Long distance car shopping.

Time to replace SWMBO's DD, a 200k+ '03 Accord EX coupe. Thankfully no need for a "what car?" as she knows what she wants, an '11 or 12 Accord EX sedan. A quick search of the verious used car search sites found the best deal within any reasonable distance to me is this one in New Jersey for $12k with 27k. Unfortunately any purchase will have to wait until tax returns come in. Financing will be through the bank where she works. What general knowledge should I have going into attempting to buy a car online/non-local?

Make sure it wasn't caught in Sandy flooding?

I just did it. I was surprised to find the car in worse cosmetic condition than I thought possible for a 3-year-old car, but that didn't bother me as much as it might have bothered some people.

In short, I was hoping to get a $13,000 car for $10,000, but I wound up getting a $10,000 car. If cosmetics are important to you, ask for photos that aren't on the website.

jstein77 wrote: Make sure it wasn't caught in Sandy flooding?

I'll ask about that

Is she looking for a V6 or a four?

In reply to Woody:

Ideally a 4, auto only. She is insistent on 2x wishbone for handling, and my time in a v6 7th gen I found the weight of the v6 to numb it down compared to the 4. Or it could have been sedan vs coupe, but I doubt that.

If you can convince someone here who is local to go look at it and take a billion pictures you can save yourself from Evan's fate. I've done that before for a member car shopping a car in Houston. It's kind of fun to fine tooth comb a car you're not going to buy.
Other than that, every other long distance purchase I've done has turned up something not great that the seller forgot to mention that wasn't visible on the pictures. This is just part of car buying.

In reply to Brian:

I was asking because the V6 of that era can have an issue with the cylinder deactivation system. I have a 2010 V6. Mine had the problem but they fixed it under warranty.

if you're going to long distance shop, at least search south of road salt...

mazdeuce wrote: If you can convince someone here who is local to go look at it and take a billion pictures you can save yourself from Evan's fate. I've done that before for a member car shopping a car in Houston. It's kind of fun to fine tooth comb a car you're not going to buy. Other than that, every other long distance purchase I've done has turned up something not great that the seller forgot to mention that wasn't visible on the pictures. This is just part of car buying.

And I thank you for that Still have the car.

My experience has been different. I've bought a lot of cars from dealers far away and almost always it turned out to be fine. When I call the dealer, I make sure the sales person knows that I'm not a naïve moron who wants the car because it's red and shiny. I'm not rude about it, but I make it clear up front that I'm looking for something very specific and have certain expectations. I ask them to walk around the car and photograph any little scratch, ding, etc... By this point, if the dealer is a scammer or has something to hide, they typically just go away or will give a song and dance which is easy to recognize. If they're still hanging in there and seem honest and up front, after I get the photos I tell them that if I buy the car and there's anything else they didn't disclose, I'll be looking to them. Maybe it's just luck, but I feel like I get a pretty good sense of if they're bullE36 M3ting me or not. I have had plenty of dealers just not call me back or fade into the distance when I start asking for specifics, and those are the ones that are probably peddling junk.

In the past 6 months, I had my wife's minivan and my FoST shipped in to us, and they both turned out exactly as advertised, including any tiny scratches that were disclosed before I bought it. I will say that Jersey raises a red flag to me. Dealers there...especially north Jersey...and in NYC often tend to be the slicked back hair, fast talking con artists.

Brian wrote: Time to replace SWMBO's DD, a 200k+ '03 Accord EX coupe. Thankfully no need for a "what car?" as she knows what she wants, an '11 or 12 Accord EX sedan. A quick search of the verious used car search sites found the best deal within any reasonable distance to me is this one in New Jersey for $12k with 27k. Unfortunately any purchase will have to wait until tax returns come in. Financing will be through the bank where she works. What general knowledge should I have going into attempting to buy a car online/non-local?

I've been on the buying and selling end of many long distance auto transactions, and never had an issue. A couple of buyers' suggestions based on my experience: You're shopping for a very common car, and prices aren't going to change much with condition -- you can be extremely choosy on condition and features. If you're bringing your own financing, consider buying from a private individual that doesn't have a lien on the car. Road trips are fun, especially when your new car is waiting at the destination: get a one-way rental and buy as far away from the godforsaken rust belt as possible. (Seriously, you lifetime rust belters have a warped definition of 'rusty.' There is a better way...)

Edit:

Good looking Accord, but that wood tho...It would have to go before I drove home. Just my $.02 You know what doesn't have wood trim? That R8. :)

In reply to Tyler H:

Not all EXs come with the wood. Mine has brushed aluminum.

I'd be leary of buying a car from New Jersey myself..

In reply to Tyler H:

Wife and I can live with the wood trim. If she can't, I can hit it with plasti dip. And the R8 is a little out of our budget at $170-180K(they have 2).

At this point I'm waiting a few days for taxes to come through then I start E-mailing the dealer.

I've gone over pictures of cars with a fine-tooth comb. There were 32 pictures of the exterior--not great pictures, but not bad either. Decided it was worth the hour drive to check it out. In person, it took me about 20 seconds to find evidence of an accident.

If I'm buying long distance, there will be someone on the ground at the other end looking at it for me.

Also trying to talk her into one of 2 local cars, one is a stick, but otherwise perfect. She wants 2x wishbone for fun driving, I keep telling her learning manual would make it 1000X better. The other is a 2 door, V6, leather.

I've had rotten luck buying cars out of state, even with getting PPI's done on every single one of them. I was extremely specific in telling the shop what I wanted too.

Having someone local check the car out is a good start but everyone's idea of what "good condition" is is subjective and pictures don't show a lot of flaws.

My one piece of advice is if you're unwilling to fly out and check out the car in person before you buy it, you should wait until something local pops up instead...

Also, it is a Honda Accord. It isn't like you're searching for a CRXsi or a Hellcat. You can find them close by, especially if you're not on a huge time crunch.

In reply to Brian: Sent you a PM.

Klayfish wrote: I will say that Jersey raises a red flag to me. Dealers there...especially north Jersey...and in NYC often tend to be the slicked back hair, fast talking con artists.

I bought my E46 from a BMW dealer in the wilds of North Jersey, west of NYC. I mean serious dead-goomba-in-the-trunk country. I talked several times to the sales guy, who sure sounded the part, before going up there. But he was absolutely straightforward on the phone and in person, overnighted me all the paperwork ahead of time, gave me a very good price on exactly the car I wanted, and disclosed absolutely everything I've ever found out about the car. I'm still driving it 10 years and 100,000 miles later.

I figure my next day off I will drive down and look at it and decide to proceed or not.

I went to look at the local options before work, as it was a mile down the road from work. They had been listed wrong and are at the the dealers Syracuse location.

I will be getting in contact with the dealer down in NJ soon.

92dxman wrote: I'd be leary of buying a car from New Jersey myself..

Why? It's an Accord, not a Lincoln. The PO can't have put that many dead guys in the trunk. They wont fit!