Buying a car online

[occam]

Can any of you offer some advise regarding the purchase of a vehicle sight unseen?

The car I have found is in Canada, while I am in the U.S.

I have the VIN # and carfax.........the price is right.
It's exactly what I'm looking for, color etc, even some of the aftermarket items I would want.

I have only ever purchased a car the traditional way.

Help me out fella's.

 

[Desibaba]

How do u know that the A/C,transmission and all the other stuff is working properly??? If its a used car that is.Although if you are buying a new one from the dealership i wouldnt worry about it.But wouldnt you have to deal with a lot of headache regarding title,tag and registration if you bring the car over?Unless you are saving thousands of dollars this way it probably isnt worth it.

 

[occam]

It's a 2001 model......it's a very strong price, unique car, expensive purchase but a value relative to market.

Head aches for sure, thats kinda what I'm asking about.

I can't really see myself flying out and NOT buying. If I pull the trigger, it's gotta be based on the pictures and description by the seller. I mean I don't think the guys gonna flat out lie about things that I would be able to recognize when I got there.

Of course I can't exactly tell him I would bodyslam him off the hood if I waste the flight and time etc. but that how I feel. I think he's being square, though.


What do I have to worry about regarding registration on a Canadian import?
Should I have him take it to a garage I choose in his area for evaluation?

It's a sick ride......kind of a long term realization. Couldn't have afforded when it was new.

Hard to pass up a day dream realized.

 

[dumbbellpress]

I have a lot of experience using autotrader.com I just bought a car yesterday from using autotrader.com I got exactly what I wanted (which it is very difficult to find a 5 speed manual in my car) and at a tremendous price.

IMHO Carfax is 90% useless. Just because you do a carfax check on a car and it comes back clean, that does not mean the car does not possibly still have a salvage/rebuilt title or has had extensive body work done on it. Carfax does not catch everything, just most things.

What I did to make sure the car I bought yesterday....I had the guy run a Carfax, which came back clean. He took about 20 pics and emailed them to me.
then I had him take the car by Firestone, who charged me $18 to do a complete vehicle inspection. They put the car up on the rack and checked for frame damage/alignment problems. They checked engine/electrical system/tranny. They test drove the car and looked for any abnormalities. They inspected every inch of the car for signs of collisions, repairs, paint jobs, anything out of the ordinary which would signal the car had had body work or painting done on it.

Everything tested out perfect - absolutely nothing wrong with the car. Sure enough after a long drive yesterday to pick up the car................The car was beautiful and immaculate. And.....since I used autotrader.com I bought the car for thousands less than what I could have paid at a local dealership.

dumbbellpress No excuses, no regrets.

 

[Slick Arrado]

I have a lot of experience using autotrader.com I just bought a car yesterday from using autotrader.com I got exactly what I wanted (which it is very difficult to find a 5 speed manual in my car) and at a tremendous price.

IMHO Carfax is 90% useless. Just because you do a carfax check on a car and it comes back clean, that does not mean the car does not possibly still have a salvage/rebuilt title or has had extensive body work done on it. Carfax does not catch everything, just most things.

What I did to make sure the car I bought yesterday....I had the guy run a Carfax, which came back clean. He took about 20 pics and emailed them to me.
then I had him take the car by Firestone, who charged me $18 to do a complete vehicle inspection. They put the car up on the rack and checked for frame damage/alignment problems. They checked engine/electrical system/tranny. They test drove the car and looked for any abnormalities. They inspected every inch of the car for signs of collisions, repairs, paint jobs, anything out of the ordinary which would signal the car had had body work or painting done on it.

Everything tested out perfect - absolutely nothing wrong with the car. Sure enough after a long drive yesterday to pick up the car................The car was beautiful and immaculate. And.....since I used autotrader.com I bought the car for thousands less than what I could have paid at a local dealership.

dumbbellpress No excuses, no regrets.

Thanks for the post DBP. I've been thinking about using Autotrader. I've been browsing the site, and the cars on there ARE cheaper.

 

[dolfe1]

I have a lot of experience using autotrader.com I just bought a car yesterday from using autotrader.com I got exactly what I wanted (which it is very difficult to find a 5 speed manual in my car) and at a tremendous price.

IMHO Carfax is 90% useless. Just because you do a carfax check on a car and it comes back clean, that does not mean the car does not possibly still have a salvage/rebuilt title or has had extensive body work done on it. Carfax does not catch everything, just most things.

What I did to make sure the car I bought yesterday....I had the guy run a Carfax, which came back clean. He took about 20 pics and emailed them to me.
then I had him take the car by Firestone, who charged me $18 to do a complete vehicle inspection. They put the car up on the rack and checked for frame damage/alignment problems. They checked engine/electrical system/tranny. They test drove the car and looked for any abnormalities. They inspected every inch of the car for signs of collisions, repairs, paint jobs, anything out of the ordinary which would signal the car had had body work or painting done on it.

