Buying a car from out of state - specifically from ebay?

Jarod,

I would do a PPI for the car and ask the dealer to assume the cost also. I would also fly out there to check it out before committing. round trip tix on southwest is not too bad. You would need to pay the taxes where your home state or state of residence is. The Texas dealer would basically issue you a bill of sale doc. You would bring this to your local DMV and the taxes due will be payable via a check or cashier's check. You have 30 days from the date of the bill of sale to register and pay the tax. In terms of smog, that will be your responsibility. You would need to get the car smogged by a state smog station and bring that certificate with you to register the car. This is also on a 30 day timeline.

 

Jarod- I would put a thread up in the Texas section and ask for a PPI recommendation especially if it's a F-car. I did this when I was searching for a 360 and a couple TX FChatters really helped me out. One even did a visual inspection and reviewed the service records for me so I could decide whether to go through with the PPI. Can't wait to hear what it is. Good luck!

 

nice! in that case, I would still do something similar and post a request on 6speed or rennlist. I would still fly out there though.

 

Having bought a car on ebay sight unseen, I can tell you that you should resist the temptation unless you have a trusted source whom you have done business with before inspect the car. Transport charges from Texas will cost money, and if you're buying the car from a Texas dealer, they'll most likely give you a bill of sale with the actual purchase price, or write it on the title. CA Use Tax is due the moment you attempt to register your vehicle in California, at which point you'll need to declare the purchase price. If there is no trace of the price on the title, then you can tell them what you want them to hear. I also think you may need to have the car smogged prior to registration, if it is of 1976 vintage or newer.

There are not many shortcuts, save one which allows you to own the vehicle for 1 year (I think) prior to bringing it to CA.

 

You will have to SMOG the car in California before you can register it at the DMV. Registering involves showing up at the DMV with the Car, title, Smog Certificate (unless electronic), and check book (for taxes/fees).
The car has to be brought to the DMV because they "inspect" it. (Don't worry it isn't a mechanical inspection)

The DMV folks are really only looking for the following things:

1) That the car is either 50 state emissions legal (from the little sticker) OR 49 state BUT has more than 7500 miles

2) All the VIN #s match (engine, chassis, title)

 

I have been following these, along with the noble M15... both look incredible!

Also I would suggest flying out to see the car since it is in TX. I drove down to LA and had a friend drive my 4runner back when I got my elise. Buying a sports car w/o seeing it just seems iffy to me, but people do it all the time. If you can't fly out, finding a PPI in texas work work! Posting over on 6speed may help too, someone may offer to go check it out for you for free

Good luck with the purchase, it will all be worth it in the end!

 

Are you sure about the title? I thought that was a state specific thing. I have the form for registering an out of state car but I can't see anything about needing a title to do it (I know I need smog and a large check )

 

For out of state cars, you actually need to register within 20 days (30 days is the period that you're covered for insurance). Also, if you're looking for an exemption, keep the car out of state for 90 days and use it out of state, before you bring it in to California.

With regard to Ebay cars, I definitely recommend flying out to see the car before you buy. Pictures can be very deceiving. However, if you buy from Roy, you'll get a money back guarantee.

 

Jarod, I have bought a lot of cars out of state. A few sight unseen. Often you can read an owner and figure the car will be consistent with the kind of person you "feel" the owner to be from the communication involved in buying/selling. Of course, a good con man can fool easily.
I have gone on specific car boards and asked in the local(to the car) section for someone to take a look at the car. I have really scored a couple of times with this approach and found brand/model specific enthusiasts who knew more about the car than I did.
Of the cars I have shipped sight unseen, one was awesome, one about what I expected and one was a real disappointment, so now I usually go see the car. I went to Texas last week to see a car and as someone suggested, Southwest is the bomb when it comes to easy last minute travel.
Look for good independant shops online in the area, ask the car boards, use the internet as the great tool it is and the world of cars shrinks right up into a much more user friendly place.
Good luck with the search, John

 

review the feedback and seller history carefully. does the seller sell equal caliber cars if s/he is a dealer?

besides PPI to ensure car is in stated condition, ask for pink slip copy and make sure it matches to the seller. another words, make sure you are making a check out to the person who owns the car on the title. if it's a lease company or dealer, call BBB to make sure the person is the owner of the dealer or just make check out to the company name. too many frauds...

make sure you are getting a good deal to make all this work worth while. don't rush into making the payment after winning the bid. call the seller and be comfortable with the sale. trick is how to get the title when you wire the funds. i had this done thru a friend who make a personal visit. you may look into having a friend to get the title and 1 set of key when you wire $.

shipping will cost you about $1-1.5k depending on open or enclosed. don't worry about the registration. it's pretty straight fwd if u look up dmv.ca.org. smog, go to DMV, pay taxes and get inspected. if it's modded (supercharge, exhaust), then you may have smog issues in CA though.

