Theory on used vehicle purchase

LewisCBall_143203
Sat, 13 Oct 2018 19:29:04 +0000
Buying/Selling

Okay, here’s the situation. When looking to purchase a used vehicle, how important is it to actually view it in person and/or test drive it? In this day and age, would a video/FaceTime with the salesperson going over the vehicle be sufficient? As someone who knows less than nothing about cars, what would seeing it in person actually do for me in terms of deciding whether it is a good buy or not? In theory, if it has low yearly miles, a good service record, and comes from a dealership with a high rating online, wouldn’t that be good enough? Especially if you had video of the vehicle, asking to inspect various parts on it?

The reason I ask is because this method greatly improves the net that can be cast when purchasing a vehicle, ie I’m not pigeon holed into a certain radius based on where I live.

Would purchasing a vehicle and having it delivered on flatbed be setting myself up for failure? Personally, years ago my dad and I flew to a dealership to buy a car he found online and we drove it back together. We did this twice. The first vehicle worked out great, the second had some issues 200 miles in on our drive back home. I don’t remember what his parameters were when he was looking for a car as far as due diligence.

Overall, is this just a bad idea? Or is it feasible based on the amount of information that can be found online nowadays?

Side note: this method also has the positive option of buying a vehicle in a low stress environment (ie flat terrain, not near ocean (salt), not near mountains and snow (salt again), in a semi arid climate). Or is it silly to base car buying on location?

15 posts - 9 participants