Long Distance Car Buying - Who's done it and how?

[Seria17hri11er]

Hey all,

Has anyone bought a car over a long distance?

The main reason I ask, is how did you handle exchanging the car and money?

I see there is a service like Escrow.com but it doesn't have great reviews.

Any other super legit escrow services? Really having a hard time finding what I want within a reasonable driving distance. Opening up to much farther locations really opens up the choices.

[oliver.r]

i have bought 2 cars out of state. the first was a m3 out of Florida and the second a 911 out of texas. both transactions where the same.
i had the signed title sent to me.
i sent the funds
then the seller shipped the car.
both times it was really easy and straight forward but you do have to have some trust with the person you are dealing with

[McGyver]

Since you're asking about an escrow service I assume you're not a complete idiot, but apparently the new popular scam is for the "seller" to get paid in pictures of Amazon gift card codes. It's always a scam.

[deutschman]

Some one from WA bought my e30 in CA.
The way we worked it is this.
He had a prepurchase inspection set up at a local to me BMW shop, and I delivered the car. They reported back to him on its condition. He then sent me a deposit on the car, and flew down to CA. I picked him up at the airport, and we drove back to my place so he could check the car out for himself, do paper work, and pay me. He then happily drove home with his new project car.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Some one from WA bought my e30 in CA.
The way we worked it is this.
He had a prepurchase inspection set up at a local to me BMW shop, and I delivered the car. They reported back to him on its condition. He then sent me a deposit on the car, and flew down to CA. I picked him up at the airport, and we drove back to my place so he could check the car out for himself, do paper work, and pay me. He then happily drove home with his new project car.

mine was in Canada, but similar process

[DrJosh]

Some one from WA bought my e30 in CA.
The way we worked it is this.
He had a prepurchase inspection set up at a local to me BMW shop, and I delivered the car. They reported back to him on its condition. He then sent me a deposit on the car, and flew down to CA. I picked him up at the airport, and we drove back to my place so he could check the car out for himself, do paper work, and pay me. He then happily drove home with his new project car.

This is how I have done it.

[imjusthere]

I bought my e30 in GA. Flew there, gave him a cashiers check and drove back to WA. He picked me up from the airport and we did paperwork at his house. I wouldn't give anyone any money until I'd seen the car in person.

[frolf]

Some one from WA bought my e30 in CA.
The way we worked it is this.
He had a prepurchase inspection set up at a local to me BMW shop, and I delivered the car. They reported back to him on its condition. He then sent me a deposit on the car, and flew down to CA. I picked him up at the airport, and we drove back to my place so he could check the car out for himself, do paper work, and pay me. He then happily drove home with his new project car.

I did something similar when I did bought my e30 in CA. But I used paypal to transfer a deposit. Flew to LA, got picked up by PO, signed title, sent remaining balance via paypal, drove 17hrs home.

[Seria17hri11er]

Thanks guys!

[littlehandegan]

Ask for a scan of front and rear of drivers license as well as front and rear of the title.

Have him sign the bill of sale and fax/email it back to you.

Also, be sure they overnight the title after you send funds.

I always do some serious internet searching when dealing with someone. I have bought and sold over a dozen cars this way. (From ebay to even craigslist)

[Seria17hri11er]

But, you know I just can't see sending a deposit. Someone can get a wild hair up their arse and decide to sell to someone else, or just flake out or whatever and not refund the deposit. If the person was an established member of a forum like this with buying/selling feedback then I wouldn't be concerned.

Having the signed title sent before sending funds: takes a lot of faith on the sellers part, I bet many people wont be willing to do that. They can still con you this way. They can just get a new title saying it's lost. Meanwhile you'd have to take them to court to get your money back.

Really I guess the only way to do this without an Escrow service is to purchase from an established forum member with positive feedback.

Ebay provides protection. If you don't receive what you purchased you get the cash back. No protection for vehicles that don't end up being as described.

Perhaps PPI, then telling the seller to perform the transaction through Ebay would be best.

