car buying advice from out of stste

[bigdave33]

looking for advice on buying car from another state from private party. I will need to ship car from east coast to west coast . Has anyone used a escrow service to handle transaction ? I just dont want any problems 50k is big money to me . any advice would be helpful thanks BigDave

[70Z]

Dave,

Can't say as far as the transaction. An escrow seems smart though.. As for shipping, I used Intercity and they were great. I would highly recommend them based on my own recent experience.

[njsteve]

Are you willing to throw away $50K? If not, you need to buy a plane ticket and do the transaction in person, period. Before you do this you contact a shipping company like Intercity and tell them that you need the car picked up on a certain day at a certain location, you may have to pay extra for that, or you can rent a u-haul and trailer and tow it to one of their depots to be loaded there. Either way if you buy it sight unseen you will probably get ripped off. And if you go there and buy it and then let it sit there awaiting pickup, parts will start disappearing from it and then you'll never be able to prove if the parts were stolen during shipping or the seller took them off. Either way you will have a bunch of trouble trying to recover any money. Sorry for the depressing verdict but unfortunately that is the way some people are out there these days.

[budnate]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you willing to throw away $50K? If not, you need to buy a plane ticket and do the transaction in person, period. Before you do this you contact a shipping company like Intercity and tell them that you need the car picked up on a certain day at a certain location, you may have to pay extra for that, or you can rent a u-haul and trailer and tow it to one of their depots to be loaded there. Either way if you buy it sight unseen you will probably get ripped off. And if you go there and buy it and then let it sit there awaiting pickup, parts will start disappearing from it and then you'll never be able to prove if the parts were stolen during shipping or the seller took them off. Either way you will have a bunch of trouble trying to recover any money. Sorry for the depressing verdict but unfortunately that is the way some people are out there these days.

[/ QUOTE ]



Steve is right!! what's another 800 in air fare to make sure its the right ride at this point, if you have done your homework its what you want anyway, when I bought the 67 it looked great in pics and the guy was real easy to talk with over the phone, but at the time what I paid for it was all the money in the world to me, well good thing I flew down cause it was not perfect like he described and a few things came up not being there like he said...worked out fine, we discussed the issues and arrived at new figure for the car paid for it and had it shipped home, if I had not been there in person I would have been out about 4 grand and liked it..

[ZL1#17]

I totally agree. Spend the little extra and look at it as added insurance. Another thing to consider is asking another member of this board who may reside close to the car your purchasing to look at it, and maybe taking digital photos. Of course I would offer to pay for his or her time. Good Luck

[CamarosRus]

Hello to ALL, I understand Big Dave's problem as Ive been there and done that. Everybody here has different backgrounds, different jobs, different schedules, etc etc.
The man is asking for help and I only regret I cant be that help.....living here in RAINY Seattle makes it rough to leave your job "tomorrow" and jump on a FULL PRICE plane ride and go back east to complete a transaction in person...
I AGREE with all of you about the problems and rip offs that WILL happen. When I bought my 70 L-78 Camaro and had it shipped, parts alledgedly placed in back seat by seller, never made it to Seattle??????
In closing if ANYBODY ever needs help in Western Washington with WHATEVER, youve got it here, if I'm able.

Chuck Sharin

[SamLBInj]

Where is the car and who did you buy it from, alot of us here have dealt with many people and bought many cars, maybe we will know who your dealing with and you wont need to worry as much. You dont always need to go see the car if the person is known to be honest and fair.
In the past when I couldnt get to the car I made deals with the sellers that if its as good as you say then I will pay when the shipper gets here and he will take the money. Some will and some wont. Always send a deposit to lock it up though..

[bigdave33]

Car located in Boston . 67 corvette roadster had inspection done by corvette person . I will try to coordinate to inspect/purchase / ship car on same day . Anyone use Horseless carraige auto transport company ? thanks for the help great forum BigDave

[Belair62]

Just don't use DAS !!!

[ZL1#17]

I have used Horseless Carriage Auto Transport company, I had no problems, and they were very professional.