I have only done this twice and both times my
experience was good. The first time (the Plymouth) was
less intimidating than it could've been since I sorta
knew Roger Howard from the list before meeting him,
and I have family in the Seattle area (and lived there
myself some years back). As it turns out, my family is
not a great deal of help to me on opinions (especially
my sister, who sees a bad coat of paint and thinks
junkyard) but I sure used them as a support system
when going up there to pick cars up. Roger was
extremely good about disclosing problems in advance
and I was (and am) delighted with the Plymouth.
The 300 was a little bit different, although it also
came from the Seattle area. This was an eBay purchase
that I hadn't really expected to make (I thought sure
someone would outbid me on it, but bid low on the
offchance people were sleeping, which they were). The
seller described the car honestly and I am very happy
with it also.
I drove both cars home from Seattle (857 miles, plus a
lot of driving around Seattle while I tried to assess
their roadworthiness). The Plymouth needed a generator
and voltage regulator; I bought these in SF and flew
up with them, plus tools. I didn't need anything like
this for the 300 but did bring a tool set. I am not
sure they would let me on a plane with this stuff
today. The Plymouth gave me no problems, the 300 had a
flat 30 miles south of Seattle on the return journey
and no probs beyond that. (Sure glad I understood
about LH thread... ...I took the 300 to a tire shop
after I got home and not knowing how to say
"left-handed thread" in Spanish had to hit the reverse
button on the air wrench and hand it back to the
guy...)
One major thing that I would recommend to all others
thinking about this. In both cases I got these cars at
very reasonable prices, so much so that I could've
justified dumping much larger sums into them if I had
to. (I expect to dump big $ into both over time as it
is, but not until the economy picks up.) I might have
been less happy with these purchases if I had paid
more than I did. I do have friends who have bought
cars long-distance and have been much less happy, and
it seems the relative dollar amount has been a factor
in their happiness or lack of. So be sure to factor in
the hassle factor in a purchase like this.
Mike in SF.
--- Dave Grove Grove Automotive
<groveautomotive@xxxxxx> wrote:
> Anyone have any "tips/advice" relative to the
> purchase of a vehicle when you will never meet the
> current owner (like when the seller as well as the
> car are on the other side of the country)? Not
> being able to actually see the car is not of great
> concern (I have a "dis-interested" party near the
> vehicle who will check it out for me), but I *am* a
> bit nervous about sending $$$ and then *hoping*
> the seller will send me my car.
> There must be some sort of
> "rules/guidelines/standards or proper procedures"
> for transactions such as this that people generally
> follow. I would appreciate any input/opinions -
> this will be the first time I have ever purchased a
> car "sight unseen".- wish me luck.
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