Quote:
Originally Posted by Gogar
If you see a car you like, send the guy an email or a PM and ask more questions. Ask for more pictures. Ask for whatever you want. Usually by talking to someone on the phone you can get a pretty good idea of the kind of person they are.
If you get your questions answered and you still like the car, post a "PPI Needed (city,state)" in the technical board. Someone will recommend a shop in the area. Have the owner take the car to the shop for you. At this point you're going to start spending money.
If the owner won't take his car to a reputable shop for you to have it looked at, that's a red flag, but only a small one.
If you get the car taken to a shop and get a THUMBS UP, buy yourself a plane ticket and go take a look.
All these things cost money, but if you're going to spend 10, 15, 20, 50K on a car, spending $500 on the front end is worth it. But you have to be prepared to shoot $500 down a rathole if the car turns out no good.
If you're not comfortable looking at cars on the internet and talking on the phone and emailing, I'd suggest you do it locally. Go drive 3 or 5 or 10 cars for sale in your area. Talk to people. Your people/car buying skills will get sharpened, and then you'll be a lot more perceptive when you read ads on here or talk to folks on the phone.
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This is exactly the process I used, and it worked out very well. I was looking at two cars at the time. The one that was closer, the owner would not allow the car to be taken from her property for a PPI, so that was the end of that. I test drove it and it had some obvious flaws, so that was the end of that.
The other car was 650 miles away from me in Houston, TX. Exchanged info by email and phone with the owner. He kindly agreed to take the car to the mechanic I chose, which I selected based on recommendations from here and the PCA in Houston. Note I did not take the car to HIS mechanic, tho he did provide their contact info for me to be in touch with them if I wanted. They say it's best to use a mechanic who has no ties to the car, and a Pcar specialist. As noted, this is where you start laying out money. I won't lie - I paid over $500 for concours-thorough inspection, with leakdown and compression.
My PPI went great, we bought plane tickets - so close to $1K invested at this point. Again, a gamble, but the odds were looking good, so I went for it.
The car checked it out in person, I test drove it, did the deal, and drove it home. It was everything it was advertised and checked out to be, and more. No surprises. I guess you have to be willing to let go of a not-insignificant little chunk of cash in the event things don't work out. But the investment up front worked out in my case.
Good luck!
Kathy