimate salesman by making them in writing agree to pay for at least 1/2 your transportation costs should the vehicle not be as described.

[Bumpyroad]

folks here have paid for an inspection of a RV before making the trip. an inspection of a truck would be much simpler IMHO. but if it passes his/her inspection results and you are interested, fly out and look at it yourself. I am sure that the owner wants some earnest money. I share your concern with buying something stored/used/etc.near salt water. a couple at work moved to the DC area from Peurto Rico. looked into the car trunk. solid rust from airborne salt.
bumpy