I know that it is generally a bad idea to buy a car without test driving and looking it over. Unfortunatly I live in Wisconsin, and I am having trouble finding good cars that I would be able to look at before buying. Has anybody else bought their cars sight unseen? How did that work out for you? Thanks.

 

Hey! You live where I lived 4 years ago, man I hated that place. Anyway, I personally would never buy a car I have never driven unless I have a good mate that can look over the car for me and relay the information to me truthfully.

 

Heh, yeah Wausau does suck. Whats worse is that I'm doing the college thing in Platteville. It's a good school, but the town sure does suck! Oh well, I'm transfering to Stevens Point next year.

 

I have a friend or two going to SP, I'll be heading to Madison Tech though. You didn't happen to go to DC Everest did you?

 

I graduated from Newman (ewww, I know it sucks, nobody agrees with that more than I do) in '00. I know a few people that went to Everest though.

 

www.offtopic.com

Honestly, I wouldn't buy something costing this much without seeing it first. I think your best bet would be to try to find someone reliable in that area to see it for you. For whaever reason, if you send a deposit on it, you see it and decide you dont want it, you may end up losing the deposit. It just all depends on the seller and if they posted the deposit is not refundable on ebay or similiar location.

 

I brought my 94 Toruing from Kansas without test driving or looking at it. You just have to trust the seller. All I did was ask for pics of what I want to see. Then talked about the car over the phone, wired him the money and he sent me a bill of sale/title.

 

Like others have said, I think it's ok as long as you have someone in the area to go and check it out. I was looking only in Hawaii for a while but since our selection of FD's here is really slim, I ended up checking online for out-of-state cars. Found a '94 base in California that looked really nice on paper so I asked a family friend to check it out for me. As far as payment, I wired the down and mailed a cashier's check for the difference. The only real crappy part was the shipping - picked up from California and shipped to Hawaii ran me about $1,100.

 

I'm glad to be getting this advice. Thanks a lot! Shipping can be a bitch.

 

I bought mine sight unseen off of Ebay. Course my family and friends thought I was nuts! Obviously this is not the best solution but after searching 5 months I was getting desperate

The seller had DETAILED pics and provided full disclosure of any known defects/flaws

I was very happy with the transaction, and even more so after I got it and had Pettit check it out and they gave me the thumbs up.

So, yes, it can work out well, but I wouldnt count on it. But just reading the forum and looking at a number of cars you will get a good buyers eye pretty fast.

Here's my pride & joy

 

Yeah, my 93 came from VA and all i saw was pics he emailed me. you just gotta ask alot of questions and talk to them ,ask whats been done to the car, maybe about a compression and boost test. ask how many owners and what the car has been used for. but be sure cause you could be gettin a lemon. i was fortunate...... my car runs very strong. youd be surpised though at how many cars you have to choose from if you check out auto trader, and be patient dont just buy the cheapest cause you can spend alot quick on an old rag........ .02

 

I have been checking Auto Trader and I've been speaking with some people, but just no luck so far. I've been at it for about 2 months now, but I am by no means getting discouraged. I'll find "Her" eventually.........

 

I purcahsed a car from LA Motorsports in Richardson Texas and I live in MO. They have several FD's and they give a warranty with all the cars. That way you feel better about the risk involved. I sent a friend down to pick it up and he drove it back. I was very happy with the conditionon of the car. He told me the flaws and did not try to hide anything. Good luck in your serch.

 

I started looking for RX7's early December last year, I first kept the search to within driving distance of me, but most of the cars that popped up were in FL, or Cali..

I eventually found one in Maryland and talked to the guy about it, exchanged as much info as possible and then bought the car, he delivered it for me, which saved me a lot of headaches..

I've been going over the car myself since getting it about 2 weeks ago, and there is nothing seriously wrong/broken with it. A couple of small things are missing or broken, but you know with a 10+ years old car, you're gonna have that..

The best thing to do of course is to test drive the car and decide first hand, but if you can't do that, then having a trustworthy seller who knows the car helps immensly..

 

I bought an FD that I had never seen except for the internet. I trusted guy to give me a nice piece of equiptment....and somehow I got lucky enough and it worked out.

 

Would you trust me with borrowing your R2 for awhile?

 

DAZE....WHAT UP DUDE....YOU BROUGHT UP A GOOD POINT ABOUT HAVING THEM "EMAIL" YOU PICS OF WHAT YOU WANTED TO SEE....EXACTLY WHAT PICS DID YOU LOOK FOR IN ORDER TO MAKE YOUR DECISION ON BUYING THE CAR?? I AM THINKING OF DOING THE SAME BUT WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR IF I CANT GET THERE....BIG NAP...

 

Say you were going to have someone else do the checking, what might be some non-exterior things you would want to have checked?

 

I had an interesting experience buying my car.... let me elaborate. I found my car on the internet, Mid US. I live on the east coast. I called the guy to talk with him, he answered all of my questions and sent pics of the car. Everything looked good except that it had a fresh rebuild and I couldn't really give it a boost test before bringing it home. I took the chance and got the loan then started the drive. The car was in great shape when I went to see it, I drove it but I didn't really know what to expect. I couldn't open it up because of the new engine. When I got back home I came to find out the freon all leaked out of the A/C and there was major turbo issues. I got the turbo issues worked out but with my own time and money. If I knew that I would go through that I would have brought the price down a little buying it. Do I love my car: Yes. I found a rare car that fit exactly what I was looking for. It has perfect paint, 0 door dings, bought it from the original owner, garage kept and covered all its life. FAR!!! from a lemon, just needed a little time and care.

Just know what you are getting into and you should be fine.

 

These cars are selling fast if in clean shape w/low miles.
There are getting to be less around and it seems people are willing to pay for a good one.
Recently saw a 93 at a specialty dealer near me that sold after only on the lot 3 days.
However it was A+ cond.w/only 38k

 

The thing is, I plan on doing a complete rebuild along with some mods myself when I get the car. If there is something minor wrong with the car, I can take care of it. It's good to know that buying experiences seem to be positive here. I suppose what I will do is keep looking around here for awhile (I'm not in a huge hurry) and if I can't find a car, then I'll see what I can do about finding one elsewhere. Thanks!