I bought an '84 911 long distance from a fellow Pelican. I never saw the car in person until Intercity Lines dropped the thing off at my door. Here's how my deal was done:
I initially inquired via email about the car on a Friday. I received prompt, additional pics of the cars along with some answers to my initial questions. On Sunday, I called and spoke with the owner for 2 hours on the phone about the car and his ownership. I took detailed notes. As Gogar correctly points out, if you are observant, you can tell quite a bit about the owner from a good phone conversation. I studied the pics I received very closely (most were very large resolution, detail shots) and reviewed all the data I received on the car and made a budget as to what I would have to spend on the car based on my 10 years of 911 ownership. The initial outlay of money plus the additional funds I thought I needed to spend fit my budget.
By Tuesday, the owner of the car emailed me back in the morning and said that he had 2 other offers on the car and was wondering if I was still interested since I was the first to inquire and make contact with him. So, at that point I had about an hour or so to make a decision. It was quite nice of this owner to keep me in the front of the line since he had offers for an immediate sale, but I had to act quick if I wanted the car.
Since I've been around these cars for so long, I knew that buying a 911 sight unseen was a risky purchase, but I also know that money fixes everything and I just plain really liked this car, even with it's flaws.
Since I liked the car and the current owner was extremely pleasant and honest to deal with, I jumped in with both feet.
I did not have the car PPI'd. The only thing I was concerned with was frame damage and from the conversation with the owner, I was pretty well convinced that the car was never hit (it was delivered with all of it's original paint). I would not recommend this approach if a person is new to 911 ownership.
Never trust anyone is my motto, but I did trust this gentleman (and Googled him to see what I could find) and we worked out a deal that I received a fax of the title and then I wired the entire amount to his bank account. He also provided me a tracking number for the envelope containing the title and I believe a set of keys. My banker darn near pleaded with me not to wire these funds to a nearly complete stranger for a car I never have seen, but again, the owner and I each trusted each other for some reason. I believe I offered to pay a small downpayment, but he refused to take that since he trusted me that I was sincere in purchasing his car.
I kept the ower informed of the time table from Intercity and the owner emailed pics immediately of the loading of the car.
The transaction was flawless for both parties and I still keep in touch with the owner of this car. I was able to meet the gentleman that sold me the car this year at Hershey and it was a treat to speak with him in person.
When I received it:
A pic from this summer:
