Buying a car blind

[Bradders59]

Seen a car I probably want to buy on Gumtree. Its over 150 miles away, so I cant realistically go and view it. If I buy it I would prefer to have it collected, either by  one of the transporter guys on AS or Shipley.

Problem with that is, I presumably have to do a bank transfer to the Gumtree seller (who has been selling for one month) without knowing them from Adam.

Im sure there is some safe way of doing this, but having never bought a car this way before I dont know what it is.

Any thoughts please ?

[loserone]

Trusted shiter scheme?

Give the money to the person who is collecting.

[loserone]

Obviously not if using a Shipley transporter you also don't know from Adam

[Bradders59]

That could work, if the person collecting wasnt too far from me. Thanks.

[Timewaster]

Where is it. Can anyone local go and look for you? 

Collect and store until Shitley pick it up? 

[tooSavvy]

I just bundled the Ball n Chain into ToMM© , cruise missiled down the A1, got her sat in it "........ not TOO LOW?????.........is it???????......." & left my deposit. Shot back up, to intercept anklebiter after her leaving school.

Photo-finish.... Phew

 

[Bradders59]

Its near Southampton. Ive asked the seller a few questions and waiting for a reply. If the replies are what I hope for,  I will definitely want to buy it. Just got to sort out safe payment / collection. Seller is new to Gumtree, so need to be careful when parting with money.

 

[vaughant]

1 minute ago, Bradders59 said:

Its near Southampton. Ive asked the seller a few questions and waiting for a reply. If the replies are what I hope for,  I will definitely want to buy it. Just got to sort out safe payment / collection. Seller is new to Gumtree, so need to be careful when parting with money.

 

Can't you pay correctly via PayPal for the guarantee rather than the friends and family way ? If the seller seems receptive then I'd say go for it. 

[Bradders59]

That might be an option, thanks.

[Bradders59]

Is there info anywhere on the site for AS transporters and their locations ?

[Mally]

Are we talking 50 quid or 5 grand?

There is no safe way of buying a car blind.  I've done it a few times.

But it can end in tears.

[Talbot]

How near Southampton?

[sdkrc]

Why can't you go view a car 150miles away? Bring a mate or get a bus. 

[Bradders59]

Approx 10 miles east of the centre. More or less half way between Southampton and Fareham. Cost is just into four figures, which is a lot of money to me.

Due to work commitments, the earliest I could get down there would be next weekend. If I had a couple of nights off work next week (as I often do) I may well get a train down there, buy it and drive it back. Unfortunately I dont.

I have just had a reasonable price for transporting it, from an AS transporter, so if the seller answers my questions with the right answers and has Paypal, it should work out ok - famous last words. 🙄

[Jazoli]

25 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Why can't you go view a car 150miles away? Bring a mate or get a bus. 

Yeah this it's only a few hours in a car, I'd never buy unseen again, the risk potential is far too high even for a 1000 quid car. 

[Aston Martin]

I always buy unseen. Never been an issue. 🤔

[Soundwave]

I've done it twice, once with my old K70 and once with my current MX5. The former was a massively mis-decribed rotbox cleverly disguised with fibreglass which I never managed to get on the road, and the latter was an honest car at a good price that I've been enjoying for two years now.

 

So a 50% strike rate, both sub £1000. I'd do it again, actually phoning the seller goes a long way - you can get a feel for how honest they are by actually talking to them, I find.

[Split_Pin]

Only if you are VERY sure.

I did a virtual WhatsApp viewing of my 75 in May and although it was ultimately delivered by the owner, I had seen it outside the same Rover specialist I was using 2 years previously. It had also been maintained in such a way that all the expected famous issues had been fixed, backed up by a bound stack of invoices, each in an individual poly-pocket.

Even although the seller phoned me enroute to say that the OSF caliper was binding, this is par for the course with 75s. 

After a quick chat I paid the full asking price.

So unless you know what to expect with that type of car I wouldn't suggest buying blind. 

[willswitchengage]

I have bought most of my cars blind... some flops, some successes. I largely base my decision on how the advert is written. If it sounds innocent and honest, obviously that's the best case scenario. If it sounds like they don't know what they're on about (often elderly people), it could be anything but at least they're probably not hiding anything. Badly written adverts I find are often the best. A detailed and boasting advert is basically a no fly zone. It'll either be overpriced or just all fake news.

The payment I would never send anything in advance... I've only done that once ever to someone on here I recently bought a car off, and even then I was in two minds. However oddly I recently sold a car for almost a bag and it was all BACsed in advance. Luckily the buyer was just an innocent friendly man who presumably thought it'd be easier. Always cash if you're comfortable walking around with loads of notes, although BACS on the day is usually instantaneous with modern banking apps etc.

Recommendation in your situation: pay nothing in advance, either stuff your pockets with cash or ask the seller if he'd be happy with BACs on the day. Take the risk you might have to buy a return on the train... but it's better than losing a deposit if he does a runner.

[Timewaster]

Let's face it,  a lot of us get a bit excited and turn up to see a car but in our head we have already bought it and unless the floor has fallen out or the thing is on fire we are going to buy it whatever. 

It's just as much a blind buy as a car you haven't even seen. 

[GeordieInExile]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

Why can't you go view a car 150miles away? Bring a mate or get a bus. 

In my experience going 150 miles to view a car always ends in driving a car you've just bought 150 miles back home.

 

But then that is also true if the car is five miles away, so...

[bigfella2]

Just put a deposit on it, maybe £100/200 just to hold it till you can get down and see it. If it's good pay the rest and happy days.

if it's fucked you save money and the associated fucking about with it that will follow, by getting on a train back home and putting it down to experience.

[500tops]

My rules are this...

 

sub 1k i will pump 'em for info and make a decision. 

 

over 1k I need to view.

 

That's pretty much it 

[Timewaster]

1 minute ago, 500tops said:

My rules are this...

 

sub 1k i will pump 'em for info and make a decision. 

 

over 1k I need to view.

 

That's pretty much it 

Your user name needs an update then! 

(I used to be tontops). 

[EssDeeWon]

Lets see it then, a second, third or umpteen extra set of eyes might help in spotting any potential issues, or reassurances.

[Matty]

3 hours ago, loserone said:

Obviously not if using a Shipley transporter you also don't know from Adam

Amazed no ones said it yet paging @worldofceri

[Stanky]

1 hour ago, Bradders59 said:

10 miles east of the centre. More or less half way between Southampton and Fareham. Cost

PM me. This is about 5 miles from me and happy to go and inspect gratis. Can also store off road for a bit if needed.

[Bradders59]

Most kind, thanks. PM incoming shortly. But if you go and buy it instead of me I will hunt you down. 😂

[Stanky]

Oh dear, rumbled! In all seriousness pleas let me know if I can help. I did similar for @Flat4 a while back, it's no problem.

 

[brownnova]

I’ve bought a couple of cars blind lately, the 900, green 2CV and the Nova were purchases where I’d not seen the car before purchase. 

With the Nova and 2CV I bought them off the strength of the phonecall with the seller, as much as the detailed pics. You can tell a bullshitter pretty quick from talking to them, and 2CV man was really genuine. Nova man was too, but I was much more nervous about that one.

The 900 was a proper punt... but thankfully all three were fine and paid off!