Buying a Car Sight-Unseen and Pre-Purchase Inspections??

"AkursedX" (akursedx) 01/30/2018 at 17:26 • Filed to: None

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I have been expanding my searches lately for a new vehicle. The kinds of cars that I want seem to be few and far between locally to me. This means I might have to take a blind leap of faith and plunk down cash on something that I won’t be in the seat of until I have already purchased, or have nearly purchased it.

Mazdaspeed6's have been on my radar for years....

I have come across something recently that I really like from a used car lot 1300 miles away. The ad has tons of pictures and it looks really clean and exactly what I want. They are also an eBay seller and have plenty of good feedback.

So besides running a Carfax and asking for additional pictures, I have also looked around and found a few Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) services in the area.

Looking at their websites, it looks like they’ll do a photo-set, run codes, drive it and inspect for odd noises and leaks. It seems like it would be a wise investment of $150.

The Saab Turbo-X Sportcombi is one of my favorite wagons

So, has anyone here actually done this type of thing? If so, how happy were with your PPI and the buying sight-unseen experience in general?

Also, if you have had a PPI done, were you able to ask to have them inspect specific things? Some of the cars I’m looking at have quick, little things to look at that can tell me a lot about potential issues beyond just what scanning for codes and a test drive would tell me.

Volvo made the V70R in such great colors.

I’m still in preliminary stages of this process right now. The thought of flying out to buy a car and drive over a thousand miles home (yeah, I know I could ship, but driving is a fair bit cheaper and much more fun) seems way out of my comfort zone at this point.

I’m hoping that some of you will be able to share some positive stories about doing this to give me the confidence to pull the trigger as the car I am currently interested in is quite a hard-to-find car.

TeamPunkassRacing > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:34

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I did it in ‘01 - bought a bone stock ‘89 Mustang LX from Indy.

I think it was $150 for a thorough inspection, and the guy that inspected the car called after he left and let me know if the car was in good shape or not. They didn’t do an actual compression test, but can somehow check compression via the spark plug voltage.

Racin'Jason001 > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:35

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What state are you in? Just found a V70R near me.

AkursedX > TeamPunkassRacing 01/30/2018 at 17:38

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We’re you happy with the purchase? Did things seem to work out ok or was there something from the inspection that made you pass the car up?

AkursedX > Racin'Jason001 01/30/2018 at 17:38

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Buffalo NY

Arrivederci > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:43

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I’ve bought three cars sight-unseen and was involved with a fourth. All four turned out extremely well.

1. My Dad bought a C5 Corvette up in Pennsylvania via eBay about 15 years ago. Seller was a boutique dealer and the car was exactly as described.
2. I bought my NC Miata from Brumos Porsche in Jacksonville, FL. I was very hesitant to do this, but the car was also exactly as described. Might have been a little bit of a snobbish comment, but the salesguy said, “We’re not going to ruin our reputation over a Miata.” LOL. Loved that car. Put over 100,000 trouble-free miles on it.
3. This one really doesn’t count since the car was new - but I bought my BRZ from a dealer about two hours away. Didn’t lay eyes on it until the day I bought it.
4. This one barely counts - we just bought my wife’s Sorento from a dealer in PA. It was a factory demo driven by some regional Kia employee, so it was very lightly used. Only bummer on this one is they didn’t disclose that one of the tires was plugged and started leaking when weather turned cold a month after we brought it home.

TeamPunkassRacing > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:45

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I was very happy with the purchase. Car was in great condition. I flew to Indy and drove it home a week later.

promoted by the color red > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:49

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I bought an Integra GS-R through my dad’s friend. My dad did the PPI and it worked out well. Car had some extra miles and had some minor rough spots that my dad didn’t find troubling, but it was in otherwise great shape for what it was.

Textured Soy Protein > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:53

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I bought my 335xi from a guy in San Diego because I wanted it to be a coupe, M Sport, stick shift, Le Mans blue with Oyster leather and aluminum trim, and this dude had exactly what I wanted so I said fuck it I’m going to try and buy this car. He brought it to a local BMW dealer for a PPI where we split the cost. They sent me the report. I paid about $800 for it to be shipped to me in Madison.

Overall the experience wasn’t too bad. The main annoying thing was the shipping company. I did a bid through uShip, which then connected me with Montway, which is like a network of smaller auto transport companies that subcontract to them, and the subcontractor that was carrying my car was supposed to put it on a flatbed in Chicago, but the flatbed was down for repairs for a couple days, so they missed the delivery date.

