jersey2phx

I know it sounds stupid to buy a car site/unseen, but what if the car is at an auction, in another state and/or I can't be there. QUESTION,,,is are there inspection ppl and/or agents that can be hired to do the checking for you?

MaxDog

Yes there are. Check on the internet. If I was you though, I would try to find someone from this website that is in your city and is familiar with these cars and pay them $50 or so to go inspect it and test drive it for you. I would give them a list of items to check for you. Good luck.

oldcutlass

It all depends on what you are trying to buy, an inexpensive car or an expensive collectable that has special interest or a limited producyion type vehicle. Yes there are inspectors and or buyers agents availale.

jersey2phx

jersey2phx

Thank you, well it happens to be 69 hurst/olds in another state auction

RetroRanger

Flood car ?

joe_padavano

How is using an inspection service from someone you don't know any different than buying a car from someone you don't know. There's a thread over on the AACA forum right now about someone who used a supposedly reputable third party to inspect a car, only to find numerous problems when the car was finally delivered.

I've bought several cars sight unseen. Get the seller to thoroughly photograph the vehicle, especially at the usual rust and trouble spots (which will vary by model and year). If you don't feel comfortable reviewing them yourself, get a trusted, experienced friend to do it. An experienced eye can tell a lot from good photos.

Finally, expect to have to do some maintenance, no matter what the seller says, and budget for it. In the case of my 62 F-85 wagon, I knew it had been sitting in the desert for nearly 30 years, so I expected to have to replace all rubber parts in the car, rebuild the brakes, etc. I was pleasantly surprised that the RotoHydramatic 5 trans works fine with only a fluid change.

oldcutlass

On this one I would follow Joes advice above, or get a referral to a very reputable buyers agent. This is the kind of car that you can get burnt on really easy.

tmaleck

I bought my car sight unseen last year. I had several cars I was interested in and paid inspection services to evaluate them before making a final decision. Some services were more professional than others, one guy even did an exhaust gas test in the coolant. All emailed a written report and photos along with checking for things I was specifically interested in, like frame doglegs, etc. The prices ranged from $75 to $200. Turns out it was money well spent, it saved me from a couple of cars in worse than advertised condition. You can't be sure an inspection will get you a good car, but it should help you from getting an obviously bad one.

Tim

pcard

If I am planning on spending a few thousand dollars on a car, I think a few hundred on a weekend trip is good insurance. I would also employ a professional gear head to go with me to give tech advice.
I did this with my car purchase - flew from Bermuda to Chicago - and it was well worth it. It gave me confidence in the negotiations and paid for itself.

terryl

I'll share my personal horror story from many years ago. I purchased a '63 Buick Electra 225 coupe from a seller who advertised it in the Buick Club of America magazine. When it arrived on an open car carrier at 11:30 P.M., it was already apparent that the car wasn't "as described" when it was still on the upper deck of the carrier in a dimly lit parking lot. A closer inspection the next day showed that the left quarter panel had been cut and replaced all the way around to the mid section of the trunk lid, and it looked like the job had been done in a high school auto body shop. The car had less than 15K on it, and I paid a premium price due to that. In retrospect, of the handful of photos that the previous owner had sent me, the only one that was out of focus was the one of the left side. He denied any knowledge of any previous damage, in spite of owning the car for years. Lesson learned here.....don't trust anyone. Look at the car yourself or have the car inspected by someone you trust before you commit to it.

D. Yaros

Many have an experience with this dilemma. I too have bought cars site unseen (2). I have also used an inspection service.

With the 2 site unseen purchases, I was quite happy. As Joe points out, the key there is plenty of photos, with you directing what is to be photographed.

That, coupled with ample dialog between you and the seller should give you a pretty good, and accurate, idea of the condition of the car. Is the seller open, cooperative and willing to do your bidding in terms of providing info? If not, why not?

The inspection I had was, I must say, money well spent. Why? It convinced me not to buy the car! The inspection yielded a written report and 154 photos! It gave me what I wanted/needed to know. It cost me more than $200 though. My recollection is I paid around $400. The outfit I used, and recommend without hesitation, is -
http://www.automobileinspections.com/Index.asp.

In your situation, I do not know if there is enough time left to have an inspection done on your behalf? If this is a major auction house, there may be inspectors readily available. Hey, call Wayne Carini!

Good luck!

pogo69

If its near me; CT surrounding area I might be able to authenticate it for you, for a reasonable price.

auto_editor

I attend auctions all the time as part of my, um... covering cars isn't really WORK, so I guess I'll go with "job". I second everyone's notion of in-person inspection, but here are a few tricks I learned from others' heartaches:

First and foremost, talk to the auction company. If they're one of the usual suspects (Barrett-Jackson, Mecum, Gooding & Co., etc.) they will have a combination of inspection options and, usually, a black-and-white explanation of what they are prepared to do to help you. Sometimes it's a simple "as-is" with no "guarantees" (police auctions), other times it's policy that if the vehicle they listed is in some material way NOT what they led you to believe, then they can refund all or part of your money, depending on whether or not you want to keep the car but still get some kind of "refund."

As for inspections, I usually recommend that you go with a "marque expert", but with Oldsmobiles--as they have no more "dealers"--finding someone is like picking a doctor: get references, get answers to all your questions and get in no uncertain terms the *ahem* terms of the job and their doing of it.

Overall I recommend that you "assume the worst". Think of all the ways this car could suck, then go down the list with the seller/auctioneer/inspector/etc. and get the straight answers to your "what ifs..."

But not being there isn't ALL bad. There's no "Bidder's Bar" to get loaded at during the show, and no "red mist" from trying to outdo some blowhard's bids until you paid $4 million for a vehicle you didn't really want and can't actually resell for anywhere NEAR your purchase price. [FuturLiner, anyone?...]

Railguy

If you ask for more pictures and he doesn't want to send them. I think that would answer all your questions. It's an auction one more bidder could mean thousands of dollars even if you aren't the buyer. Why else would he not take the time to send them.
Railguy

oldcutlass

This is an older thread and don't remember the outcome.

lemoldsnut

I am pretty sure you did not say where the car is located. Joe again is correct on this. I just sold a car to a guy in B.C. He paid a trusted friend who knows cars to come and inspect the car. He paid him his expenses to get here and $500 to check the car out. I think that was allot of money but, last summer I sold a 67 convertible frame to a guy who purchased a car site unseen and had paid a "inspector" to come look at the car and his report on the car was good. When he got it the frame was rusted out and had been duct taped over and painted and the guy missed it. Pretty serious issue.
I am in Oregon and would be happy to inspect a car for someone on this site for my expenses plus $150 and would take extensive pictures and get details of a car within a reasonable distance from my location. Like a 2-3 hour drive. The guy who looked at the car I just sold spent 4 1/2 hours here and took so many pictures his camera finally died. He drove the car about 50 miles and tested every component.
I have also sold cars that people did no inspection and really did not ask many questions. If a car is being restored after the purchase a base line of pictures of the car is important and otherwise it really is all going to be redone anyway.

Just my two cents.

Larry
lemoldsnut@aol.com