Buying a car that's nowhere near where you live

"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon)
09/21/2015 at 13:57 • Filed to: None

As the next chapter in my ongoing “So I want an IS300 or a Euro brick wagon?” saga, I’m considering the likelihood of buying a car that lives a great distance from where I live (Austin, TX if you must know). Given that I’m looking for something of a unicorn - a 2004 or 2005 IS300 SportCross in blue, black or gray with 100k miles or less - it’s highly possible it’ll be in Flagstaff Arizona.

Regardless what Amazon has done to our collective shopping habits, I don’t buy so much as a lunchbox sight-unseen. There’s absolutely no possible way I will buy a car that costs $8,000-9,000 without at least one person I trust giving me a thumb up, and preferably a complete mechanic’s workup. Here in Austin we have a company called Auto PI who will check out cars for both local and distance transactions. But if the car I find is in Miami? How do people do it?

I could fly to wherever and drive the car back. What I can’t have happen is I fly to Raleigh, North Carolina, see the car, and decide to not buy it. That would suck. Not as badly as buying it, having it shipped, then deciding there’s something catastrophically wrong with it.

Anyway, I’d love to hear from folks about their long-distance car buying experiences.

I’d also like to hear about auctions. Might that be a viable alternative to Autotrader and Craigslist?

DISCUSSION (9)

William Byrd > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:00

I’ve always wanted to do this. I look at CTS-V wagons and such across the country and consider rolling the dice. You already laid out the downside, you get there and change your mind. I would give it a shot though, use Oppo, maybe one of us can go look at it in your stead. Or just rely on the Carfax or whatever else you can do to research and go for it.

I sold a 944 Turbo to a guy in CA (I’m in MD) and he just asked for high res shots of certain parts of the car. Bought it sight unseen, had friends pick it up and ship it.

RazoE > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:00

You want an IS300 with MORE than 100,000 miles, as the timing belt must be done around 90k and if not, then say bye bye to the 2J. It’s definitely a crap shoot, though. Some people buy cars sight-unseen. Others fly thousands of miles only to return empty handed.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:02

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/522502…

If you’re serious, this one is near me.

Ike > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:03

Drove 300 miles bought my Volvo V70R; basically made an agreement with the dealership that anything that went wrong by the time I got home they would pay for, (ended up saving me about 500 bucks).

deprecated account > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:18

http://www.iseecars.com/used-cars/used…

None of these are near me, but I’m sure you could find someone who is.

deprecated account > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 14:20

Also, define “Euro brick wagon.”

Chairman Kaga > deprecated account
09/21/2015 at 15:45

850R, V70. 9-5. E46. W124.

deprecated account > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 16:15

E46 is hardly a brick IMO

B_dol > Chairman Kaga
09/21/2015 at 20:34

Was looking at cars 2K miles away, oddly enough someone with a local car saw my search on the forums and reached out directly. Might end up with a car in my backyard. Start talking to folks, communities tend to be small

Otherwise I have been getting as much info from owners as possible, car history, ownership experience, maintenance records and requesting a pre-purchase inspection done at a dealer or independent german mechanic.