Ever bought a car sight unseen?

[dja4260]

Because we just did.....

with a 100% refundable deposit.

Waiting on engine hours # and my inspection/test drive after it is shipped to local dealer. They have been very transparent thus far.

 

[drfeelgood]

If sight unseen means not in-person, then yes. Saw pictures and window sticker on internet. When shopping my Jeep Commander, I knew what I wanted, and found it in Colorado. Did whole transaction via internet, phone and overnight mail. Jeep showed up on a car hauler in my office parking lot. Worked for me.

 

[JTK]

I actually did an all internet purchase of a new 2000 (or 2001?) Nissan Sentra back then. Had it located and transferred from out of state. Even worked the basic trade-in numbers over the innerwebs. One stop into the dealership to sign the papers, drop the trade and drive away. Like said though, I could have backed out at any time with no loss to me.

 

[rob1715]

Nope, and probably never will. We keep our cars too long to try that.

 

[Aredeeem]

Wife once. Didn’t work out. After that, cars never. If I can’t kick the tires I’m not buyin.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Many times, yes. My '01 A4 was custom ordered. So was my '18 Charger and wife's Q5.

 

[RhondaHonda]

New 06 Jetta TDI I bought at a dealer a few hundred miles away. All the local dealers had markups so I found a small town dealer and hitched a ride with a coworker that was on her way to Chicago for the weekend. Seemless process. I never even test drove that model. My Corvette was purchased at a local dealer but all done over the phone/text beforehand. Never even met the salesman.

 

[tiger862]

Seen Caravan online, sales called said come pick it up. Pulled up with trade which he drove then I drove Caravan home.

 

[OilMagnate]

From an old school in-person type of guy, I will admit the Carvana concept is very interesting. I almost bought a car from them due to it being somewhat rare, but it ended up being the wrong color once they uploaded the photos and finalized the information. Other than that, I once bought a Mustang in another state, but I had family check it out before I went to view it myself.

 

[dja4260]

It's hits ALL our criteria. We shall see!

 

[Nick1994]

I bought an 01’ Buick LeSabre 4 years ago from Copart for $480 or so after fees and taxes. Turned out somewhat ok. I’d consider it again.

 

[RooflessVW]

Flew to PA on a one-way ticket to buy an '87 735i; does that count?

Another car I wish I still had, but, you can't keep them all!

 

[earlyre]

Honestly, no... the Closest I've come was the Neon.
It belonged to my brother in TX, I had driven it from his house to the local Wally once, a year or so before.... but bought it from him, a freind and I flew down, and had an 1100mi "Test Drive" home. (now that car is back in TX, with my Friends Brother, Stationed @ Ft.Hood)

now, when my brother moved back to OH, he bought his house that way...100% online, he'd never seen it...our parents had, it's just down a side street from our uncle's house...We'd all driven past it 100's of times, but never saw it...

 

[ecotourist]

Because we just did.....

with a 100% refundable deposit.

Waiting on engine hours # and my inspection/test drive after it is shipped to local dealer. They have been very transparent thus far.

No, but we bought a house unseen once. We had spent quite a bit of time looking at houses (with an agent) and couldn't find what we wanted. Not long after we had gone home (a 2 - 3 hour flight) a very pretty and pretty good house came on the market. Bought it sight unseen with the proviso we get to inspect it within 48 hours or something like that.

It had changed hands twice for exactly the same price over a few years, so the value was clearly there. And it was in a terrific neighbourhood. So we weren't completely blind.

It was a very pretty house, built in 1928 and mostly original. The only house we ever had that a film crew talked about using in a film (didn't happen), and people left their name in case we ever decided to sell it.

 

[mrsilv04]

This one, right here. Didn't lay eyes on it until it was delivered.

 

[Redright9]

Two of them. One was an Altima the guy couldn't get to run and wanted $200 for. Got it running and the person I sold it to is still driving it today over 6 years later... The second was a Toyota Celica that I paid $100 for.... Barely got it running and tried to drive it home. By the time I got to the end of the block, I turned around and left it in the guys front yard.

 

[dbias]

I bought a 2003 GMC Sierra Denali on ebay from a reputable dealer 300 miles away based off of the internet pictures and a car fax. I put a LOWBALL price in (10k under Blue Book trade in) as it was 3 years old and had 32k miles on it.
After I put the bid in I joked to my wife that I just bought a truck and assured her there was 6 days of bidding left and there was no way I'd win. Well the next week I was on my way to pick it up.
I had it for three years of flawless ownership and got more money back than I paid for it when it caught fire. A short in the constant power feeding the fold in mirrors, which was embarrassing as i was the City Fire Marshal at the time.
Of course I had to have another jurisdiction and my Insurance companies investigator check it out and they came to the same conclusion as I had. A year later I got my 1,000 deductible back from a class action settlement over the issue.

 

[Tdbo]

I bought my Mustang new in 2008.
It came from the Ford dealer in Asheville, NC; however. I purchased the car from a Ford dealer in Columbus, Ohio.
All went well.

 

[oggb]

Bought a 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage coupe that needed a windshield for $500 from a co-workers sister. She said it "needed work". AC was ice cold and a local shop had just put in a head gasket, radiator, thermostat, hoses, timing belt (and tensioners/idlers), water pump. Same shop couldn't figure out why it was overheating. She showed me the bill for something ridiculous like $2200 worth of work.

The wiring to the radiator fan switch had a break somewhere and the radiator fan would never turn on, only the secondary fan for the A/C when the A/C was on. I never traced it down, just wired the fan relay to a switch.

Sold it back to the same co-worker's son for $500 two years later. Got 38 MPG and brought my insurance down from $320/mo (insurance on a WRX was insane in 2008-ish) to $175 with both cars.

 

[Kestas]

I did. Four times from eBay. Each time it was a decent deal.