[FL911SC]

I suppose this is half rant to let some of the frustration out, and half me asking for some advice or guidance.
I am in the market for a 718 Cayman S. My wife is in full support of the idea and is actually excited about it. Therefore, I would like to strike while the iron is hot. We cannot afford new, so preowned is where we are looking.
I have talked to people about the car and their experience buying one. I have driven one and my wife and I have looked at them just to get familiar with them.
While talking with people, two things repeatedly come up: 1) get a PPI and 2) extend your search out of state.
To this point, I have found 3 cars I would have bought/would buy today. All of them out of state. This seems to be the problem. No one is willing to "hold" a car long enough for me to get plane tickets. Additionally, two of the cars were at a dealership (one is still on the market), who for the most part are not too accommodating to the idea of a PPI. Focusing on the one that is currently available, the dealership will allow the PPI by a 3rd party, but it has to be done at the dealership and they will not allow it to be put on a lift in their service department. Even if they did, they will not agree to hold the car (I did offer a deposit), unless I am on a plane that day. So maybe this isn't the car for me, I can live with that. However, I continue to run in to this scenario. Even the one car I wanted from a private seller was sold before I could get a plane ticket.
My rant is, buying out of state seems to be more luck than anything else and luck is not a working strategy for me. I feel like I would have a better chance at the lottery than finding THE car within driving distance.

How do people get this done? Again, the folks I have talked to made it seem like the easiest thing in the world. "I found the car. I found a local shop who did a PPI, then I flew there and took delivery". For my search, this scenario is as rare as the perfect car.

If you bought a car out of state, how did you work through the deal? What offer or approach did you use to get the seller to work with you?

I do feel a slight bit better getting that out, now back to looking for my unicorn.