Long Distance Buying - Advice?
 

I found a nice, low mileage FD that I want to buy, but it's several thousand miles away. It's all stock, with under 40k - is there anything in particular I should be looking for aside from the same things I'd look for in a higher mileage FD? Seller says it drives perfectly - is a compression test warranted?

Can anyone recommend a quality shipping company? It'd be going from New York State to Austin, Texas.

If at all possible have it inspected by a rotary shop prior to purchase.

Is it in ct? If so I drove it.

I would ask to see a compression test. Or get a vid of vacuum on the boost gauge. Be very wary of low vacuum.

Btw if it's the ct one I think compression is ok

Whoops. I see its in ny

Then it must be true. No one would ever mislead someone about the condition of a car for sale. Especially someone far away that cant look at it.

Have them take it to a rotary shop for a full inspection (at your cost). It will be the best money you ever spent.

I live in FL, and bought a car in TN. Fortunately is was a reputable seller in the community (DJSeven).
I had it inspected at a local Mazda dealer, not ideal i know, but it was the best option geographically. They gave me a thorough assessment within their capabilities (body, engine, interior, etc). Also David compression tested it and emailed me pics by my request.
At that point, i flew to TN and drove it home (with no issues!).

I do agree with the above. I think having seller send a compression test is a fair ask. I just bought a car a week ago. It was a hot item as I saw it. So I felt as though I couldnt press the seller. I paid his ask and drove down. It wasn't a good decision but I was full aware of what I was getting myself into. If u have a cherry car u need to jump on it or u will miss it. That's a gamble u may have to take. If u have a good financial situation it makes taking that risk much easier. If u are pressed for cash then maybe you can not take the risk and therefore would demand a compression test. Just realize that that may cost u to lose the car.

Take my word of advice here. Believe me. This is the exact equation I just did myself and I picked it apart very obsessively.

FD shopping isn't like going to Walmart and picking up something g off the shelf. This is a rigorous sellers market right now. And rightfully so. If you want a pure pirpose built machine you can do no better than a properly sorted FD

I view everything in life as a "trade". there usually isnt a clear path on any decision. the best one can do is to fully understand both sides of the trade. Your question is philosophical. So i dont think you are going to get a clear answer. The advice here is to simply understand the trade

Some decent advice above.

#1. Run a Carfax, not autocheck or other. Make sure nothing is off.
#2. Pay an experienced local forum member to inspect, drive and compression test the car.
If you are going to use a shop make sure they are qualified, because they probably are not.
#3. You get what you pay for, check market prices and make sure the car is priced correctly.
#4. As mentioned above, if the price is a steal there's most likely something wrong, if the car is cherry and priced below market and nothing is wrong it will sell almost immediately and you don't have much time to land the deal. Trust me it takes a real steal of a price to make this risk worthwhile.
#5. Factor in $1000 for open transport in your price.
#6. New York doesn't strike me as the best place to buy a car from for rust, bad roads or for honest sellers or cars without a story.
#7. Never rush on a purchase, there will be another, better and more cherry car for sale in the future, maybe even in your area or close believe it or not.
#8. Always buy the best condition and close to your criteria car you can afford. It will cost you more in the longrun to fix a poor condition car or to make it what you wanted originally, and it still will never be the car you dreampt of after all of your stress and costs.

Yea if this is an nyc car forget it. There is no way a fd can survive on those streets.

Nyc is like dog years. One year of working in the city is like 7 yrs of stress.

One year on the roads for and fd is like 7 yrs

^lots of good advice.
The big 3 I think:
1) pay for inspection
2) require compression check (with pics?)
3) carfax or comparable

I purchased my FD "blindly" -- only pictures and an inspection. It was in TX and I was in CA.

I got a full inspection done by RP (rx7.com). They did a compression test, inspected the pillow balls, ran other tests, didn't find anything mechanically wrong, and recommended the car to me for the price.

Seller sent me pics, video of it cold starting, idling, revving after warmup.


I had it shipped for ~700. Which was too much, after I spoke with the driver who gets 500$ COD, and the rest stays with the company. Could have hired the driver directly, but went with a well reviewed company (Montway auto transport).

Car ended up being fine. I haven't had major issues---rear (original) shocks went bad, throwout bearing, usual stuff.

If i could do it all over again, I wouldnt have shipped it--I wouldve put that money towards a flight and gas money back. Nothing beats self-inspection, especially with a car that you plan on keeping/loving

After buying an original engine, bone stock, low (25k) mileage FD I'm glad I had $5,000 stashed because my coolant seals just blew after 6 years of ownership and 15k miles later. I would suggest you have the same set aside even if the compression test comes back strong.
Long distance buying seems to be the only way to buy a running FD these days...

Be sure to get some pics of the under carriage as well. I missed this with my FD. Everything else looked too good and the compression check was almost perfect so I did not think of it. Getting it sorted was extra work that I had not planned for.

I recently bought my RX7 2 months ago from IL to NY, googled some top 10 car shipping companies and chose one based on reviews. I used "Truck It Transport", which was a broker that searched for other companies. Car arrived in 2 days by the same driver who took really good care of it. By the way, I flew to Illinois to check out the car first and gave a 2-day window for the truck to arrive. Hope this helps and good luck!

Be very careful. Lots of lies and scams out there in the online car world. Just had a friend buy a 1970 Charger off ebay without seeing it in person. Had it shipped here and while driving it the back tire fell off. While repairing the damage done to the wheel well he found both quarter panels were all bondo.

Check it out youself or have someone trusted do it. If you cant, wait for a car where you can do that.

Check your local classic or exotic car dealerships and see if they offer a search and find service. Some of these dealerships will find the car you want and handle all the details including inspection for a fee of course. That is how I got my FD. If the car is not as described you dont have to take delivery or pay for it.

I really don't know how you can buy a car without looking at it. If you ask me, I wouldn't.

I just bought a set of wheels and 9 out of 10 sellers rated their wheels excellent. When I go look at them, they were all average for the age or poor. I don't know what it is about some guys that over rate the shit out stuffs that they own. Then there is this rich dude living in a gated community sold his set of wheels to me describing the rims in "good condition" turned out to be in the best condition of all.

People will do anything to sell their shiz to you. Don't trust anyone including the mechanic. Cliche...

Having said that I have found my last FD through Craigslist. Flew out to some farm town IL from Boston. The seller came out to pick me up, we drove for two hours to get to his farm in his yellow Type R Integra. He gained some trust from me right there. I kept texting all my friends updating them of my location. Told them to call 911 if they don't hear from me in an hour. Anyways...

After 5 months of searching and hundreds of miles of traveling, I ended up buying this, 94 with 36k miles up molestered, total stock, condition with red interior. It was truly a barn find at 9/10 condition.

eBay and on these forums, I would never find car like this at the price I paid. Either it will get sold in seconds or it will be with so much premium, making the car impossible to buy.

I have seen a few more in the Midwest at the time of my search. You will be surprised what you can find on the Craigslist.

Btw I shipped it back to me in an enclosed trailer and found the guy from uship.com. The truckers bid on the load and you get a very competitive rate.

I'd have a rotary shop (IRP looked at my gray car before I bought it when it was red) and a body shop look at the car. You can get tons of great advice on assessing the mechanical health of the car here but you will NOT get the same pair of eyes as a body shop guy would. I think ideally, you would take the car to a body shop, get info on possible fixes to the paint and body and then have the rotary guy do the mechanical health assessment and check the body himself from the info from the body shop.