Tips for Buying Sight Unseen - Money Transfer

[mgar88]

Hey Gang,

Family member wants to purchase a 993. Problem: They live in Miami, FL and 993 is sold by owner in New England. We have a family friend who's going to check out the car this weekend and confirm condition. If all looks good, car will be shipped from Northeast to Miami, FL.

In situation like these, how is money/title typically transferred? Understandably, the seller will want money deposited before car is loaded on the truck. How does that work? What sort of safe guards should we take as buyers?

Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks.

[pmax]

There isn't much buyer protection here if the seller turns out otherwise.

Buying the seller is pretty much the best you can do. Ask for pics of title and identification etc etc.

Good luck.

[zedsn]

The seller is going to want all his money before it is loaded on the truck and will most likely mail the title certified/registered after the sale. As far as sending funds a wire transfer of money is common and I have done it before. It cost me $20 from my bank to do this and not much recourse after it was sent. If you want the car you will have to adhere to the sellers terms. My 2 cents.

[wareaglescott]

Can you call the DMV up there and check on the title/registration status? Maybe help verify it is legit.

[NYNick]

Have the family friend pick up the title the day of the transfer. Personally, I'd be nervous about that inspection if I was that friend. A lot of money on the line.

[matt930s]

Why not fly up and drive back?

MattR

[jferrante]

have him put it on eBay with a best offer. protects both parties.

[bweiss1]

I've bought 2 cars long-distance in the last few years. One I happened to be near the car by pure coincidence and was able to do a transfer with a cashiers check. Had already had a PPI done. Drove it 11 hours home. The other, we ended up doing through ebay. As jferrante says, if the car is 50k or less (I think that is there cut-off but could be wrong), then ebay protects you and the seller. I think the seller does pay some fee to ebay.

[crb07]

I purchased a car sight unseen from across the country. Had the shop hold the car that did the PPI. The shop was well known to Pelican so I at least knew I had someone to see actual title and be honest about everything. Not that the owner could have not taken the car after I sent the money. However, owner was title with shop so I was as comfortable as possible without flying out there. Shop loaded the car.
Florida to New England? I would get on a plane.

[mooty]

if u c an't trust the seller with money then i woudln't buy from him.
i have bought a lot of cars. if i am the buyer, i wire money first, they send the car, then fedex title.

if i am the seller, i want your money first before i release anything,

[wantone]

I'm curious what your enclosed transport fee is? I have a good contact to check prices!

[JMS935]

I had the PPI shop retain possession of it while we put the deal together on my last purchase. I asked for the seller to sign the title over to me and email me a copy of it prior to wiring the money, which he did, though many won’t feel comfortable with that since that title would be worthless if I didn’t follow through on my end. I then wired the money and the seller proceeded to Fed Ex the title and paperwork to me. The PPI shop still had possession of the car, so I had the transport company pick it up from them. It all went smoothly, except for the fact that the PPI turned out to be totally worthless. When I got it home I discovered all sorts of issues with it, it cost me an extra 5k to get it all sorted out. And the shop even claimed to be specialists in air cooled P cars, it’s even in the title of their shop’s name. The shop owner wasn’t even born when these cars came out, which I was apprehensive about at first, but since he was the owner of a large shop that specialized in air cooled Porsche’s I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That was a 5k mistake. My PPI was worthless, I could’ve used it for toilet paper. Looking back on it, the only service I got from him was as being the third party middle man holding possession of the car while the buyer and seller closed the deal. Though had he done his job properly, the deal might not have closed, as I would’ve been looking for a price reduction with all of the work it ended up needing that I wasn’t made aware of by the PPI shop. I thought I was paying for a proper PPI by an educated technician, and also getting free storage for a few days as playing the middleman for us. Looking back on it now, all I ended paying for was the storage, cause the PPI was totally worthless. The car back fired and died on me on the very first drive I took it on. It took me almost 5k to sort out all of the problems. Moral of the story...your putting all of your trust in both the seller and the person inspecting the car that puts themselves out there as a trained and qualified mechanic. In my case, he didn’t know what he was doing, so I wasn’t made aware of any of the issues the car had prior to closing the deal. And I can’t hold that against the seller, cause he wasn’t the long term owner, just a small time dealer flipping the car who may not have known of any of these either. And no...me going there in person wouldn't have avoided this, as I’m no mechanic myself, I rely on professionals for this. It just turns out I hired an amateur that claimed to be a professional. I’m sure that’s not a first, but I hope it’s the late time it happens to me.

[ab1752]

The best tip for buying site unseen is don't do it. No one, not a friend, not the best holy grail PPI ever will take the place of your own eyes. It is a big deal and if you can't make the time to go see it yourself, in person, then it isn't the right car for you. Lessons learned from the school of hard knocks, not my Carerra but my 240Z that ended up needed a complete and total body restoration..."240Z, original owner in DRY Denver, NO RUST"....hahahahha

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by ab1752

The best tip for buying site unseen is don't do it. No one, not a friend, not the best holy grail PPI ever will take the place of your own eyes. It is a big deal and if you can't make the time to go see it yourself, in person, then it isn't the right car for you. Lessons learned from the school of hard knocks, not my Carerra but my 240Z that ended up needed a complete and total body restoration..."240Z, original owner in DRY Denver, NO RUST"....hahahahha

True, seeing it for yourself in person is the safest way to go about this, albeit costs time and money to do. But like I said, unless you are a certified master technician with these cars, you still have to rely upon someone else to do the pre-purchase inspection for you. I'm not sure if anything would've changed with my particular deal had I flown out there to view it for myself, cause I still would've hired a professional to do the PPI - which didn't catch anything in this case. I always try to buy on the very low end of the market, so that in an event like this it doesn't hurt as bad. Had I paid BaT retail...I would've been very pissed off.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by mooty

if u c an't trust the seller with money then i woudln't buy from him.
i have bought a lot of cars. if i am the buyer, i wire money first, they send the car, then fedex title.

if i am the seller, i want your money first before i release anything,

This with one addition. I get a bill of sale in hand before I wire the money. Bill of sale is a contract. Seller accepting the payment is acceptance of the terms. People get hung up on the title. Doesn’t matter if I have a bos. They don’t release the car to the shipper or family/friend after that and I’m coming for you. But that’s never happened to me.

This doesn’t sound shady. Do the deal. Buy the car.

[69porsche]

absolutely correct, Bill of sale means everything more so than a signed title....bill of sale is contractual

[Rostami6]

Any contract can be broken. That's why law suits happen.
A signed title can be replaced by the owner simply by applying for a lost or destroyed title for a few dollars at any local DMV. At least here in Texas.
Buying a used car is always risky. Buying it without seeing it only increases your risks.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by Rostami6

Any contract can be broken. That's why law suits happen.
A signed title can be replaced by the owner simply by applying for a lost or destroyed title for a few dollars at any local DMV. At least here in Texas.
Buying a used car is always risky. Buying it without seeing it only increases your risks.

Sure they can, but if I wire you money and you still hold the title I’ve got less than a contract.

If you give me a signed title and then go to the dmv for a replacement that’s fraud. Now it’s a criminal matter and not just a civil dispute.

[speedster911]

worth a few $$$ to fly and see the car yourself. Everyones idea of clean, concourse condition, excellent etc is diffrent than mine.

If I were buying a car from Mooty or Matt M - I trust their description. Others not so much.

[Mike80911]

Why not have the same relative go to the car meet the transporter and get the title as you are doing the bank transfer? Or maybe send the relative a bank check for the seller and he can do the above and hand over the check. I would give the relative a few bucks for his trouble