Everything tested out perfect - absolutely nothing wrong with the car. Sure enough after a long drive yesterday to pick up the car................The car was beautiful and immaculate. And.....since I used autotrader.com I bought the car for thousands less than what I could have paid at a local dealership.

dumbbellpress No excuses, no regrets.

First Carfax is not useless, you obviously don't believe so either, and no it is not possible for the car to have a damaged title and not show up on Carfax, this is the whole purpose of Carfax. Yes it is possible for the car to have had major damage at one time and not have a damaged title and yes it is also possible for the car to have previously had a damaged title and now have a clean title. This is why I would never ever recommend buying a car site unseen. Of course it will matter were you live, every state has different laws about the purchase of used new and used vehicles, you may have the option to return the vehicle if you aren't statisfied. Getting the vehicle inspected as dumbbellpress did is always a good idea and 18 dollars is a hell of a good deal. Autotrader is a good source, so is your local paper and do not disount a dealer, it is possible you can get a better price, though the only used cars they put on sale are ones that have been on their lot for a couple of months. Occam what kind of car are you looking for?

 

[MANWHORE]

I'd like to get in this,if no one minds I have a car i want to sell,and a new or newer van i want to buy. What is the best place to advertise my car and look for a van. Mustang GT for sale and Workvan for purchase. thanks Good luck with your purchase,too

 

[dolfe1]

I'd like to get in this,if no one minds I have a car i want to sell,and a new or newer van i want to buy. What is the best place to advertise my car and look for a van. Mustang GT for sale and Workvan for purchase. thanks Good luck with your purchase,too

Best place to look, internet, paper, autotrader, adveritse in the same places, this is where people look, nickle adds wont hurt or cost either.

 

[occam]

Well, I guess there are enough of them around not to worry about identifying myself. I'm kinda paranoid sometimes.

The car is a 2001 Dinan stage II 540 6spd. The right colors options etc. Several thousand less than I would have paid locally.

 

[occam]

Hey DumbellPress thank you......I just found another potential purchase thats not in Canada.... Autotrader is great.

 

[dumbbellpress]

Hey DumbellPress thank you......I just found another potential purchase thats not in Canada.... Autotrader is great.

Hey Occam not a problem I am glad I could help.

The thing about autotrader.com is, not only can you get a fanastic deal on a used car, but the selection is tremendous. I mean pretty much any color you want, any body style, auto or manual, any year, any options................since you get to choose from cars all over the US, your options are unlimited - anything you want you can get.

I love autotrader.com and will use it th next time I buy another car.

dumbbellpress No excuses, no regrets.

 

[Slick Arrado]

im the dumb fuck that got scammed on ebay, LOL!
i'm sure you all catch those super low priced vehicles and want to jump at the opportunity.
everything looked great, i even emailed the seller through ebay to be safe. got a confimation from the seller and ebay. i wired the seller $2,000 and he disappeared. yeah, im a rookie at ebay!
i have seen several other posts like that and now i check with ebay first and they are all scams! evey says they somehow hack into other people's posts and use their email, etc etc...
everything even the ebay confirmation checks out(fucked up ha). from now on, i will only purchase if it is using an escrow account.
the car was a BMW by the way...alot of them being sold as scams on ebay!

BP, was it a Z3? I saw one go for $9000 one time. Was a 2001.

 

[occam]

no, it was a 330xi
you see a bunch advertised for under 15 grand, M#'s and all.
you would thing Ebay would spend a little more time checking these people out...

they let them adverise but then they couldnt help me track them to get my $$ back!

What would you do differently on your next purchase?

I guess what I'm asking is, how could you help someone else avoid being scammed?

 

[Desibaba]

Damn thats fucked up.I would get pissed if i got scammed out of 500 bucks worth of steroids.2 grand??? You should sue ebay to get your money back.

 

[borrachopower]

car

yeah, i was fuckin pissed!!
you cant do much aboout it....you'll be out more on legal fees than on what you would recover.
i am still looking on ebay, but everything is by escrow or nothing.
i get a few every day that "require" a wire transfer---that 's the number one rule to look for in a scammer on ebay motors! those scams are all over the place bro's, watch out. dont send any money as a "deposit" or whatever....

full amount by escrow, that way if you dont get what you were expecting, you can send it back!

www.escrow.com

 

[occam]

yeah, i was fuckin pissed!!
you cant do much aboout it....you'll be out more on legal fees than on what you would recover.
i am still looking on ebay, but everything is by escrow or nothing.
i get a few every day that "require" a wire transfer---that 's the number one rule to look for in a scammer on ebay motors! those scams are all over the place bro's, watch out. dont send any money as a "deposit" or whatever....

full amount by escrow, that way if you dont get what you were expecting, you can send it back!

www.escrow.com

Very solid post......my thank's to you.

