Need advice buying a car long distance

My wagon was a day's drive away. I have family in the area, so I had my cousin check the car out and send me her own pics before I made the trip. I also spent about an hour on the phone with the PO. Everything sounded good, so I did the deal.

I treated the whole situation as a weekend vacation, we did some touristy stuff around San Francisco, took my son to a nice restaurant for his birthday, etc. That way if the car was a disappointment, we were still having fun and spending time with family so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time.