 

I purchased a '92 Porsche for my lady (after enduring chemo for 6 weeks) with 33k miles, auto top and what I thought was a fully serviced car. WRONG! A total misrepresentation by the small dealer in Miami. Got the car after paying for an enclosed trailer & receiving on the back of a exposed trailer and it all went down hill from there. They thought I would just scream and go away, WRONG AGAIN! I called my lawyer, explained the deal and she fired off a letter to the owner (after checking him out on whatever lawyers check us all out on) and sent him a letter telling him that she knows everything he owns in Florida, knows that the car was totally misrepresented and because "they" shipped the car over state borders, she would be calling the Fed's. Within 24 hrs we had a check for everything (around $2800) which more than covered our problem.

Bought this same wonder woman a '02 Maserati Sypder from a dealer in Houston. Now this was a dream deal from a great dealer that went out of their way to assure we were happy with the purchase. It was less than 2 years old and was in excellent condition when we received it ONE WEEK LATER in a cover carrier. Wow! Exactly how they represented it. You deal with a larger dealer with lots of positive feedback from other owners and it is pretty hard to go wrong. I'm not sure if I would go out of state for my upcoming purchase of a Mondial or 328, but I wouldn't fear the other states now that you know of this over the state border thang. If worked for us. Oh yeh, the Maserati had the remaining warranty on it so we really weren't too concerned. So far no problems after more than 3 years.
Good hunting!
Dan

 

A person would have to be nuts to buy something as potentially "high maintenance" as a Ferrari, sight-unseen.
But they're out there

 

Maybe nuts, maybe... Bought the car 3 years ago and no problems whatsoever. Move slowly, ask a lot of questions and check out the dealer. I wouldn't buy a car long distance from a non dealer. But of course, people buy cars from private parties all the time and no recourse. At least with a dealer there is somethings you can do in case you get taken. Sometimes.

 

Hi - I bought my Elise via ebay. Sight unseen. I bid and won, then flew out, and if the car hadn't been exactly as described (the ebay add said spotless, no issues, etc) then I would have decared them liars and left without the car. No risk. So if I flew out to New York and the car was actually messed up or had something wrong with it then it's no big deal - I'd still have a few days of visiting relatives I hadn't seen in awhile. Luckly, the car was just as described, no issues and spotless, so I forked over the money and drove away.

(Incidenly I drove it across the country instead of shipping ... was a blast)

Now, once in CA I took it to the DMV, paid CA state tax on the car, showed them the emissions sticker, and they handed me some plates. I didnt have to get a smog check.

Good luck on your 911 hunt.

 

I have bought TWO Ferraris and one Porsche sight unseen. One off AutoTrader and two off Ebay. No PPI on any of them either. I think those are a waste too. Cars have been just as advertised.

Porsche 911 Widebody from Virginia
Small dealership
Ebay. Won it.
Flew out and they picked me up. Drove me to the dealership, bought it, and I drove it 14 hours home. All alone with a "new" Porsche?? Time of my life. Serious.


Ferrari 328 from San Francisco (when I lived in Wisconsin)
Private party
Autotrader
Bought it and had it shipped. Saw it in person when the doors opened on the truck

Ferrari 348 from Denver
Ferrari of Denver
Ebay
Called, bought it, and had it shipped. Saw it in person when the doors opened on the truck.

All were great cars. No issues. What I did in all cases though was put together my little "50 point inspection" Word doc with pics from every angle attached. I have them sign it and fax it to me. My thinking on that is that, if all that stuff is in writing, they are more apt to be truthful. When you go see something in person, you typically will miss something or something can be covered up (i.e. starting the car before you get there so it is warmed up and will start well or not smoke, etc.). This way I can ask all of those things and they have to attest to them being correct or at the least disclose it. There is just something about writing stuff down that makes people come clean....

In addition to that I have them fax me all appropriate receipts so I can read them.

Also, when I do a private party transaction, I get their Driver's License photocopied (for proof of ID and signature), their place of employment, the phone number to their cell, home, and work (not the direct line either) and all of that stuff BEFORE I send a dime of down payment. Of course, I also call them at each of the numbers look them up on the net, etc. I have them take a pic of them with the car and a newspaper from today. And a couple other things. I have never had anyone NOT do it. If they didn't, I would find another car.

I haven't had any problems with the cars. If the car is legit, the seller shouldn't have a problem jumping through a hoop to get the deal done. Of course, I am also doing my part to make sure they are aware that I am a legit buyer (photos with previous cars, etc.)

