>>>>> Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2006 08:42:43 -0400
>>>>> Subject: [TR] Buying Long Distance: Tips?
>>>>> ....... Do any of you Triumph veterans have any
>>>>> suggestions for someone like me on buying online?
>>>>> Or should I stab my dream in the throat, be patient,
>>>>> and wait until the one I am looking for comes up
>>>>> close by so I will have a chance to look it over?......
I had quite a positive experience buying a TR4 at a distance. My situation
may be different from yours in that I am pretty handy with cars and had owned
Triumphs years ago. The seller, on the other hand, was somewhat of a novice
and had gotten into a car he was having difficulty dealing with and working on
(as well as difficulties in finding someone else to work on). Yet even with a
good level of personal knowledge, I still found it very valuable and
reassuring to enlist the help of others.
In my case, it was an eBay-related purchase. The car didn't meet its reserve
in an eBay auction and I had been corresponding with the buyer throughout
the time. He may have had a too optimistic view of the car's value. Over the
course of a week or two he sent more pictures and did his best to answer my
questions; even to the extent of walking around the car and sticking a magnet
to
various parts as I listened on the phone. We gradually came closer on price
and reached a deal.
In any event, these transactions boiled down to two kinds of judgements: 1)
Does the seller seem earnest and trustworthy? 2) Does the car seem to stack
up to the description and my expectations?
In the case of the owner, we spoke on the phone several times and his
auction description was extensive. In our discussions was there never any sign
of
waffling on the facts; never any contradiction between things said before,
during and after; and no overblown claims. I got a sense that he was being very
fair and honest, even though his actual knowledge of Triumphs was limited.
As to the car, I used the resources of one of the Triumph clubs. On their
web site was a list of people throughout the country who volunteered to look at
cars in their area on behalf of buyers from other parts of the country.
Placing my trust in a (Triumph) stranger, I contacted the member nearest the
car
and he was extremely helpful. He spent an afternoon vetting the car and said
that, as far as he could see, everything was fairly represented.
A deal was done and my son (then 13) and I flew one-way from the Detroit
area to mid-Iowa. It all worked out great and we had a wonderful three-day
drive
home over secondary roads Wonderful, that is, except for the time the
driver's windshield wiper dropped off on to the hood in what was literally a
driving
rain. However, this, and repairing a non-working choke in the motel parking
lot, gave me an opportunity to demonstrate my alter ego;
Dad-as-hero-mechanic-who-fixes-cars-with-bare-hands,-rudimentary-tools,-and-things-found-on-the-ro
adside. You should see the cape and costume.
Bottom line, try to evaluate the seller as closely as the car and don't be
shy about asking your new best friends for help.
Bob Sharp
Michigan
64-ish TR4
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