Ever bought a car without seeing it in person

out of the last 30 or so cars I think 1/3 I hadn't seen and I had delivered, 1/3 I had committed to before seeing (read: put large ish deposits down, hired transport, traveled so far that I Wasn't not going to buy the thing) before seeing and a third I saw then decided I wanted.. Mostly turned out well, one turned out a bit of a disaster.

If you're aware of what you're getting into and what your expectations are to the seller then you don't run into too many issues. Generally a lot of those I was aware of issues they had though.
 
inkey$ said:
Personally I bought my 335i from Sytners in Leicester without seeing it in person first. They provided a video walk around, started it up
Click to expand...

Yup, thats where and how I bought my Zed!!
 
Bought my current Zed from Stratstones in Harrogate over the phone after finding it on the BMW website. They had lots of photos online and provided a video. That all proved the bodywork, wheels and interior were in great condition but unfortunately didn't show up half a dozen issues that my local dealer had to sort out either under warranty or by charging it to Stratstones.

Would probably do it again as I'm not sure I'd have picked up all the issues if I'd seen the car 'in the flesh'. The local dealer was great but I wouldn't buy from Stratstones again as they were a pain in the a*se to deal with.
 
About 9 years ago I flew home from Japan, wife said she wanted to get a different car, she had seen a Z3 and wanted one. Jet lagged went to bed early and wide awake at 03:00 started looking on auto trader and then e bay. Found a good one on e bay, ticked all the box's 2.2 limited edition with all the options, then noticed the auction ended at 07:00, sent the seller an e mail asking some questions at 05:00 and got a reply, seller was waiting to see what happened. car was a long way off but the seller offered that if I won the auction and went to pick it up by train if anything he told me was wrong he would refund and pay train, asked why he was selling and he said he had it 3 months then found his partner was pregnant.
Won the auction £11,000, took train to Kent, seller picked me up at station, cold day he had the heated sports seats on, got to his house partner was pregnant, paid and drove home.
Nice car, had it for 1 year then wife said she liked Z4's.
Only time I ever bought any of my previous 28 cars unseen but it worked out for me that time, must admit I was worried until i saw it pull into the station car park it was a real eye catcher.
henry1
 
Dav, I did it with a newer car from BMW Mini in Tunbridge and had to use the warranty network locally to fix an expensive issue. An older car is risk enough without buying blind, but when I went by train to the south coast for a car a few weeks ago it turned out I could have bought it blind as it was a gem! But I'de still say play it safe and take the train,

What else have you got to do with your time :wink:
 
Yep- bought 2 second hand cars without seeing them before a Discovery 3 - a car i owned for three years and sold it back to the dealers for 1k less than i paid for it .

And the current 911 - although id seen a pretty exhaustive photographic record before hand
 
My z4mc also, however, 5yrs ago, theyre werent any zmcs available within 250 miles, did all the checks etc and haggled a deal over the phone, but had the comfort of bmw warranty if required...

Don't think I'd do it the same next time if could help it, however, sometimes there is no option.

To the dealers credit, the car was supaguarded and prepped to the hilt on viewing, it was simply awesome :)
 
Yes, my E85 from Dick Lovet in Hungerford - flew to Bristol and was driven across to test drive and drive home. I was happy with it.
I then bought my E89 from BMW Park Lane, paid up front and had it delivered - the agreement was that if it was not 100% as described it was a money back no quibble deal.
I've still got the car!
 
Yes bought my wife's Mazda CX5 without seeing. Car had good reviews. Only 8 months old, under warranty etc from a main dealer
Haggled price via email
Travelled from Wales to Oxford to buy
 
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