Given that you are comfortable with the condition of the car there are a couple of other concerns. First, will you receive a valid title that you can use to register the car in your name? Second, will the car be available to the shipper for transport? (Then you can deal with the shipper - another topic altogether.) As stated above, you need a broker to insure both concerns are satisfied. Ideally you can enlist a trusted person to do this for you as a favor. But, unless you have someone who will do it for free you're going to have to pay someone. How much are you willing to spend on a broker? I've dealt with a broker to buy Copart cars before. They cost me right around $200 to do the paperwork, get everything "in order", for a Copart purchase.
I prefer to pick-up the cars I buy, and pay for them when I do. (Be prepared to pay with cash, or wait for the check to clear.) But, that's not always possible. When I can't pick the car up I've handled it a couple of different ways, usually sending a wire transfer for the purchase price. My bank is VERY apprehensive about that kind of transaction because of the fraud they've witnessed. "You understand that we can't get this money back, right?" In one case they questioned me about why I was so sure I would get the car (the alarm bells went off when they found the seller's address was a local police station - yes, he was a cop). You should have seem her face when I told her that I was sure I would get the car because the car was parked in my driveway. The seller trusted me to pay once the car arrived! In other cases I just sucked it up and sent the money. Yep, it's scary, but I figured I had enough documentation to get legal relief - eventually. I have lost a deposit a couple of times (my decision not to proceed with the purchase) but in those cases I knew the deposit was at risk when I sent it. So...
In your case Carl I assume the car doesn't run and drive. IF it did run and drive I would recommend you "arrive and drive" it home. If you do that just bring a credit card with a high limit, and a sense of adventure. What could possibly go wrong?