Advice needed. Who has bought a vehicle sight unseen?

[Frkypunk70]

Bought mine out of Kansas, off eBay. Seller had some negative feedback. I was too excited to care. I spoke with the seller on the phone he was very nice and assured me I could drive the truck 1200 miles home no problem. I flew out and 20 miles outside Kansas city relized she had a bad cam. Some good people in Independence, MO helped me out and let me keep the truck at their place until the shipping company could come and get it. Long story short have someone check it out, that knows about these trucks and isn't just ready to own one. You will save yourself a lot of headaches. By the way the floor and floor supports were totally gone in it also. Buyer beware.
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[faribran]

if you are adventurous, round up a close buddy and load up the tools.. head out..
even if its not what you want... u can still have fun on the trip... who knowz, u might see something else you like..

[gonnuts]

Go look at it or get someone to look at it for sure, I've never bought one sight unseen but I did give a deposit on a truck in Phoenix because I couldn't pick it up for a couple weeks that was suppose to be "restored to perfection". When I flew there to pick it up I was horrified by what a piece of junk it was, argued with the guy for a couple of hours about getting my deposit back because it wasn't anything like he made it out to be then got on a plane and flew home a lot poorer and not very happy. That really soured me on people and internet shopping. A couple months later I drove 1500 miles one way to look at my 67, it wasn't near as good as he made it out to be either but at least it wasn't all pieced together with many pieces missing, and it was the year & factory colour I wanted.

[Rochlow]

I did once. Worst mistake of my life. 2yrs and 10s of thousands later, I'm still paying for that mistake..

[matthew79]

I bought a blazer sight unseen. I asked the seller how much rust it had and he said there's zero rust. Well when it got here the gas tank was leaking gas out of the bottom of the tank due to all the "zero rust"! It definitely had rust. Fortunately it was all in the rear wheel well areas vs. all over the body. Did I learn my lesson? Nope. I got a 2wd blazer a couple months ago sight unseen but I asked way more questions and it was as the seller described. Just remember that everything looks way better in pics. Here's some pics of my "zero rust" blazer!:



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[Yooper truck]

2 Years ago I bought a truck in Southern California (I live in northern Michigan). I have a buddy who looked at it, but he is not a car guy. The seller told me he drove it to Las Vegas and towed cars on a car dolly with it all the time. I threw some curve ball questions at him and things sounded good. I flew out and found it needed 3 days of tinkering to make it road worthy. The starter was attached with one bolt, the alternator needed replaced, the radiator was 75% plugged, all spark plugs needed changed. With the help of a backyard mechanic I met at the parts store we were able to get it road worthy for the 3000 mile road trip home. It made it home and within a week it threw a rod and cracked the block. It now has a new motor and runs great. I tell people it was one of the stupidest things I ever did, but also one of the funnest. I will always have a story about bringing it back on Rte. 66 with no air, no radio, and no cruise.