[jeffnhiscars]

You e got some very good advice here about how to tie up a car long distance but they seem to all involve picking it up and concluding the deal in person. If you are uncomfortable about losing a modest deposit then you really should buy local. Keep in mind that the seller who takes your deposit is agreeing to pull the car off the market til you get there so for his/her standpoint there's the risk of you not showing up. In short, deposits work both ways and rely on good faith from both parties.

I prefer to complete any deals in my bank and since NC requires a notarized title it makes sense for several reasons. Once it's notarized you have legally conveyed your interest even though it's still registered to you. Here, if you keep a copy of the notarized title and the new owner get in a wreck before transferring it, you are off the hook. Subtle but important. The other pluses to doing it in the bank are...fake money orders/cashier checks etc are common. Someone who gives you one in a bank which you deposit....all on camera...is a total moron and will not get far. Secondly, large quantities of cash have risks (think Elliot Spitzer & Dennis Hastert). Most people don't care or have a reason to, but at least in the bank it's all on record and you are not likely to hear from Fincen (Google them and SAR)

As far as shipping a signed title and hoping for payment....ugh !!! Not a good idea !!!

[mrob]

burned by escrow.com

In theory it's the perfect solution: they hold the money and title until the car arrives and you approve it. Then they release the money to the seller and the title to you.

But what if they "accidentally" destroy the title, as they recently did in my case?

Their pathetic defense: "this never happens!"

The moral of the story: avoid escrow.com like the plague.

[flyboyx]

ask the member vtechlol about buying long distance cars. i have done this a few times but they were cheap cars.

i came close to buying a ferrari long distance a couple years ago. one sold before i was able to move on it the other one i did actually fly all the way to san luis obispo. ppi's are a great idea but believe it or not there are no experts within a hundred miles of there for that type of car. i looked at it myself and it determined it was a piece of crap.

my point is that unless you go and look at it yourself, you are always going to be taking a risk.

the problem is that it depends on the price of the car. i you are buying a sub 4k vehicle, it may not cost be effective to buy an airline ticket and take a few days off work. if you are buying something costing 30+k, then it might be a different story.

[mbonder]

I purchased several vehicles out of state, however, I've always taken delivery in person, except for one time.

I've always taken a train/plane to the seller's location and checked the car out in person. If they need a deposit, I've sent a small amount of money ($200 or so, never more as I'd be really unhappy losing more than that on a transaction gone sour), but most sellers I've dealt with take you buying a plane ticket as enough interest on your part to hold the car. If they have an issue with a small deposit than you don't want to deal with them anyway, there are more cars out there for you to buy, have the courage to pass.

The one time I bought a car sight unseen was from an established forum member here on r3v. Spoke with him at length on the phone and had him shoot a video walk around of the car for me to see. Interestingly enough, I was on vacation in Hawaii while doing all of this, the seller was in Chicago, and it was shipped to my home in NJ. I paypaled the money and he sent the title by certified mail so I could register it ahead of the car's arrival. Car arrived two weeks later and everyone was happy. The car had a broken timing belt and was a project so I knew I wasn't getting something that was supposed to be perfect upon arrival, but I would never buy this way outside of a trusted forum member.

Most people who are looking to buy a car get sucked into the feeling that there is only one car out there and they must buy it, regardless of whether the car is actually worth it or the seller is actually worth buying from. When people get blinded by the feeling that "I must buy it" they are really vulnerable to being scammed. Take the emotion out of it and if something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't, so walk away, another car will come around that is better with a seller that is more trustworthy.

Case in point, I looked at an e39 this past week for a daily driver and the seller didn't want me to test drive the car without agreeing to make an offer on it afterward. We took the test drive, which consisted of a spin literally around the block, traveling less than a quarter mile at a max speed of 30 mph. Got out of the car and he tells me that earlier in the day someone had made an offer but he wasn't willing to share what they offered. I walked away after that, feeling that all of this sent up a bunch of red flags, he was hiding something. Even if he wasn't, I didn't feel comfortable dealing with someone selling the way he was. There are more e39s out there and my search continues, but at least I didn't end up with a transaction that went bad or a car that I didn't actually want.

Phew, long post...