Buying a vehicle long-distance/online

[Bruce Page]

I have been looking for a particular used car for a few months. One that meets my criteria became available at a reputable dealer 1200 miles away. I have never purchased long distance and have no idea how the process works. Could someone enlighten me on gotcha's/what to look out for?
I would not need financing.

Thanks for any help.

[Doug Dawson]

I have been looking for a particular used car for a few months. One that meets my criteria became available at a reputable dealer 1200 miles away. I have never purchased long distance and have no idea how the process works. Could someone enlighten me on gotcha's/what to look out for?
I would not need financing.

Thanks for any help.

I wouldn’t buy a used car online w/o first physically going there to look at it in person, test drive it, and have a local mechanic go through it. There are reputable dealers who are not so reputable if they know they can get the cash and ship it to you w/o you having laid hands on it. You may luck out, or you may save yourself some heartbreak.

[Jim Koepke]

If it is a "reputable dealer" as in dealership, they may be associated with a dealership closer to you and a deal might be struck to ship it to the closer dealer for inspection.

My brother has worked for an auto dealer. Sometimes his job has involved flying across country and driving a vehicle back.

jtk

[Kev Williams]

Both Carvana and Vroom offer 7-day no-risk returns, a 'reputable' dealer selling long distance sight unseen should be able to match that...

[Bruce Page]

Both Carvana and Vroom offer 7-day no-risk returns, a 'reputable' dealer selling long distance sight unseen should be able to match that...

Believe me, I have looked at all of the online auto traders almost daily beginning in early March. This is the first vehicle that meets my price/mileage, and bell & whistle criteria. It is at a well rated BMW dealership and has an excellent Carfax report. It has ~ 24 months still on the warranty. Flying out there to inspect is not an option.

[Roger Feeley]

My last two cars came from CarMax and the experience was good. I got an extended warranty on both and both paid for themselves. With the warranty, it’s really somebody else’s problem.

compare that to my last experience at a traditional dealership. My son-in-law was buying a car and I wanted to sit in something similar.i went to the local dealership and told a salesman my situation. He very kindly took me to a car and let me sit in it to see how comfortable it would be fo a tall person. As we walked back to the building, I thanked him and asked for his business card for my son-in-law. That’s when it got weird. He just didn’t know if it would be okay to give me a card. He had to talk to his manager. I sure didn’t expect such a reaction. All I wanted was his card! After two conferences with his manager, he decided that it would be ok to give me his card. I left thinking no way was I ever going back there!

[Jim Matthews]

Any used car should be inspected by an independent mechanic, who does not also sell cars.

Warranties on used cars aren't designed to protect the buyer - they're designed to limit liability.

https://lemonsquad.com/

[Bill Dufour]

If you live in California make sure the car was built to meet California smog laws. If it meets California smog it meets 49 state smog laws. There are loopholes to allow it into California but best to avoid the entire situation if possible.
Bil lD

[Bruce Page]

Jim, the warranty is a transferable manufacture’s factory warranty, not a dealership warranty. This vehicle has a little over 15k on the odometer.

My current car, an Infinity FX35 was bought from CarMax. I was very happy with that transaction and would love to go that route again. Unfortunately, CarMax hasn’t had what I’m looking for as far as low vehicle mileage.

Bill, I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The car I'm considering is in Indiana.

I was hoping to find someone that has been down this road before.

[Jim Becker]

If it's a CPO you'll probably be fine, especially since it's still under the OEM warranty..I'm assuming that this is a Beemer. There is certainly going to be risk like with any pre-owned car, even if you did have it independently evaluated.

Honestly, however, anytime I've seen someone purchase an auto long distance like this has primarily been for collector type vehicles.

[Bruce Page]

Jim, what does CPO mean?

[Bruce Page]

Jim, what does CPO mean?

Duh, I fingered it out.. :rolleyes: Yes, it is a CPO vehicle.

[Darcy Warner]

Jim, the warranty is a transferable manufacture’s factory warranty, not a dealership warranty. This vehicle has a little over 15k on the odometer.

My current car, an Infinity FX35 was bought from CarMax. I was very happy with that transaction and would love to go that route again. Unfortunately, CarMax hasn’t had what I’m looking for as far as low vehicle mileage.

Bill, I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The car I'm considering is in Indiana.

I was hoping to find someone that has been down this road before.

Where at in Indiana?

Why bring even a few year old rust belt car out west?

[Bruce Page]

Fort Wayne. If it had 50k, I would be worried about that. 15k, not so much

[Darcy Warner]

Fort Wayne. If it had 50k, I would be worried about that. 15k, not so much

I'm 20 minutes north of Fort Wayne. let me know if I can help you out.

[Bruce Page]

I'm 20 minutes north of Fort Wayne. let me know if I can help you out.

Thanks for the offer!

[Doug Dawson]

My last two cars came from CarMax and the experience was good. I got an extended warranty on both and both paid for themselves. With the warranty, it’s really somebody else’s problem.

compare that to my last experience at a traditional dealership. My son-in-law was buying a car and I wanted to sit in something similar.i went to the local dealership and told a salesman my situation. He very kindly took me to a car and let me sit in it to see how comfortable it would be fo a tall person. As we walked back to the building, I thanked him and asked for his business card for my son-in-law. That’s when it got weird. He just didn’t know if it would be okay to give me a card. He had to talk to his manager. I sure didn’t expect such a reaction. All I wanted was his card! After two conferences with his manager, he decided that it would be ok to give me his card. I left thinking no way was I ever going back there!

Car salesmen are very territorial. It’s considered a grave offense to even hint at taking somebody else’s sale. I suspect the manager conferences were about the ethics of this. I’d cut them some slack. BTDT, no judgement implied.

