My advice would be simply to wait until an auction comes up that's close
enough to you to get a test drive in before bidding. There's also the
advantage of being there in person to haggle with the seller and not
have to deal with the auction hassles. Offering someone cash on the
spot can save both the buyer and seller quite a bit of money.
Takes a little patience to wait for the right one, but worked well for
me when getting my last 'B. Went over, had a look under the hood, drove
it around, figured out what needed fixing, negotiated a price, seller
pulled the ebay auction, I drove it home.
I suppose if it's something more exotic/expensive it might be worth
travelling further for, but I'd still never hand over cash for a second
hand car I'd not had a good look at. Could be expensive and/or fatal.
Some places will inspect a car for you for $ and send you a report, but
I'd be very uncomfortable doing that for a car that isn't that common.
- Derek
On Friday 29 August 2003 10:07 am, Patton Dickson wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> I know we have talked about this before, but I can't find it in my
> archives.
>
> I am selling my MGB and Corvair and buying one car to replace both.
> The best market seems to be eBay for finding the car, but I have the
> normal apprehensions before spending the money. There is such a
> small window in an auction, I want to do the best I can in verifying
> I am getting a reasonable deal.
>
> How have others dealt with buying on eBay?
>
> Thanks
> Patton
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