So You Want To Buy A Car Off The Internet? The Podcast

"SteveLehto" (stevelehto) 10/22/2015 at 09:00 • Filed to: None

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As we know, the internet has made life wonderful. It has brought us closer together as a people and spread peace and democracy to the corners of the planet. It has also allowed us to buy cars from strangers in faraway places.

I get calls occasionally from people who have bought cars off the internet. People tend to call my law office when they have problems; no one ever calls to just tell me they got a great deal on a car or that they were treated well by a used car dealer. It might happen - it’s just that no one ever calls to tell me about it.

So, I have put together this week’s podcast on things I have seen and can warn you about should you decide to buy a car off the internet. It can be done safely but there are things you should look out for and avoid. So here is the audio:

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And the video:

I am traveling this week and I am writing this post before I leave. So I am hoping to put a really cool pic at the top of the post. (One from my destination.) Did I succeed? I hope so.

Follow me on Twitter: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Hear my podcast on iTunes: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 24 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! He wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

This website may supply general information about the law but it is for informational purposes only. This does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not meant to constitute legal advice, so the good news is we’re not billing you by the hour for reading this. The bad news is that you shouldn’t act upon any of the information without consulting a qualified professional attorney who will, probably, bill you by the hour.

Wacko > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:08

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Steve is that you, and if so what are you driving?

vintage stock cars??? and where’s the helmet?

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:14

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I got a good deal on my car I found on the Internet. I called out a deposit conditional on the test drive and PPI I had set up at the BMW dealership across the street. It passed and I got a great price. I was in and out of the Nissan dealer in 1 hour the PPI took an hour and a half

noneof > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:16

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How about WRITING the piece, not sitting through an insanely poor podcast.

su > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:20

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I bought a 1993 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 off of the internet sight unseen and had it shipped for $3600. After freight I was into it for $4200. I fixed the slipped timing, went ahead and did a full 60k using the correct OEM parts, added many nice parts to it, wound up selling it some time later for $3000 (was lucky to sell it for that much.) That was my second and last 3000GT.

I guess the moral of the story is, never buy a 3000GT.

duurtlang > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:25

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I’m thinking of buying this . For 1k. What could possibly go wrong?

vondon302 > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:27

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Talladega! Enjoy the show the infield show that is. I think there’s some kind of race or something this weekend.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > duurtlang 10/22/2015 at 09:28

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that’s the same kind of car that drove me home from the hospital in Brooklyn, NY! So many memories. My uncle bought it from my dad when we moved away from the USA and crashed it in 1998. I miss that Saab

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:29

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worksjust as well for bikes.

Well done again Mr Lehto!

TractorPillow > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:30

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Steve, just wanted to let you know that I’ve bought two cars on the internet, sight-unseen, that were great deals and turned out to be great cars that I even eventually made some money off of. I know it’s not a call, but at least it’s still a positive story for you!

Birddog > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 09:37

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Is that a picture of someone taking a video of you?

SteveLehto > Birddog 10/22/2015 at 09:39

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It’s all me. At Atlanta.

drdude > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:01

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I have bought the following off the internet:

Apparently the internet is ok for silver german cars. :p

jbm0866 > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:08

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I’m at work and don’t have audio to listen, but did you just cover the usual craigslist/Ebay stuff or did you go into some of the newer no-haggle dealerships that sell and ship via internet? I’ve never been brave enough for the Ebay/CL stuff, but I do find things like Beepi, Vroom and others that are popping up very intriguing..

jariten1781 > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:10

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I bought an 82 GPz550 off the net. Was the most painless vehicle experience in my life. The guy even trailered it up >200 miles to my house at no cost (well, after much haggling I forced him to accept a 20 for dinner at least).

Even with that experience, I'm still reticent to do it for a larger purchase.

Britt > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:31

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Hi Steve,

I got a great deal, fair trade in from a used car dealer in Fredericksburg, VA!

Just kidding. Of course I got screwed.

Travis M. Cotton > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:47

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Buddy mine here at work bought a Maxima sight unseen from a dealer in TX. Dealer said mint....car said “drug through gravel pit upside down....twice”.

Travis M. Cotton > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 10:51

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The part about pictures being easy and words even easier reminded me of this commercial lol.

boostedatsun > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 11:10

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More info please!?

SteveLehto > boostedatsun 10/22/2015 at 11:36

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I got to run laps as a passenger in Richard Petty’s #43 Superbird at Atlanta today

Bearded Bastard > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 12:17

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Interesting topic!

People understand that communication technology is making the world a smaller place, but until we learn how to teleport, you still need to do your part and cover your ass.

When I worked at a railyard we had plenty of people shipping their vehicles cross country. And a very large portion of them were vehicles that were sold, there was also a large number of those ones that were bought sight unseen, and many of them were left behind due to the new owner not wanting to pay shipping because the vehicle wasn’t up to par.

Your best option is go see the vehicle, and drive it home, or arrange transport from there. Saving a few grand on price isn't worth the risk of getting a total heap.

stayingclassy > duurtlang 10/22/2015 at 13:41

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from NL or are you already there?

what sort of condition would it be in?

duurtlang > stayingclassy 10/22/2015 at 13:47

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I live in the Netherlands. I don’t know much about condition, other than what pictures tell me (clean-ish, original), high kms (294k km) and the seller will have it pass inspection upon sale. The seller is a large scale cheap-car flipper, with 300 cars on his lot, the vast majority under €2k. He writes on his website he cleans the cars but mostly sells the cars in the condition they were in when he got them. Which is at least honest.

Ad_absurdum_per_aspera > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 14:30

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Oh, yeah? Well, I’m prettying up an org chart in Powerpoint; plus I’m sitting in a chair and so are you. So there!

Seriously, though, I trust that we’ll soon get a column about what it’s like to get into a stock car from when they were still stock-based and stomping your foot into that kind of horsepower... That sounds scarier than buying a car off the Internet!

Brian > SteveLehto 10/22/2015 at 17:03

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Well after talking to lots of people accross the country, I finally found the car my wife wanted, and a price I was willing to pay, at a dealership that was willing to work with me. In 2010 I flew to Dallas TX (from Portland OR) late, free shuttle to hotel. The salesman picked me up on his way into work. Checked out car, was exactly what he said it would be, signed the paperwork, and was driving back to Portland by 10am. Its been a great car.

Things I learned, lots of people/dealers dont want to deal with someone out of state, dealer scams are easier to find as you can look up reviews on them. California you can’t take delivery of the vehicle in the state from a dealer, withou paying sales tax (us Oregonians don’t have sales tax, so the thought of paying thousands extra to a state I dont live in is horrifying.).

SteveLehto > Ad_absurdum_per_aspera 10/22/2015 at 17:57

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Hmmmmmm.

Yes.

AZRCD > SteveLehto 10/24/2015 at 10:07

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Thank you for making this and signing off that it’s a great idea to buy a gray market, import 25 year old, used, with no history Nissan Skyline. I’m now “running down” to the internet to get 3, you know, because what could go wrong?