Using an escrow website to buy a car

[threewood]

Personally i would not ask any member to go over a perspective car i wanted to buy
Thats a lot to ask and even if you were to offer money to compensate them its still a lot of responsibility
Spend a little more, try and find a reputable inspection company and use there services
A case in point, i was asked to look at a car by a member of another car forum i was on. I agreed. After several phone calls i finally got in touch with the seller who turned out to be a very nice young man. The car needed a lot of work, would not start, had flat tires and i couldn't look under it. I told the seller i was not negotiating price but would tell the prospective buyer what i saw

Then the questions, which ranged from can i drive it home 2,000 miles away, to do the stop lights work.
All in all i put a few hours of my time into this and it was a time when i was working seven days a week.
The person who was interested never offered me a dime which was ok as i wouldn't take any money because then i felt obliged. but in the end i was putting myself out for a guy who was a user.
Never again

I agree, doubt you would raise any liability concerns as you are doing it as a favor. But the folks here know more about Mopars than any inspection service. I wouldn't hesitate to check a car out for someone as I really like looking at old cars and talking with people about cars.

 

[Jeremiah]

This is one of the reasons I don't sell cars nation wide anymore. If you can't come and look at in person I'm not comfortable with the deal.

Especially after I put that information in my CL ad with many concise details and still get people from two states away calling and asking "what can you tell me about your W100 that you have for sale". Idiots!

 

[threewood]

This is one of the reasons I don't sell cars nation wide anymore. If you can't come and look at in person I'm not comfortable with the deal.

Especially after I put that information in my CL ad with many concise details and still get people from two states away calling and asking "what can you tell me about your W100 that you have for sale". Idiots!

Would you take a used lawnmower and firewood as partial trade for your W100? And I can only give you half of what you are asking

 

[PP1RT]

Had an inspectoon service come inspect a car i had for sale once. Guy was a flippin idiot. I pointed out the problems(rust). His report had more to do with trim needs polishing, tires half wore etc.
If i cant see a car in person i will not buy it usually. I did buy one but it was cheap enough i knew the parts were worth more than the whole car price. Buying a dream car like i think you might be looking at i would have to see it myself. One persons "very nice" rarely matches anothers "very nice". That plane ticket or days drive may be the best money ever spent. TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING AT AND LOOKING FOR!!!

 

[Jeremiah]

Would you take a used lawnmower and firewood as partial trade for your W100? And I can only give you half of what you are asking

100% spot on sir. There is a (in my little orbit) a HUGE difference between you coming to look at car with cash and me having to send 800 emails, 50 phone calls and answer the same questions three times although it is depicted in one of the 3000 pictures I sent. Then if you do make a sale you have to blow an afternoon cashing the check ( mobile deposit doesn't work for checks over $2500) and the better part of two days getting the car ready for the transport monkey (most, not all) and dropping it off whenever they decide to call. I usually mark a car up 20% over the local price to cover my time and aggravation. I used to like most car guys before the TV shows and flipper craze. Most of em should have their tools taken away and internet access revoked lol.

 

[threewood]

100% spot on sir. There is a (in my little orbit) a HUGE difference between you coming to look at car with cash and me having to send 800 emails, 50 phone calls and answer the same questions three times although it is depicted in one of the 3000 pictures I sent. Then if you do make a sale you have to blow an afternoon cashing the check ( mobile deposit doesn't work for checks over $2500) and the better part of two days getting the car ready for the transport monkey (most, not all) and dropping it off whenever they decide to call. I usually mark a car up 20% over the local price to cover my time and aggravation. I used to like most car guys before the TV shows and flipper craze. Most of em should have their tools taken away and internet access revoked lol.

Haha! It is Soooo true of CL. Usually the dregs of society making inquiries and low balling before they even see the item and not showing up for appointment. Then getting mad when you sell it to someone who brings cash because they thought you had a deal. Lots of tire kickers with something to trade even though the ad states "no trades!"

 

[BeeFast]

Why don't you contact Galen Govier (sp)? Rumor has it he'e pretty good at car inspections. BTW I'm still looking for the "right" B Body. What scares me the most is not knowing the history of the car. Documentation is very important for a high dollar car. No Documentation = No sale no matter how shiny the paint is. My biggest fear is buying a Fake, or a repaired totaled out car, or a newly refurbished AMD rust bucket with out the disclosure of the seller. Nothing wrong with any of these cars as long as you are made aware of the repairs. I bought a A12 car not too long ago an when I went to pick it up, It was junk for the money. To make a long story short, Seller lied. I cancelled the deal, Got my deposit back from Ebay.

 

[PP1RT]

Why don't you contact Galen Govier (sp)? Rumor has it he'e pretty good at car inspections. BTW I'm still looking for the "right" B Body. What scares me the most is not knowing the history of the car. Documentation is very important for a high dollar car. No Documentation = No sale no matter how shiny the paint is. My biggest fear is buying a Fake, or a repaired totaled out car, or a newly refurbished AMD rust bucket with out the disclosure of the seller. Nothing wrong with any of these cars as long as you are made aware of the repairs. I bought a A12 car not too long ago an when I went to pick it up, It was junk for the money. To make a long story short, Seller lied. I cancelled the deal, Got my deposit back from Ebay.

