buying a car remotely

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B

Bush

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Hi all,

I'm in the market to purchase another A body. I have never purchased a car remotely. How are you guys handling these transactions? What is a safe way to ensure you don't get ripped off, I don't want to just send money and hope the seller is honest. what othgrr things do you do to make sure the care is what the seller says it is? Any information anyone could provide would be helpful.

Thanks

The FNG:newb:
 
If you don't want to be dissapointed go see the car in person.

My Dad got scammed by a classic car lot when he bought by pics and discription only. The pics where taken at all the right angles to hide a lot. the discription was pretty off as well. IE: Holes the size of a football under the carpet on a "nearly rust free" car. Not to mention paying for the initial shipping twice as the rail company said the other guys cheque bounced and wouldn't let my dad see the car until he paid first.

After a long fight he sent the car back and He bought another one later but had an appraiser look at it as he didn't want to fly out. It was better but still not as discribed.

I bought my last Duster prior to all this without seeing it. Was also rougher then I hoped with a lot of "cute" things and "good parts" swapped onto it.

When I bought my Belvedere I went out to see it and was much happier to do so. Sadly it seems the car hobby has more then it's fair share of con artists and people willing to hide things.
 
make some time and find a way to go see it, or expect the worst. I read about people getting scammed all the time by doing dumb stuff like sending money for cars sight unseen and then freaking out because they got burned. even worse case scenarios of them getting taken for all their money. after all, this is the internet........
 
68383GTS said:
I could never buy a car without seeing it first in person.
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Yep.....Fairlane we bought years ago.....had a crapload of pictures of the body. Looked great. Floors were roofing felt/tar.

If you can not find a trusted person to look at it then let it go. And if you can find a trusted person YOU give them a list of what to look at, do not just assume that because they are a fellow gear head that they will look at what you would look at.
 
I bought one vehicle through eBay several years ago. Luckily only one thing about it was not as described. It was an 86 Ramcharger, 318/stick with a 4" lift and 33x12.5s with 3.73 gears. When I got it home, I discovered it was still running the stock 3.21s. Can you say, DOG? Other than that, I was happy with it overall. Good luck, but have someone you can trust inspect if at all possible.
 
Short of springing for an airline ticket and car rental, there are companies that can conduct an inspection for you. If what you are looking at is going for big money, it might be worth it. I learned that lesson the EXPENSIVE way. I wasn't going to fly 3,000 miles so I rolled the dice. Next time I'll know better.
 
If you do a google/bing search for pre purchase auto inspections the are companies that have been doing this for years. Seems a good inspection will run about $200 and up. I don't remember who I was going to have do one for me but their websites describe the services pretty good. They usually have sample reports. I'd say it's probably money well spent. Last minute air fares are pretty pricey along with a rental car it would probably end up costing you many hundreds of $$$
 
Could see if a member is local to the car and willing to go check it out. Most if not all the guys here are pretty honest
 
03JeepJeep said:
Could see if a member is local to the car and willing to go check it out. Most if not all the guys here are pretty honest
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I did that when I bought the Scamp. Being honest and knowing how to inspect a car correctly are 2 different things. My car is Beautiful it just has everything mechanically all fucked up that you can think of. Lol
 
Mad Dart said:
I did that when I bought the Scamp. Being honest and knowing how to inspect a car correctly are 2 different things. My car is Beautiful it just has everything mechanically all fucked up that you can think of. Lol
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I remember seeing that scamp it looked like a really nice car. I guess the best thing would be fly out or have an inspection done or possibly both. Trying to get everything lined up before the car gets sold could be tricky. I prefer to buy a local car if possible but am also willing to do what it takes to get a nice car. I'm going to mopars in the park see if anything is for sale there. Seems like people want crazy money at that place...
 
If you feel comfortable with the conversation you have with them you will be ok.
If they always answer your calls that's a good thing too.
I Have bought 5,6 cars sight unseen and have been happy with all.
Bank wire is the best form of payment.
If they are willing to give you a copy of there license then they should be ok too, if they won't do not deal with them.
 
i have been shopping for a dart and trying to find something close to home, few hours away, so that i can go look at. my uncle bought one off of ebay was not really happy, had to replace his COPO Camaro he sold to the colorado museum. so if you can't look at it don't buy it. but thats just me
 
03JeepJeep said:
Could see if a member is local to the car and willing to go check it out. Most if not all the guys here are pretty honest
Click to expand...

Mad Dart said:
I did that when I bought the Scamp. Being honest and knowing how to inspect a car correctly are 2 different things. My car is Beautiful it just has everything mechanically all fucked up that you can think of. Lol
Click to expand...

I would add to this scenario. IF you have someone local to the car go look at it for you, have them on the phone while they are there and ask them to look at specific things, ask them what they are seeing etc.. Also plenty of photos.
 
I bought my current '69 Dart project on eBay and was very happy with the car when I got it. Had only seen the pics that were posted on eBay and talked with the seller.
Payment was handled through an escrow account. I put payment funds into the account and didn't release them to the seller until I received and inspected the car. Worked out great for both the seller and me. He knew the payment funds were there and guaranteed and I knew I had the chance to receive and inspect the car before my money was transferred to the seller.
 
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