The car was covered in road grime which wasn’t exactly unexpected since it was on an open transport, but there was greasy dirt on the white leather seats and other parts of the interior which clearly came from someone with dirty ass hands putting them all over the leather. It cleaned up with some interior cleaner but I put in a complaint with Montway. They gave me some kind of nominal partial refund and suspended the subcontractor “pending an investigation.”

I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again, if I absolutely had to get some specific car that was far away.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:54

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I did it with my 2009 S8 a couple years ago. I was in MI and the car was in FL. I used lemon squad because they will go to the location, and the used car dealer didn’t want to let the car leave the lot. They did a decent job, very thorough with the paint and body inspection, but they don’t hoist the vehicle, so whatever they can see from sliding underneath is all they check. They do a test drive too. Not too bad, but I did have another one inspected out in AZ and the used dealer took it to the nearby Audi dealer for the inspection. I paid the Audi dealer direct and coordinated the day the car needed to be sent over. That inspection was much more thorough and I used it to leverage a better price. But by the time I had made up my mind.... AKA my wife said it was okay, the dealer had sold the car. So I ended up with the FL car. Which was much cheaper for shipping anyway. So check that as well. The east coast corridor shipping was half or less than going west to east across the country.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 17:59

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Bought my E55 this way. I suggest using a specialist for the specific car you want inspected. That way they already have an even better idea than you of what to look out for. A generic PPI service isn’t likely to know that if there’s grey fluid behind the T50 bolt on the diff of the V70 then the haldex is bad (I just made this up but hopefully you get my point).

Textured Soy Protein > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:00

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Oh, and don’t buy a Mazdaspeed 6. I had one, it was a rustbucket.

MarquetteLa > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:02

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I flew out to California from Colorado to buy a Mazdaspeed 6 over the summer. I had only seen photos of the car from the Autotrader ad before being picked up from the airport in it. This was the first time I had bought a car like this and it went pretty smoothly. The car had 100k miles on it, interior was a 10/10 and the exterior was a 9/10. The car had obviously been taken care of and came with a folder full of documentation so I went through with the purchase without a PPI. Got a CEL on the 1,000-mile return trip, which turned out to be a stuck-shut EGR valve. Not a big deal; previous owner didn’t drive the car very hard and carbon had built up in it. Tips for you if you decide to buy a Mazdaspeed 6 from afar:

Get a compression test done if there are any mods on the car whatsoever. Wouldn’t be a bad idea if the car is bone stock, either.

Get a boatload of photos to check for any rust. Problem areas: underbody and rear wheel wells. This wasn’t much of a concern for me as the car I bought was in southern California.

Seriously, try to get the lowest mileage example you can find. 100k was the best I could find at the time I was looking, but since I’ve joined some Mazdaspeed Facebook groups, I see lower mileage cars for sale fairly often. This might be a good route to try if you can’t find a good one for sale in traditional venues (I have an (ir)rational distrust of used car dealerships)

Good luck, let me know if you have any questions! The MS6 is a really fun car. I haven’t had any trouble at all with it in the snow on winter tires.

AestheticsInMotion > MarquetteLa 01/30/2018 at 18:06

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Carbon buildup seems to be pretty common with those. Shop I go to says it’s the number one thing they expect whenever a (new) speed6 comes in.

AestheticsInMotion > Textured Soy Protein 01/30/2018 at 18:09

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*don’t buy one unless it’s from the west coast, where even older proteges can be found rust free

MarquetteLa > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 18:10

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Early direct injection motors are both blessings and curses.

AestheticsInMotion > Racin'Jason001 01/30/2018 at 18:10

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Yikes. That’s waaaaay too high for an auto with neither a unique interior or exterior color

E90M3 > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:23

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I did, I bought my M3 over the phone. Then it still had the factory warranty, so I wasn’t too concerned.

Wacko > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:27

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I bought a 2014 pathfinder with 20000kms in march 2015 by only pictures. Took a 10hour bus ride then drove it 7 hours back home.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:40

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When doing my most recent car shopping, I made sure to have a PPI done on the cars I was most serious about. Well worth the money if you are like 90%+ committed to buying a vehicle. This most definitely saved my bacon on the first car I was going to buy. I’ll tell you the story.

This is a picture of the car. Pristine looking California car with 66k miles on it. Responsible owner, almost no mods (just some exhaust), and some reported recent maintenance. According to the owner, new tires and nothing wrong with it. Well well the $100 PPI inspection at a local Subaru shop turned out approximately $5000 in work that the car needed!! I saw the car in person after this inspection and even with the knowledge, I wasn’t able to find most of the issues. So I would have been totally screwed without that inspection. The car was listed for $9000 and the seller only came down to $8000 after much hemming and hawing about all the extensive work needed. I decided against buying it. Found out on the forums that someone bought it and was immediately trying to sell it due to Headgasket issues they couldn’t solve. Dodged a bullet!!