Once again. Dont buy a car without seeing it in person. Bring someone with that knows what they are looking at and what to look for. Another example right here(no offense intended). If the car was seen ahead of time there would have been none of this trouble.

Govier is a waste of time.

 

[CaptainAtom]

Hi all, just wanted to thank everyone for all the help and words of wisdom. My dream car will be arriving tomorrow so again thank you all for your time and helping a guy who's really new to this out!!!

 

[69L48Z27]

Congrats! Did you use an escrow service?

 

[The Rebel]

So what car did you get? We need more details...

 

[Gone]

I used these guys once to buy a car from Iowa, https://www.escrow.com/ I did hire a 3rd party inspection service that drove the car, put it on the lift and sent me over a 100 pictures before I made the deal. that cost me around $3-400. The report was very accurate and if anything rated the car in worse condition than I would have considered it so I was happy. The escrow site worked perfectly. I sent them the money, the seller shipped the car. When I got the car and approved it, the escrow company released the funds to the seller. I think they charged 1%. So, with the shipping, escrow and inspection fee, I shelled out about $1500. This was about 12 years ago, so I'm sure it costs more now. Overall, no complaints.

I did the same thing 12 years ago when I bought my Super Bee except I bought the car from an antique car dealer and based on the 3rd party inspection report that I hired because I thought they were a reputable inspection service. I paid the dealer after reviewing the report. Great write-up, a couple of hundred photos, etc. Cosmetically, interior and exterior the car was great. Mechanically, it was a disaster but it took driving the car to discover that it was (the engine was no good, suspension no good, wiring no good, etc.). I spent multiple thousands making it mechanically sound. Like Bb70 said...plane tickets are cheap. If I had inspected the car myself, I would have insisted on driving it...and I wouldn't have bought it. How stupid of me...the only car I have ever purchased without going over it myself with a fine-toothed comb happened to be one that was 41 years old at the time of purchase!! It was my Homer Simpson moment! Drive the car! Lesson learned!

 

[CaptainAtom]

Oops sorry I forgot to mention, I managed to find a 1967 Charger that's in remarkable shape. It's got a 440 with dual four barrel carbs, front disc break conversion, most of the trim, no rust or salt damage, as it came from Wisconsin that's amazing in and of it's self, and only minor dents and dings and stuff like that. The only major things that need to be done are I need to get some heavier duty leaf springs because the 440s too heavy and pushing the rear axle forward, it needs heating and A/C, the gauges need to be fixed but I'll just take out the whole dash and get everything checked and fixed so I don't have to do pull it out again in the near future, and then put in a good stereo. After that it's really just cosmetic and really small stuff like a new paint job and little stuff for the interior mostly. Also I ended up not using escrow, I found a dealer online who had the car on consignment who walked me through the whole process, (and I was able to get a local mopar mechanic to inspect it for me before I bought the car) which was awesome because this is honestly the first car I've ever bought, (my day to day was given to me by my grandmother) and I'm not in Wisconsin. I don't know if I'm allowed to the dealer who I got the car from on here, but if any one wants to know who it was feeling free to PM me, as I can't recommend this guy enough. Again thanks for all the help people.

 

[The Rebel]

Glad it worked out when will we see pictures.

 

[Ironbuilt]

Oops sorry I forgot to mention, I managed to find a 1967 Charger that's in remarkable shape. It's got a 440 with dual four barrel carbs, front disc break conversion, most of the trim, no rust or salt damage, as it came from Wisconsin that's amazing in and of it's self, and only minor dents and dings and stuff like that. The only major things that need to be done are I need to get some heavier duty leaf springs because the 440s too heavy and pushing the rear axle forward, it needs heating and A/C, the gauges need to be fixed but I'll just take out the whole dash and get everything checked and fixed so I don't have to do pull it out again in the near future, and then put in a good stereo. After that it's really just cosmetic and really small stuff like a new paint job and little stuff for the interior mostly. Also I ended up not using escrow, I found a dealer online who had the car on consignment who walked me through the whole process, (and I was able to get a local mopar mechanic to inspect it for me before I bought the car) which was awesome because this is honestly the first car I've ever bought, (my day to day was given to me by my grandmother) and I'm not in Wisconsin. I don't know if I'm allowed to the dealer who I got the car from on here, but if any one wants to know who it was feeling free to PM me, as I can't recommend this guy enough. Again thanks for all the help people.

Now I hope you know that we're going to need lots of pics of the aforementioned Charger once it arrives.

 

[CaptainAtom]

Indeed, I plan on putting up quite a few during the whole resto process, and honestly the first two things that I'm doing is taking of the spoiler and hood scoop cuz too me it makes it look like a kids matchbox cars.