So i'm shopping again....

[paul p (chi-town)]

What is the standard operating procedure for buying a car from an individual long distance?
Obviously proceeding with caution is advisable. But once it’s clear that you want the car and the seller seems relatively trustworthy......
Send/wire/pay-pal a deposit? What % of total? Balance upon picking it up?
I’m hoping to have someone local to the car look at it (have a lead or two, anyone in NYC wanna help too...holla, it’s in upper Manhattan) but at the price point i’m looking at it’s not mandatory. Although since i’m planning on driving it home........
TIA guys.

94 530iT&A---92 325i.......”Hang up & Drive!”.....no SERiously
”Bet that phone call doesn’t seem that important now, eh?” Nov 20, 2004

[motuman]

FWIW - The last two times I bought long distance I had the car inspected by a local independent mechanic. In both cases, the list of problems found resulted in negotiating a lower price from the seller.

Best of luck.

[632 Regal]

dont do a deposit til someone checks the car out and has it inspected, then either negotiate a price or place a deposit. I dont think you should secure a deposit over $250 no matter what.

[DaCan23]

These cars from ebay? Watch out for shill bidding..... very very common on ebay motors... Sure you want a car from NYC? I've seen a few I'd be interested in, but would want a car that lived in a major city, just gets banged up and abused too much. Its tough finding a good car in your area on ebay, I've given up lookin at anything thats not in my driving area, too many horror stories... just my 2 cents

[paul p (chi-town)]

Thanks guys.
Oh yeah, won’t be talkin cash at all until condition is verified.
In this case the car is off of Autotrader, not Ebay. If it was from a dealer w/ a great feedback history i’d feel comfortable sight unseen (in person that is). It’s from a private seller so i’m asking for lots of specific pictures before i even send in my surrogates. If they can’t come thru, yeah and independent mech might be a good idea.
I’m more concerned about the deposit-delivery process and what the usual practice is.

As for the location issue.........you can make assuptions and then be totally wrong.
I looked at a Sentra that was from Arkansas up untill 2002 and then was out in the deep west burbs. It was very rusty, no hole thru but it was just everywhere. The interior was trash too. My last Sentra was in the Chicago metro it’s entire life, and was nearly immaculate, shockinly clean for a 10 year old econobox. With these things getting rarer and rarer i do need to look ‘under every rock’.


94 530iT&A---92 325i.......”Hang up & Drive!”.....no SERiously
”Bet that phone call doesn’t seem that important now, eh?” Nov 20, 2004

[DaCan23]

What are you in the market for anyways Paul? A 3rd Bimmer?

[Robin-535im]

I just got a signature loan (where the bank loans you cash without equity to back it up, like a credit card advance) and turned it into a cashier's check. Make it out for less than the advertised price and carry a wee bit more cash with you just in case you do end up paying full price.

When you get back you can finance the car (if that was your intention) and pay back the signature loan.

Alternately, I have a friend in Nigeria who owes me some money. I'll give you a check for more than the amount, and you pay me cash and keep the difference. Wait - is that how it goes? Damn - I have to study up on my car sales scams!

- Robin

[paul p (chi-town)]

A 3rd Bimmer?

Nope.
You obviously haven’t been around here that long.

I’m lookin for another Sentra.
Oh and looking to back to only one bimmer...........but we’ll save that for another time


94 530iT&A, ‘Helga’---92 325i, ‘Rolf’…….”Hang up & Drive!”.......no, SERiously.
”Bet that phone call doesn’t seem that important now does it, huh." Nov 20, 2004

[Mr Project]

Paul, are you looking for an SE-R? A local buddy has a fairly clean '91 or '92 (I don't recall which) that he's thinking about selling. Lincoln, NE is only 8ish hours from chi-town...

If you're interested, e-mail me and I'll get you in touch with him.

armenb1 -AT- juno.com

[rnrn]

Or you can do what I did--I wired the money the same day my flight arrived in Charlotte to pick my "new" baby up. After several conversations I felt safe (still dumb now that I look back at it) enough to wire money beforehand and trust the seller. I certainly wouldn't do it that way again; I got lucky and parked a 540 in my garage late late that same day here in Chi-town. What a fun drive after 5 years of a 91 Explorer!!!