Anyways next car I look at is the one I bought, an ‘06 STi. Another $100 inspection and nothing wrong with the car other than a license plate bulb out, bad windshield wiper, and old tires. I bought that car with no hesitation and have been happy ever since!

Both cars were in California while I was still in NJ. So it was sight unseen to make my purchase. I would do it again but no reason why I would travel outside Socal to buy a car since they are cleanest here lol

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 18:49

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My friend got a YourMechanic PPI a while back and he was pretty happy with it. They missed a few things and misdiagnosed one, but iirc the car wasn’t moving under its own power and they were unable to put it on a lift. Either way, they gave him a huge list of things wrong with the car. He ended up buying it anyway and the list turned out to be fairly accurate. His shop report was over three pages long...

Kanaric > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 19:28

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I bought a Skyline sight unseen because at the time, in 2014, there were none in the states. If I got a PPI I wouldn’t have bought it, it had rust damage that was expensive to repair. However the car has gone up so much in value it’s worth more than the cost of purchase + damage repair so it’s one of the rare times that will happen with a car.

All in all I wouldn’t buy a car sight unseen again. I would want someone to do a thorough inspection on it. I think with Japanese imports I would be safe if I did it again because I would just go for a 4+ auction rating car, they actually do have decent inspections in JDM land but that doesn’t work for buying domestically.

AkursedX > Kanaric 01/30/2018 at 19:35

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I look at japaneseclassics.com all the time as there are cars that I’m interested in every now and then, but I think I’ve decided to stay a bit newer at this point in time as I want a car that can potentially carry my family around.

AkursedX > MarquetteLa 01/30/2018 at 19:38

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Thanks! If I get an MS6, I’m well versed in Mazda tech from the 2000's. I have an RX8, had a Mazda-5 and have worked extensively on 3's and MS3's so I know about the many MZR issues and all the rust areas. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I ever buy one, it’ll be from the south as those doglegs rust just by looking at them!

AkursedX > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 19:44

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Yeah, the MZR engine is notrious for that. Keeping the oil level near the bottom of the ‘full’ mark and a catch can will help. But the intake cleaning isinevitable.

AkursedX > Arrivederci 01/30/2018 at 19:52

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Thanks for the input!

AkursedX > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) 01/30/2018 at 19:52

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I believe I remember reading about this on oppo. I’m glad you passed and ended up with a better choice.

AkursedX > Textured Soy Protein 01/30/2018 at 19:54

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You bring up an interesting thing to consider. I think I will contact brand dealerships local to then and see if they’ll do PPI’s when possible as they should be more familiar. But I guess that will also be dependent on the selling dealership as well.

AkursedX > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 01/30/2018 at 19:55

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Yes, very good point and something I will look into, although if I find a Saab I like I’m a bit SOL

AkursedX > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc 01/30/2018 at 19:58

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Thanks! Yeah, shipping can cost a lot. Most of the places I’ve looked at I’ve been able to find one way plane tickets for ~$100. Between that, gas, and maybe a cheap motel, it would be cheaper for me to drive (im not factoring in my time of course!)

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 20:44

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Nah I’m sure there are still some specialists around. They probably work on other things too though.

Textured Soy Protein > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 21:13

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I bought mine from a guy who posted his own car on Auto Trader, not sure how you would get a dealership to send it to another dealership. Do these PPI people go to the selling dealer to check out cars?

Cash Rewards > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 21:14

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https://oppositelock.kinja.com/disappointing-tundra-1819285454

Do not buy a car without a PPI. Can’t stress that enough.

Racin'Jason001 > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 21:14

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Yeah, that’s still a hike to get down here to southern New England.

Racin'Jason001 > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 21:16

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Yeah, it is.

Textured Soy Protein > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 21:17

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I mean, I bought mine from a Chicago suburb and I live in Madison. But it was a 2006 and it was rusting by 2010. Add another 8 years and any climate outside straight up desert could be rusting by now.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > AkursedX 01/30/2018 at 22:45

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I was going to do the same for my AZ prospective car. But it would’ve been a couple days on the road too. And with little ones at home, that’s worth a few bucks to have someone else transport it.

But the buying from a distance isn’t a big deal really, but I’d recommend having a dealership look over the car if at all possible, but if not, the lemon squad inspection was decent enough to get an idea of what I was buying.