Anyone ever bought a car sight unseen?

hulkamaniac

I was searching ebay for cars and came across a Civic that I like. Mileage is good, price is good. Only one catch - it's in Long Island and I'm in KS. I found I can get the car shipped here for $450 (this per ebay's shipping calculator). Flying would cost $129 or so (per expedia) and it's far enough away (1500 miles) that I probably couldn't drive it back in one day even the way I drive (Rule 1: Take your trash with you when you leave. Rule 2: You don't pee unless the tanks on E.)

So I'd either have to fork over $450 out of pocket, or plan on taking time off from work, paying gas and driving back. Theoretically, I could leave Saturday morning and drive back Saturday and Sunday I guess. Anyway, what gets me is that I've never seen this car.

Has anyone ever bought a car sight unseen before? Also, has anyone shipped a car before?

digits mama

Yes, Well actually it was a dump truck minus the dump body. It was also bought off of ebay and I had it shipped. Everything went wonderfully. Good luck!

It was shipped from New York to South Mississippi

mia dafsnup

I bought my Mini Cooper like that. The idea of sitting with my BF in a car for that amount of time made me choose to have it shipped to me and it worked out just great!

Good luck!

winniec777

I have a friend who bought a car (Prius) unseen off of ebay - he was ripped off. They took his money and he never got the car. Turns out there was no car -- it was a scam being run by some ring of thieves. Police were involved. He never got his money back ($5000 I think). I wouldn't do it, esp. since there must be acceptable cars in KS you can inspect and buy.

RE shipping a car - I have done that. It worked out well. The only downside was not having a guaranteed pick-up/drop-off date. We worked through a broker recommended by our mover and the truck doesn't get going until they have found enough cars to fill it. So I had to borrow a car from my parents for a week until mine showed up, but it was no big deal. $450 is a good rate for NJ to KS. I paid 3x that for a 2,350 mile trip and that was the lowest quote I got.

hulkamaniac

Well, this does not appear to be a Nigerian scam. I'm not seeing anywhere where the guy insists that the car be shipped. I ran into a guy with a good deal on an Accord on craigslist who adamantly insisted that I not pick up the car. He would only ship it. I offered to fly in, have him pick me up at the airport and we would do business and I'd drive the car home. That was inconvenient for him. I offered to fly in, take a cab to any location of his choosing and do business that way. He insisted that was was way too inconvenient for me. Why would I not just send him the money and he'd ship the car? Needless to say, it was a scam all the way.

My big worry is that the car might have some issue with it that won't show up in a CarFax report or in pictures of the car.

Edit: After getting a custom quote, the $450 price is suspiciously close to $800. Other places are double that. That's for the car being transported on an open trailor from their airport to my airport with a two week window of when it'll get here. That I can deal with.

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Aran

I'd never buy a car without inspecting it.

lexilu

we had a car transported from Connecticut to Florida - we had alot of phone contact with the ebay seller before the transaction, and we sent the deposit overnight fedex, and had them overnight the title to us, so we felt comfortable it wasn't a scam. Expect the worst, hope for the best, and be pleasantly surprised with what you get. Honda's are great cars - what year? and how many miles? Better to transport, just in case it's not 100% perfect for driving from NY to KS. Shipping the car was more stressful - than the actual ebay transaction, but it was ok. Check out the reviews on the transport company.

hulkamaniac

I contacted this guy via e-mail. He claims he can't come down on his price at all since he's auctioning it. He apparently doesn't want to or doesn't know how to end the auction early. Shipping companies are wanting to charge about $800-1000 depending on how I want the car shipped. They have door to door service (where they pick the car up at his house and drop it off at mine) and also terminal to terminal service (where he drops the car off at their location there and I pick it up at their location here. Presumably an airport). They also have options where they guarantee the car will be loaded on the top of the trailor so fluids from other cars don't drip on it and they have a service where the car will be shipped via an enclosed trailer. Both of these services cost extra of course. Terminal to Terminal shipping is cheaper.

The car in question is an 03 Civic with 81k on it. The guy claims he's selling it at a bargain price, but he's got it listed with a starting bid of Blue Book value and a BIN price slightly above Blue Book. I don't like paying Blue Book for a car as I love bargains so I'm reluctant to just agree to pay Blue Book price sight unseen. We'll see if the car sells at auction or if the guy is willing to negotiate afterwards.

digits mama

I think that you have the right idea.

I do alot of buying and selling through auctions. It really is a crapshoot and you just got to trust your instincts when it comes to buying and selling. There are times I have bought things and they were a bit more costly to repair but I always go for the bargin and always leave room for error when purchasing.

Good luck

Aran

7th gen Civics under blue book are a dime a dozen. Look around where you are a few more times.

hulkamaniac

Poked around and found an '03 Taurus that looks like it's pretty loaded (for a Taurus anyway) with only 23k on it. They're wanting $7k which seems pretty steep though.

Aran

Eeeewwww, if you're going for used, I'd stick with something Japanese, and ignore the US Big Three.

But I have a slight bias.

hulkamaniac

I've driven foreign cars and I've driven domestic cars. Personally, they've all run just fine for me. I love bargains and this one looks like one if I can get him to lower the price. He's in NJ and I'm in KS so it's still about 1500 miles and will cost about $800-1200 to ship.

Willowy

Running isn't the big issue, from what I've seen. It's more about longevity. My parents owned a Sable (same as Taurus) that I drove for a few years. Then my brother inherited it, and it ran just fine for a few years. Then something broke in the engine (honestly I never did know what exactly was wrong with it---cracked engine block maybe?, but nothing happened to the car to cause the damage, it just happened), and it was determine it would cost more to fix than to get a new car. I know it had under 200,000 miles on it at that point. I think around 175,000. All of our Fords have been that way. My parents also had several Ford minivans that ALL needed new transmissions at some point. Now they have a Honda Odyssey and so far no transmission trouble.

I have known several people who bought their cars from eBay or otherwise sight unseen. Sometimes it works for them, sometimes it doesn't. My parents bought a mail van sight unseen, but they had my uncle go take a look at it, and drive it up. Personally, I'd want to have a mechanic take a look first, no matter where I got it from.

hulkamaniac

My parents drive a Ford full sized van that has over 150k on it. It's a mid 90s model if I remember right. They've never had any big issues with it.

Guy with the Taurus wouldn't even sniff at my $5k offer (which seems to be what other 4dr sedans with that kind of mileage on it are selling for). He pointed to NADA which is close to $7k like he's asking. I pointed to actual ebay sales which are all in the $5k range. He is convinced he can get NADA out of it. I wish him the best of luck.

pugmom

7k isn't horrible depending on what body style and features it has.....NADA shows any where from 6200.00 to 9200.00 ...

hulkamaniac

Yeah, that's what NADA shows it at. They're not selling for that on ebay though. NADA is what they should sell for. Ebay is what people are actually paying. I see a lot of comparable cars on there with similar mileage that are listed for around $7k, but none that have actually sold for that price.

pugmom

I understand...I can just see why he might blow someone off that offerd that much less then NADA..maybe he will change his mind after he sees it wont sell

'tasha

I bought a car sight unseen from a dealer and had it delivered. It was a Dodge Dynasty and it was the best car I had until I got my Corolla.

hulkamaniac

I love to bicker and negotiate with people. I honestly will not buy a car that I haven't haggled over. It goes against everything in me to purchase a car I haven't haggled over. I was expecting some sort of counteroffer and us settling somewhere around $6k more or less.

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