By my count I have saved 3 flights and 3 PPIs.
To me that looks like
Flight
$600
x
3
______
$1800

PPI
$400
x
3
_____
$1200

My time
$????

Either way, I am ahead $3000 so far by NOT doing PPIs and going to see cars. Another 18 cars puchased this way and I will have saved enought to buy a "free" 308. Ha!!

Finally, I have one more hypothesis.....
By NOT going out to physically SEE the cars, I am more objective in my purchase. I think it is WAY easier to walk away from a "so-so" deal when the car is not staring at you and you are picturing it in your garage. I don't know about you, but my heart starts beating a little quicker when I am standing in front of a car I am considering buying. So not seeing it live is a MUCH safer thing when you are dealing with used Ferraris, Porsches, etc......


In fact, I may be going to pick up another car this next week utilizing this same technique..... We'll see.....

 

Yes, you need the title (or copy of it from a lender, if you financed -- not sure, I paid cash both times I bought out of state).

Of the two cars I bought, one was a Porsche 993 that arrived with 9-year old bald tires, a joke of an inspection form from the dealer's pal next door, an oil leak and a driver's seat that had been touched up with shoe polish on the spot where it had worn. Price was fair, and I sold it for what I paid for it after getting bored with the car.

The other was the Ferrari 328 I have now. Perfect mechanical condition, but the seats had been re-dyed (dealer said he hadn't noticed), parking brake didn't work and the car looked like it hadn't been detailed in a year or more. Since then I've had the interior restored ($5000).

My advice, as others have suggested, is to book a bargain fare on Southwest and go see the car. New cars are new cars, but used cars are a crapshoot. Even very reputable dealers miss stuff that you may care about. If it's a Porsche, it's very simple to just have a dealer inspect it -- I don't know of any big cities without multiple Porsche dealers. For Ferraris, obviously, you have to plan ahead.

 

That's a great point, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it (despite your luck so far).

The first 328 I looked at was in San Diego, but it was a tired looking car with hard leather, cracked paint, etc. -- easy to say 'no' to, although even then it was a pretty car (they all are unless they're on fire, I suppose.)

The second 328 was at Ferrari of Denver, blu chiaro, and it was a good car. But when I flew out and looked it over, I started noticing a bunch of things that bothered me - bad scratch badly touched up, other minor scrapes, some damage to the instrument cowl, a couple of minor dents - but when you were 5 feet away it looked perfect and it took a lot of willpower to say 'no'. Even now, I think blu chiaro on a 328 is one of the best colors. But when you add up all those minor things I was looking at a probable respray to take the car to my standards.

I ended up getting a nicer car, slightly newer, fewer miles, better cared-for, better color for the same price a year later. I don't think I would have turned down that blue car over the phone; in person, after spending two hours+ at the dealership, I felt like I could make a decision I'd be confident in.

 

You would have noticed the "little things" if you have seen the pics and/or had the guy fill out your 50 point inspection sheet. I forgot to add that I ask for 4meg or higher pics of every inch of the car. You can do it in about 6 pics. You can really zoom in and see imperfections, bubbles, peel, etc. with that.

It's hard to turn down a car when you are standing in front of it, isn't it?? I put money down on a TR that I flew in to see (not sure why). The car was NOT in A-1 shape although the dealer aluded to that before I came. Still put money down since the car looked so cool (black and tan TR). I got home and then, when it came time to buy, the dealer couldn't produce the receipts he said he had for the last major service. Couldn't fax them to me. So I walked away. But damned if I didn't lose my mind for a bit when standing in front of it.

 

You are so right. Taking the time to eyeball a car you are going to love for a while (or until another beauty comes around) you want to make sure you can drive her as well. While I have bought two cars (Porsche and Maserati) sight unseen I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do it again without touching & smelling it first. I lucked at on the Maserati and had to send my lawyer after the dealer in Miami.

 

I found my TR online about nine years ago. I arranged for the car to be inspected at an authorized Ferrari dealer's shop. When I flew in to personally inspect the car, I brought my checkbook with me. I had a friend with me, but I would suggest bringing a gearhead friend with you if you can. The car was on the lift when I arrived and a senior mechanic went over the vehicle with me -visually before he drove the car for a road test while I sat in the passenger seat. I negotiated the price to reflect a couple of minor issues with the car. When he saw the check from a real buyer who had flown in, he took the opportunity for a quick sale. I drove the car through Vegas on the way home. I had never felt so alive! Wish you all the best.
PS: I have also used online escrow services to buy a motorcycle from New York. Both parties negotiate the terms of escrow. I think that we agreed to split the shipping if the bike was not acceptable