Hot Rods paying for a car not near me.... need advice

I almost made the mistake once of buying a car sight unseen. It looked OK in the pictures and I thought I couldn't get hurt for the price. Fortunately I came to my senses and drove four hours to go see it. What a POS. Had I bought it I still would be repairing rust. This also taught me a lesson not to drive any distance only to find out a car was junk. If I can't see a car at a show I'm attending or in close proximity to where I live, I don't need it.
Someone previously posted to pay with Pay Pal as they will provide purchase protection. If you believe that I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
The bottom line is a long distance purchase is a PITA. Read too many accounts of prospective buyers taking it in the shorts.

Gary

 

I spent a week one day driving across Texas. LOL

Closest HAMBer I know of is in Kermit and that's about 3-4 hours from El Paso.

Did the same thing with a car out in KS. Pics and description looked good, but it was grossly misrepresented. We didn't mind though it was a good excuse for a road trip.

 

You need to go look. Too many horror stories regarding these types of deals. We went 8 hrs one way with a trailer to get a car . All the pics looked great and the seller told a good tale. Upon arrival it was junk!! About face and home we went-my friend had almost bought it sight unseen but I suggested the trip-would have been a disaster.

 

Meet half way.

 

Same thing, drove five hours one way to look at misrepresented junk, ripped a new butthole for the seller for not being honest. In the end, my fault, I'll only go three hours each way now, self imposed limit, funny thing is....when you chastise a seller for misrepresentation, they act all surprised that you don't see the valuable gold they see. Really?

 

Your right I spent to much time on the trailer trip and not on the lies and BS that the seller did, the photos are what got me they showed it years before I bought it, I have repainted it, redid the upholstery, old gauges did not work replaced them, all 4 w/w tires are old, cracked and need to be replace before any driving, all wiring had to be replaced, convertible top needs to be replaced, starter replaced, all stainless had to be reworked and the list goes on, I have driven it a total of 2 miles, this is why I'm pissed the seller said that it was a daily driver, behind a tow truck I think..

 

90% of my transport customers purchase their vehicles sight unseen from all parts of the country & in the 34 years I have been doing this, not once have I showed up at an address & not picked up the vehicle. We are talking conservatively 2000 cars. I am not saying it cannot happen, but you are more likely to be hit by lightning than pay for a car & not receive it.
You can do things like check his address on Google earth to make sure it isn't a vacant lot & search his name to make sure he is who he says he is. You can also hire someone in the area to inspect the vehicle.
Also not once did the OP mention anything about being worried about the condition of the vehicle! Just about sending a check & making sure he was actually going to get a car.
Bill Squires(owner)
Bill's Auto Works

 

I've purchased several old cars over the years and paid for them in full without ever seeing them in person-a '50 Studebaker in Indiana, a '57 Chevy in Kansas, a '61 Rambler in Colorado, a '49 Buick in Texas, a '52 Ford in Florida (I flew down to Tampa and drove it home 900 miles with no problems), a '54 Lincoln in northern Illinois, a '30 Model A in New York, a '37 Packard in Massachusetts, and my current '60 Edsel in southern Illinois. A couple of them had a little more rust than I was expecting but overall I was pretty happy with all of them. I'm not recommending that anyone else should do that but with all of these purchases there were no horror stories like we've all heard from others....

 

Thanks all.... Bill Squires is right, I'm not at all concerned about condition, more about getting the vehicle. Also, to whoever said the seller is probably also concerned about me (the buyer) is a good point.

Thanks all for the advice, offers, etc. I'll post picks when I get it.

 

What's wrong with the offer from r2c1???

 

southerncad.... nothing at all, and thanks to him for the offer, but I don't need the car checked out, I just needed to figure out logistics of payment and transport, etc. I know the car, just not the owner.

 

Well... my new Model A from El Paso arrived and I couldn't be happier (pics to come in other post). Bills Auto Works made up my mind for me, I car, didn't get screwed and made a new friend from El Paso.

 

Great to hear. Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

 

from experience, GO LOOK AT THE CAR!!!

 

Set up an escrow account. You pay to have the car shipped, if you are happy with it release the funds if not you pay shipping back to his place.
Easiest just to go get it yourself.​

 

Look up two posts.... this is done and worked out great. Good advice, but sometimes a simple judge of character, a Google search and faith in hot rod humanity is enough.

 

A few years ago I rode with a friend to buy his dream car . He ask me how I would do it and we came up with a plan. We had $20,000 in cash ,buyer also didn't know us so insisted on cash . We rolled into his town the day before , found a shopping center that had a lot of parking out back. The next morning we visited the local police station and told our story to the police . They were more than happy to set in their car with us while the guy brought the car to the shopping center, the money was counted ,paperwork done, loaded in the trailer and we bought dinner for everybody ,including the police.
The police chief told us he was glad to spend the officers time ,as it beat us having a problem in his town.

 

I've been horse-trading, buying cars, selling cars for 45 years. I look for reasons NOT to buy a car when I see one I person. My Ford came from 1300 miles away (in 2014) and I used a wire transfer, which raises deal to another level of trust

 

Wire transfers do not always work. I was selling a car to someone in Alabama. His bank would not do a wire transfer unless he was physically in the bank to request the transfer. They also recommended he not do a wire transfer as I would have both his money and the car. Eventually he gave me a combination of cash and Bank Checks. I gave him the car but kept the title until the Bank Checks cleared. FYI, there are no more Certified Checks. They are now Bank Checks and payment can be cancelled. I sweated out the clearing of the Bank Checks. It takes forever for out of state checks to clear.

Gary

 

I followed a friend's lead & opened an account with a national bank that has branches everywhere. (It was easy, they even open accounts for millions of people who don't even know anything about it!)
No waiting for checks to clear or waiting until Monday for a wire transfer.
I recently flew down to Spartanburg (Home to David Pearson, Cotton Owens, et al ) to buy a car. Unfortunately the photos were 5 years old and the car had some real drivability issues that resulted in me flying home.
Story has a happy ending though, more to follow very soon, hopefully

 

Gimme a break , how much do you actually want the car? You think you have a problem, think how it is for those of us in other countries...here in NZ we are a minimum of 13 hours flying from North American West Coast. AND most sellers dont want to deal with international money transfers and shipping etc etc..... I have seen more than enough "perfect cars" with "great " body etc that would suit the Flintstones rather than the strict safety laws here in NZ....SO just go get the car . Road trips are more than fun for car guys.

 

Take a day, drive the 8 hours, and pick it up yourself. We just drove the eight plus hours to pick this up, loaded, and drove home. Left at 1:45 in the morning, got there and loaded before noon, and home around 10 pm.




Last year was a 19 hour drive EACH WAY to pick up a shear for the shop..






If you want something bad enough, a little bit of a drive won't stand in the way. How bad do you want the car?

 

"Think how it is for those of us in other countries...here in NZ..."
This obviously a whole new thread but I have enormous respect for you guys overseas, it is hard enough to find parts & keep them running here. And those guys in Cuba! God love 'em!