The seller and I settled on a price and a new problem arised, how do we go ahead with the transaction and 1k miles in between us?. I was somewhat afraid of sending the money without having seen the car, so I offered to send him a paypal deposit and asked if he would let me borrow his plates to bring the car home. He declined the deposit and told me he would hold the car for me and let me borrow the plates once I picked up the car. By now its December 22nd, not one of the best times to be moving around the country. But I wanted the car and did not want to slip away.
The 24th I went to my State Farm agent and got the car insured, picked up a cashier's check at the bank and started checking flights to DC. The plan was for me to fly into DC, take the metro into Maryland and then he would pick me up at the metro station by his house. I booked a one way flight for me and my brother from Ft Lauderdale to DC on Saturday, December 29th. My wife clearly stated that if I did not like the car, I better find a way to get my butt back to Florida in time for New Year.
I packed a GPS, a OBD2 reader, the check and a bunch of medicine since I was being treated for H.Pylori. At the airport gate, we go through the scanner and I start thinking ... I have 5 vials of pills, a good amount of money ... shut. Sure enough, I get pulled to the side after I go through the body scanner and get patted down. I am thinking how I am going to show them pictures of the car and explain to them what everything is for ... but they just tell me to keep going. So I breath again. On our way we go. Our flight is on time for a 7am departure and 9am arrival into DC.
The night before I checked the weather and it look like there was a snow storm on the way, I had to beat that or I was going to be in trouble. The plane arrives, and off to the metro station ... holy cow it was cold!! 29F. We take the metro and as we make our way to the final station, HUGE snowflakes start falling. Its getting bad, to the point the seller calls me and tells me to start looking for a hotel. I ignored the comment and asked him to be at the station in 15'.
Finally we see the car and start going over it at the speed of light to make sure we get out of there before it gets worse. I read all the codes, there were several, inspect the body and then drive it. Right away I notice a few problems, the worse being a 5th gear lean (this requires transmission removal in order to be fixed). The dash was like a christmas tree, but he had informed me of that.
No ABS, no problem. No traction control, no problem its going to be removed. Airbag lights on, no problem as they will be removed as well. Passenger side window regulator gone ... I can fix it. The interior was a 7/10, no problem it will be sold. Now onto the engine, it was smooth. We check the oil, it was low ... I had asked him to have it changed for me, so I chucked it to the person doing it not checking the level. Several check engine lights, most cleared and were not important. The two that did not were due to the catalytics, and the main reason he was selling the car. No emissions in Florida, and it will be an HPDE only car, so no problem there either.
Money is exchanged and I have a new car.
Now we aim the GPS to the closest Wal-Mart to buy oil/water/wipers and a few other things.
We are driving straight through to Florida non-stop, should be gas and driver changes after that.
