Purchasing a vehicle without seeing in person

Has anyone purchased a vehicle without seeing it in person? Im open to any feedback.

 

Yep, but mostly projects I planned on redoing anyway. They were priced accordingly.

Anything high dollar , I've had someone look at for me. Its easy to have done.

 

Yes, it is a gamble. Pictures can only tell you so much. I would do your research, ask lots of questions and try and get a third party opinion, I'm sure there is a HAMBer who would be happy to oblige. I would do it again, only if it was a good deal (buying from the US to Australia it usually is), was a hard to find car that could not be found closer to home.

 

Ive bought several parts cars off Craigslist that were listed with photos. None of them ever looked as good as the photos.

 

I have, but usually not without pics. The one time I exchanged money without pics and without seeing it, I had someone go look at it for me, and it still ended up a disappointment.

 

Yes. I bought a 57 Ranchero sight unseen I had misgivings and my concern was justified. It was a POS.

I later bought my 34 P/U from pictures. It turned out to be better than I expected.

I would never buy a vehicle with out talking live to the seller. When you have time to think about an email question you can craft it to sound like you want it to sound. I talked to both on the phone and my bullshit antennae worked perfectly both times. Pictures can be be taken strategically to miss problem areas. Actually my buddy talked me into the bad one. He said how bad can you get hurt for 2500 bucks?

I sent almost 20 Gs to the west coast for the 34 and I got my moneys worth. How are your bullshit antennae?

 

Over 50 times!! I had a collector car dealership...Always consider the worst case scenario...Talk to the owner in person but never consider any part of the country as safe ..I had a gun pulled on me in Iowa during a transaction.. Tell the owner you are picking the car up yourself wether you are or not it will generally make the seller tell you the truth , only make a small deposit....And always take someone with you when picking stuff up!!!!

 

I've bought cars up to around 30 grand without seeing them, talked to the seller, used pictures etc. I like Kelly's idea about telling the seller you are picking it up personally in hopes that they might be inclinded to be more honest. Also like the idea of asking a hamb member to look at it personally and offer to pay them for this as a fee for this service could save you from purchasing a pos.

 

Bought a 49 chevy pickup from a guy from Miss. Had a big time street rod guy look at it for me. Big mistake! Truck had lots of patches and that was the one thing I was concernd over. Anyway I was able to sell it without loosing money. But I would be more cautious next time.

 

i've never bought a car without inspecting it in person. as said , pictures can be deceiving. even a third party's opinion can be off. in my opinion , if you don't look at it yourself you don't have the right to complain if it shows up not as advertised

but apparently if you are an "outlaw biker" this doesn't apply

 

My brother found a 64 vette in Ohio, and contacted a Corvette judge in the area. Paid him for his time to verify the details of the car. Money well spent.

 

I have not and I never would, I guess I just dont trust someone to be straight up with me. I have a friend who bought a 57 unseen, and well.....he wisheshe didnt, pictures make alot of stuff look 10 times better than it is.

 

I am on the other side of the coin (seller). Having sold two cars this yr. to buyers out of state. Both buyers were happy with the purchase. I asked both buyers, if they need any additional info. / pics please feel free to ask.

 

Never again or I will hire a auto inspection company. I done that once on a truck out west, worked out great. Found the guy in Hemmings who had advertised on there for years. $150.00 well spent

 

I have and will never do it again. The person is on here and very misleading!!!

 

i did it once, bought a 65 lemans conv. from florida on ebay, it had lots o pics and a phone number. i call the guy talked many times , even let me hear it run, long story short i bought it, it was quite a bit BETTER than expected ! i know a lot of people that would stick it to a guy but you just have to talk to them a bit and get a feel for them, figger out if you can trust them, it worked for me.

 

No, that's stupid. That's like asking a complete stranger outside the bank to hold 5000 cash for you while you run back to your car. To many dishonest and misrepresenting people out there.

 

Funny, even with looking at the cars in person and taking a test drive, you never know. I bought 2 cars in the past and asked the seller if they overheated. Both said no, however, once I took them for a long drive on a moderate day, they overheated. No biggie though, I fixed both cars. I, myself, can't sell a car if something mechanically is wrong. Cosmetically, the buyer gets what he sees.

As for buying, I would never buy a car without looking at it first and taking a test drove. But this pretty much limits me to a 250 mile radius.

 

Yes..............really looked at details in the pictures. I have done extremely well and so so. I found the one seller to be extremely honest and the other to be extremely deceitful.
Fortunately I was able to do all the repairs with little cost. As most of the parts where there they were just put together wrong

Would I do it again? Depends on the car and the circumstances. But more than likely I would make the trip

 

No way! Go and see it so you have no regrets!
Jay

 

I have bought a couple. One here from the classifieds and one on e-bay. Both transactions went well. Remember that the pictures will make it look better than it is. The seller from the HAMB represented it well over the phone. I figured the cost of the trip to look at it into the allowance for unforseen problems.

Neal

 

I have bought - and sold - many cars on the internet without seeing or driving them. I have been mostly satisfied with the transactions. Make sure you have good picture coverage, and be aware digital photos make something look a lot better than it is. Be realistic on your expectations (skeptical??) - if it sounds too good to be true it always is !! I have never gotten anyone else to look at a car, but is a good idea.

Unfortunately, to find an unusual car, or a deal, you sometimes have to trust - and hope........

 

bought my 47 ford on that auction site. It was better than expected but then again it was bought as a total project and went for a project price. I wouldn't do it with anything that already has value though.

 

i've done it in the past and its definitely a plus to be able to talk to the seller on the phone than over emails. depending on the amount im spending on the vehicle i would go and look the car over in person if its a big amount and its always easier to negociate when you got cash right in front of them aswell

 

I have never purchased a car sight unseen but i have checked a few projects out for fellow Hambers over the years. It always helps to have eyes on the ground a different persons view of the project or completed car someone who is not attached to the car or the owners . With that being said what one guys opinion of a great car might be completely different than the other. Its a hard call on what to say when you go look at a car for a third party what is the buyer expecting and what has the seller promised. If your are going to spend big buck i would defiantly make plans to see the car first hand if all possible.

 

I have bought a few vehicles long distance, but always leave myself an out. Never fully pay for it without seeing it, that's just asking for trouble. If you have to forfeit a deposit for them to hold it until you can see it, so be it. That's a hell of a lot better than begin sorry you bought the thing once you get it home. I once traveled 12 hours one way to buy a vintage car only to find it was a pile. I passed and drove back home. It cost me about $500 in gas, motel, trailer rental and marital repairs, but that beat the hell out of paying the $5000 the guy wanted for a piece of shit that I'd be sorry for as long as I owned the thing.

 

i have done it, mostly projects, usally got what i paid, got ripped off very badly by a famous arizona junk yard that was photo shopping the photos. lost $2000 down payment on three cars, i was lucky our truck driver knew what i wanted before he paid the balance of 6k,

 

Less than $10,000, have someone look at it that you TRUST. More than $10,000, it's worth it to add the cost of a plane ticket into your budget. I have a friend who hires an appraiser, local to the sale, to look at the car. But he buys high end rides and runs a business. He can't afford to leave his office for a sight inspection.

 

Don't do it. I did it twice and regretted it both times. Never will again.

 

Done it six times, five worked out OK - from great to ........hmmmm, OK.
The sixth one was promised to have no rust - gee, guess what......? Steaming pile of crapola.
On average, I would do it again - you gotta know and understand the risk goin' in, and so long as you pay a price that you should be able to recoup anyway, it's no real problem.
Regrets??? Nah, that's life - worse things have happened to me.
Cheers.