buying car over online

BSapphire95GT · Feb 12, 2008

buying car online

has anybody ever bought a car from someone else in another state far away from home...how was the money transaction handled and the shipping etc?

Red1990Lx · Feb 12, 2008

Use an Esrow service which is an unbiased third party. They hold your money which is safe from the other party taking your money if the terms of your agreement aren't upheld and vise versa. This service is normally $180-$200. With shipping, there really isn't a full proof way of doing it to protect the buyer. So in my past transactions, I had the seller pay for it up front because this cost can be added to the escrow amount... If the seller is not willing to do this then either they are flat broke or haven't been totally honest with their car. Once those terms are agreed upon, set up an inspection period (24 hours). If the car checks out, you can release the funds from the escrow account. If the car doesn't check out, send the car back and be out only the return shipping instead of everything. The key here is GOOD communication...

BSapphire95GT · Feb 12, 2008

thanks for the reply when i told the gy i wanted to use an escrow and described it he got kindof nervous and i got a bad vibe so later i called him and told him i was out and he said **** you and hung up...oh well

ProKiller · Feb 13, 2008

if he was a dick after that small request, then he was full of crap about a lot of stuff. personally i just can't imagine me ever buying a car without examining it up close and in person.

parchisi · Feb 13, 2008

Recently bought a 2004 Navigator for my parents off of ebay. Bought it from a dealership that also sold their cars on ebay. Took about a month for the navi to arrive at my parents house but it was flawless.

Simply wired the money to their bank account, and it was shipped using an auto shipper set up by them. Overall it went pretty smooth.

95BlueStallion · Feb 13, 2008

I tried to buy a motorcycle online. I paid him using paypal, but was stupid enough to trust him after several conversations, and sent the money before getting the title or anything in the mail... He even had a fake shipping guy call me to confirm my address and everything. Long story short, had to get my cops and his local cops involved to get my money back after 4 months of bull****. I was lucky enough that he gave me his real name and real address. It seems like it was all honest until it actually came time for him to ship the bike... I'll never buy out of state vehicles again without actually going to complete the sale in person...

HankyGT · Feb 13, 2008

Don't worry, I drove 5hrs to see that the kid I was buying a car off of was lying about stuff on the car/ no rust.

Never buy a car in the rain, sitting in the grass and just assume its clean underneath cause it's newer and the fender lips are clean.

I shoulda kicked the door in and drove back home.

S351Saleen77 · Feb 13, 2008

I lucked out on my latest Saleen in having Mark at Performance Autosport check it out for me and I had the guy drop the car off there and Mark held it until the shipper arrived.

Red1990lx is right on and that is the way it should be done.
Some people though wouldn't want the car shipped on their dime if you refused it they would be out the shipping....it cost me $1500 to ship last summer. If it was me selling a car I would probably find a guy who didn't want me to front the shipping...what if he refused the car and didn't pay for the shipping back for what ever reason? Or would the money come out of the escrow for shipping the car both ways? I know how some people change their minds and I personally wouldn't pay for any shipping unless I was guaranteed ALL the shipping costs back if the buyer refused the car.

The guy I just bought the Saleen from freaked out about me wiring money to his bank account because he would have to give me his routing #! I told him it was on all his checks...he still wouldn't do it so I had to send a cashiers check. So I sent a check after he dropped it off at PAS.

Red1990Lx · Feb 14, 2008

S351Saleen77 said:
I lucked out on my latest Saleen in having Mark at Performance Autosport check it out for me and I had the guy drop the car off there and Mark held it until the shipper arrived.

Red1990lx is right on and that is the way it should be done.
Some people though wouldn't want the car shipped on their dime if you refused it they would be out the shipping....it cost me $1500 to ship last summer. If it was me selling a car I would probably find a guy who didn't want me to front the shipping...what if he refused the car and didn't pay for the shipping back for what ever reason? Or would the money come out of the escrow for shipping the car both ways? I know how some people change their minds and I personally wouldn't pay for any shipping unless I was guaranteed ALL the shipping costs back if the buyer refused the car.

The guy I just bought the Saleen from freaked out about me wiring money to his bank account because he would have to give me his routing #! I told him it was on all his checks...he still wouldn't do it so I had to send a cashiers check. So I sent a check after he dropped it off at PAS.

In my case, he offered the shipping for free. But instead of having him pay for it, we agreed on taking it out of the sale price of the car. But say you are looking at a car for $5,500... The cost of shipping is $675.... You put $6,175 in the escrow service with a stipulation that if the transaction is not settled and the car was "AS" described the seller was entitled to the $675 and the rest would go back to the buyer... Pictures speak 1000 words... I knew when the seller sent or 150 pics of the car, he was for real... I had a really good experience buying from the West Coast. Included in the sale was a CD with a pic of every part put on the car, every paper reciept, the dyno sheet, and even the original window sticker.... Just goes to show that Mustangers are a true brother/sisterhood!!

Venom351R · Feb 14, 2008

I bought my current Mustang off a guy in FL. I live in Maine. I saw the car for sale on auto trader and here on stangnet. I got a loan from the the bank and flew down to FL. Car turned out to be everything he said it was and from the pictures I got. Sign here sign there hand over the check, done deal. Drove back to Maine 23 hrs and 1,500 miles later. We e-mailed and talked on the phone a lot the preceding weeks before I flew down to get it. I was comfortable with everything.

It was cheaper for me to fly down ( one way plane ticket) and drive the car back then what it would have been to ship it here.

MysteryMachine · Feb 14, 2008

I bought my cycle off a dealer on ebay. I sent 300 down payment then paid the rest when I picked it up. They said it looked fine but never really went over it. It needs some things fixed but for an older bike that's normal. Things went fine for me. surprised Chris hasn't chimed in on this. He just got that fairlane off the net

69clark · Feb 14, 2008

I bought my pace car online. I saw the pics on line, called the guy and worked out a deal. I went through a collector car place for financing in which the worked with both the seller and buyer to be sure everything was legit. I drove out to Iowa, looked the car over and proceeded to sign the check and hand it over. Done deal.

S351Saleen77 · Feb 14, 2008

Red1990Lx said:
In my case, he offered the shipping for free. But instead of having him pay for it, we agreed on taking it out of the sale price of the car. But say you are looking at a car for $5,500... The cost of shipping is $675.... You put $6,175 in the escrow service with a stipulation that if the transaction is not settled and the car was "AS" described the seller was entitled to the $675 and the rest would go back to the buyer... Pictures speak 1000 words... I knew when the seller sent or 150 pics of the car, he was for real... I had a really good experience buying from the West Coast. Included in the sale was a CD with a pic of every part put on the car, every paper reciept, the dyno sheet, and even the original window sticker.... Just goes to show that Mustangers are a true brother/sisterhood!!

But if the shipping is Not offered for free and the cost is $675 and the guy doesn't want it for some reason it would cost the seller $675 to get it back. Right? This is why I was saying I wouldn't want to pay for it. It cost me $1500 enclosed trailer coast to coast. So if I sold it to a guy on the east coast and he didn't want it when it got there I would be out $1500 to get it back. I personally wouldn't do it, I would much rather the guy come see it than have the possibility of me being out $1500. You had a great seller getting 150 pics and a CD. I had 5 pics!

My first one I flew out and looked at it, but this last one I was lucky and had a guy look at it for me. He described it much better than the seller.

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