[Jim Becker]

The reason I mentioned CPO is that the vehicle has been vetted a little more and "brand" also matters with that, IMHO. CPO combined with the clean CarFax, low miles, etc., is a good omen.

[Ron Selzer]

I would make the deal and have it shipped to me. You stated it met all your desires, clean Carfax, factory warranty, mileage, etc. Sometimes you have got to roll the dice. I have bought motorcycles, cars, a van, and a pickup off of ebay, Autotrader.com, etc. Had good luck on all so far. I have picked all of mine up in person and had to deal with the usual problems with a used vehicle. I would look into buying an extended warranty at your local BMW dealer so they have a small amount of skin in this vehicle when you do need warranty work done. Defintily need to talk off the board to Darcy about this dealer, etc.
Good luck
Ron

[Tom Bender]

If you are expecting a manual transmission, well definitions get stretched. Have someone text you a picture of the pedals.

[Jim Koepke]

As we walked back to the building, I thanked him and asked for his business card for my son-in-law. That’s when it got weird. He just didn’t know if it would be okay to give me a card. He had to talk to his manager. I sure didn’t expect such a reaction. All I wanted was his card! After two conferences with his manager, he decided that it would be ok to give me his card. I left thinking no way was I ever going back there!

My comments are along the same lines as Doug.

My question about a low mileage used car would be why was it back at the dealer?

Was the original buyer unhappy about something with the car or were they unable to make the payments?

jtk

[Ron Selzer]

My comments are along the same lines as Doug.

My question about a low mileage used car would be why was it back at the dealer?

Was the original buyer unhappy about something with the car or were they unable to make the payments?

jtk


back around 2006-8 took a work truck into local GMC-Cadillac dealer. Service dept had a corvette about 9 months old in there price tag around 120K (if memory is right) High performance version. Story was local Doctor bought for his wife, she got tired real quick of how harsh the ride was and traded it off for a Caddy. Service manager told us that it was 10k for brakes and same for tires about every 20k miles, don't know how true that all was. Guy with me was (Richard) real interested in Corvettes and said it was true. Richard wanted a Corvette real bad and could have written a check for a new one, just too tight to do so. Course that was how he came to have that kind of money was working two jobs all his life and not spending anything unless absolutely necessary.
have a good friend who approaching his 40 yr HS reunion leased a Mercedes Sedan for two years so he could drive it there . He rarely drove it. His wife would drive it to work to keep from putting miles on her leased car a little Nissan. Turned it back in with less than 10k on odometer. He could have bought a Rolls Royce and not missed the money. However he started out poor, made it on his own all the way and was not spending money unless it made him money or to keep his wife of 40+ years happy.

So you just never know, however asking questions helps. Just don't get too paranoid and miss out on the vehicle/tool/whatever you want.

[Jim Becker]

My question about a low mileage used car would be why was it back at the dealer?\

Beemer. Short term lease which isn't unusual or low mileage lease which also isn't unusual sometimes...

[Bruce Page]

I decided to go for it and sent a sizable hold yesterday afternoon. They are over nighting the paperwork including an “E” title. I should have more details & dates on Monday.

I talked with my financial advisor before sending the hold. He commented that this type car buying is becoming more & more common and he has seen very few problems, especially when dealing with an established car dealership.

The biggest unknown of course is the vehicle itself. It still has almost 2 years left on the OEM warranty so I feel pretty secure there - fingers crossed.

The next PITA will be selling my current car...

[Nathan Johnson]

Did you arrange delivery of the vehicle through the dealer?
Just curious what the logistics are in this case.

Bought a new car from a dealer in November for my fiance. They were about 100 miles south of me and I asked them to deliver it. We signed papers at the table and i never had to leave my house. Best car deal I've done.

[Bruce Page]

Nathan, the delivery cost was the only major stumbling block in the negotiating. They wanted to charge me $1700 for the "White Glove" :rolleyes: 1200-mile trip. We settled on $750 which is more inline with what Carmax and others charge for approximately the same distance.

[Doug Dawson]

Nathan, the delivery cost was the only major stumbling block in the negotiating. They wanted to charge me $1700 for the "White Glove" :rolleyes: 1200-mile trip. We settled on $750 which is more inline with what Carmax and others charge for approximately the same distance.

IOW much more than the cost of a rental car and seeing this big beautiful country in its phase of brief isolation. You’re going to get to know the car one way or another.

[Bruce Page]

Doug, I agree, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned road trip. Unfortunately, there are circumstances that won’t allow it right now. Maybe next year.

[Nathan Johnson]

Nathan, the delivery cost was the only major stumbling block in the negotiating. They wanted to charge me $1700 for the "White Glove" :rolleyes: 1200-mile trip. We settled on $750 which is more inline with what Carmax and others charge for approximately the same distance.

Thanks for the reply.
Enjoy your new vehicle.

[Mike Henderson]

The next PITA will be selling my current car...

Sell it to one of those places like CarMax. They will examine your vehicle and give you a price that's good for a few days. If you agree, you bring it in and they write you a check. You might get more in a private sale but that's a problem these days.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Mike, that is my planed first step.

[Stan Calow]

Just a note that I understand Hertz (going bankrupt) is selling off a few hundred thousand of their vehicles, reportedly at great bargains since the used car market has tanked.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, Hertz is in Chapter 11 and like pretty much all of the rental companies, is reducing vehicle inventory because...travel...isn't happening. I doubt that they are selling many Beemers, however. :)

[Bruce Page]

I looked at Hertz, Avis, etc., They didn’t have what I was looking for.

I closed the deal and payment was sent/received. I should have a delivery date on Monday. :)

All in all, the online purchase process was painless.