Buying sight unseen

Sadly my experience from buying Fiats (and a Miata) have been grim. These were all cars I looked at and the the seller usually had no clue about the car but would try to answer questions anyway. With the Miata the kid pretty much lied about everything but I was able to figure that out at the time of viewing. One can still get caught out. I went and looked at 75 spider that looked decent. The front shock towers looked totally unrusted...very rare for around here...and the floors were perfect. After getting the car home and starting in on it I discovered the floors were perfect...they were astonishingly well done in fiberglass, hardly any metal left! I was really upset with myself for not catching this.
Don't feel bad. I've also made dumb mistakes when buying cars. I think nearly everyone has at least one story. But to those doing the shopping, unless you know you are buying a pile of rust, bring a magnet. It can help you find fiberglass and bondo where you want metal.
 
I bought a 1966 Thunderbird off of FleaBay a decade or so back. I saw pics but not the actual car. It turned out to be in really good shape, though the front brakes squealed like a stuck pig and the cool sequential turn signals didn't...um...sequence. The brake pads had been installed backward (!), putting metal against the disc. Easy-peasy. The turn signals had corroded (east coast car), but I simply bought new sockets and rebuilt the boards. And then sold it for even money. :rolleyes:
 
A friend in MN bought a car in Denver - he wired me the money, I brought cash and bought the car for him. If you know someone local, that's an easy way to do it.

I recently bought a 500e that I found on cargurus.com They have a service where you can pay though them (they act as escrow). So one crazy idea would be to have the seller and you both join the website (free, i think), list the car, and buy it through their website.

I bought a car in Texas once, and I picked a local shop and called them to set up an inspection. Once the car was there, I felt pretty sure that I could track down the seller if he finked on me, so I simply mailed him a check and he mailed me the title. Easy peasy.

For my Lancia, the seller drove the car 2 hours to a friend's house in PA, who paid him cash. She then kept my Lancia for me until I could fetch it. Poor girl, having to drive a Lancia for a year.
 
So many options. I'm still watching the car but now one of my kids thinks my spider is hers so the plan to sell it to generate funds for my next purchase is on hold. Life continues to throw curve balls at you.
 
Back
Top