 

[hizhonor]

Very solid post......my thank's to you.

I couldn't say it better.

 

[dolfe1]

Well, I guess there are enough of them around not to worry about identifying myself. I'm kinda paranoid sometimes.

The car is a 2001 Dinan stage II 540 6spd. The right colors options etc. Several thousand less than I would have paid locally.

How many miles and how much do you intend to pay?

 

[dolfe1]

How many miles and how much do you intend to pay?

Also more specifics about Dinan stage 2.

 

[borrachopower]

another scam on ebay!

this is a new scammer i got an email from today. study how these fuckers plan their shit!
sad thing is, like i said before--i contacted the seller through ebay! ebay allows this shit to go on....you wire them the money WU then they disappear! all of the emails are similar so i think its a group of scammers going around. take care of yourseslves! info below
==================================================


From: "Tony tores" <tony_tores255@msn.com> Add to Address Book
Subject: RE: Question for seller -- Item #2467587379
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 03:47:26 -0900


Hello and thank you for your interest
I want to tell you a few words about the car.
First of all the car is in perfect condition and looks just like in
the
pictures.It is in imaculate condition and has no schrach on and hasn't
been
involved in any accident.
The motor run very well. The title is clear ,it is not a salvage one.
The car belongs to my brother.He died last month in a bike accident.
The car is now in Italy as my brother lived there.I am willing to sell
it
and shipp it to any of the UE countries or to US.I will not ship to any
African,Asian or Eastern European countries.
I know that the price is low but i have no use for the car and I want
to get
back home as soon as i sell it.
The price I hope to obtain is 13000 $ (this price includes the 25%
shipping
to your door and insurance, the shipping cost is 1700$ - 2000$) and if
you
agree
with this price we can start to complete the transaction.As i've told
you,in
order to proceed with the deal i need a deposit of 2500USD.The payment
must
be done using a money order service.
I prefer money order because in this way i will ship the car in the
same day
you make the payment.As i've said my brother lived in Italy and now i
arrived here to take care of his funerals and to solve his problems
here and
i want to get back home asap.

You will arrange payment through western union .You receive and
inspect
the
machine you have to send me the rest of the money.The inspection period
for
it is 3 days.
Look here how things are going:
l'm a serious seller with more than 2 years of experience in this
field. l'm a fair trader with a very good feedback on ebay which is
the proof that l have closed a lot of sucessful deals.
You will have to make a deposit of 2500 USD . You will have to go
personal to an western union office with the cash and send the money
(the
deposit of 2500 USD ) from your name and address to WATH NAME DO YOU
WANT
(FOR YOUR SIGURANCE)NEVER CAN TUCH THE MONEY IN THIS WAY ONLY AFTER YOU
WILL
RECEIVED THE CAR AND YOU WILL INSPECT IT YOU CAN CHANGE THE RECEIVER
NAME
WITH MY NAME.
The transfer only need to be here in Italy for i can be avaible to
check at
my WU agent that you really have the money for this great car .in this
case
the money is deposited in westernunion on my adress but on your friend
name.
.I will ship the car as a gift for my best friend so you will not have
to
pay any custom taxes and I hope you will do the same thing when you
will
make the transfer because
this way we will not have to pay any other taxes.
After you will make the transfer you will email me the details:
-the sender name
-the sender address
-the amount
-the confirmation #-MTCN (money transfer control number)
-the receiver name, that you choose to be and the adress.
With all this informations i will be able to check the payment and
after i will see that it is OK i will send the car right away
and you will receive it in 10 days at your door (if not less).
Here is my name and my address where you must send the money:
First name: Tony
Last name: Tores
Address: VIA GERMANICO #7
Zip code: 00192
City: ROMA
Country: ITALY
Don't forget to give me your exact adress!!!
Please let me know what you decision asap in order to prepare the
shippment and because I have a lot of offers and I can not wait much
longer, thanks.
Best Regards
I shall be awaiting your response.
With upmost respect


>Title of item: BMW : 3-Series
>Seller: abbyl55
>Starts: Mar-16-04 10:42:18 PST
>Ends: Mar-19-04 10:42:18 PST
>Price: Starts at $12,500.00
>To view the item, go to:
>[ame]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2467587379[/ame]
>
>
>
> Visit eBay, The World's Online Marketplace TM at http://www.ebay.com