As an enthusiast I've had several times in my life where a particular car that I wanted to buy was not conveniently located near me. Here I will detail what steps I go through when preparing to seal the deal.
Find the car
I will have a specific type or model of car that I’m looking for, that is typically the cause of needing to travel for a car purchase. I surf Craigslist, eBay, and national forums to find the car I want. But be prepared before contacting the seller.
Keep in mind rule #1. In buying, selling, and poker, is always leave emotion at the door. Think with your head and not your heart, there will be another car and another day.
Contact the owner
Anything about the car that is not immediately apparent from the pictures (you have pictures right?) you will want to find out. Explain to the owner that you’re not local and you would be arranging to either pick the car up or have it shipped. Then get into the nitty gritty of what’s wrong with it. We've all seen the ads, “Mint condition” then you find out it has a few spots of surface rust… ask about specifics. Don’t ask general questions like what condition is it in, ask things like how much rust is there. Get the VIN, check it’s history, and set boundaries for what you’re ok with. For some a salvage title isn't a curse, for others it may be.
I prefer to email when I buy/sell. For the simple reason that my memory is sometimes not the best. If I have a record of the conversation it’s valuable to me. Also, if I am cross shopping between two or more cars, it helps to keep the information separated.
Pictures are worth a thousand words of course, and videos are worth ten thousand pictures, so any and all information to help you decide is beneficial. You may need to arrange a deposit so that the owner doesn't sell it out from under you, document it all with a bill of sale. Most of all, talk to the seller and get a feel for their confidence in the car. Especially if you’re driving it home hundreds of miles. Listen to your gut, if you feel uneasy about the purchase, get more information.
Arrange travel
To date I’ve purchased 4 cars from out of state. The first was a 1978 VW Rabbit C from Wisconsin, I used a friends truck, rented a trailer, and drove out and picked it up. The second was an 88 BMW 325is from Los Angeles where I flew out to buy the car, and drove it home to Minneapolis. The third was another 1978 Rabbit from California, this one I had shipped right to my doorstep. And the fourth was a 1987 BMW 325is from Iowa, I took a greyhound bus down and drove it home. Each of the methods have their ups and downs and it will depend on what you’re comfortable with and what you can afford.
Be aware of the weather
It sounds trivial, but when I drove my 88 E30 home it was over Thanksgiving. There happened to be a gigantic winter storm plowing it’s way through mountains and the Midwest. I can tell you I've never feared for my life more than when driving a lowered E30, with bad summer tires out back and all-seasons up front, through 6 inches of snow, down a mountainside and then through whiteout conditions in Nebraska and South Dakota. LSD literally saved my life.
Bring tools
Bring tools if the condition of the car dictates. In the middle of South Dakota, on the side of a highway that was closed down due to a winter storm, the front end of my E30 was in the air, balanced precariously by the widow-maker jack and 50mph winds. I was lucky enough to find out that a missing brake caliper bolt happened to be the same thread size as the wheel lug.
Arrange the sale and title transfer
Make sure you are on the same page as the seller. If they want cash make sure you have cash, if you’re doing a cashier’s check make sure you have their legal name and not an alias. Some states send the license plate of the car with the new owner, in others the plate stays with the seller, make sure you’re prepared. Some states can do a temporary plate for just this reason.
Finally, be mentally prepared in that the car is almost never exactly as you expect it to be. There is often something that was overlooked by the seller. It may be something small that can be brushed aside, or it may be a deal breaker where you need to cut ties and find a new way home. It can be a wonderful experience, a road trip in a new car gives the feeling of freedom that little else can. Embrace the good and the bad and keep on motoring.
About the Author: Glen Cordle
Glen is a mechanical designer from Minneapolis Minnesota. An old-school motorhead at heart, he respects anything that's had passion poured into it. A jack of all trades, master of some.
