What is the furthest you've driven to look at a car?

californiamilleghia said:

Los Angeles to El Paso ( 800miles each way ) to cold call on a car I was told about......bought it and still have it , 

Los Angeles to Austin Texas to buy another car , 1500 miles each way , bought it and still have it .....

Los Angeles to Albuquerque , I think thats 800 miles each way , bought it too !

and too many times LA to San Jose etc.

I have been lucky and not had a wild goose chase for nothing ,  or that the car was so bad I did not buy it.....

But lots of 50 -100 mile wild goose chases.........

Fun fact:  it is further to drive from the Texas/Louisiana line to El Paso (857 mi) than from El Paso to LA (802 mi). 

I flew from San Diego to Bentonville Arkansas on a fly and drive without seeing anything but pictures

I drove 2.5 hours one way to look at a $400 truck. Should have turned around as soon as I saw the truck without even waiting for the seller to show up. But nope, I bought it and scrapped it a few months later. The mirrors, front bumper, tailgate and tail lights ended up on my current truck, so not a total loss I guess.

2200 miles round trip,  to buy a 60 year old bus. There's a thread about it on here somewhere. 

I drove from Altoona, PA to Cleveland, OH to look at a dually F-350 Centurion. It wasn't a horrible truck for the $2k asking price, but it did not have the Gear Vendors overdrive specifically mentioned in the ad. Also, it sounded like the front wheel bearing had about 50 miles left in it, and I had a few hundred to get it home. I left it there. 

To just look and turn around without it about 400 miles round trip.  

To get screwed and return home empty even though i had sent deposit 1000 miles round trip.  

To pick up something bought sight unseen 2000 miles round trip. 

Flew ohio to New Orleans to get scammed on a cts v.  There’s a semi-amusing thread on it somewhere here.

503 miles each way. Back when my 79 Capri died of rust I decided to track down another Capri. Friend in Hagerstown looked at it but had no clue apparently. The car was rotted in all key foxbody spots. Good news is I got to visit family so it wasn't a complete waste.

My cars seem to find me. Like people call and ask if they can drop it off. 

2300 miles Asheville NC to Ponca NE and back in a 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit diesel to pick up 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit turbo diesel purchased off E bay. Done as a whirlwind trip 2.5 days over a weekend. Actually made two other separate trips from Asheville to Pennsylvania to pick up two other VW Rabbits. That ship has sailed but the road trips were fun.

Wow my wife and I were semi legendary among friends and family, we're total amateurs compared to you guys.

600 miles round trip to look at a Showroom Stock Miata, then went back 2 weeks later to bring it home.

I've done 900 miles round trip (Vegas to Reno and back) in a day to buy a couple of motorcycles from a friend. 

We will routinely drive up to southern Utah in an afternoon to look at cars if need be. It's about 225-250 round trip.

I also make one or two turn and burn round trips to Southern California and back to Vegas to pick up parts. It's 500-600 miles round trip.

I did a fly 'n drive at just over 1400 miles, Atlanta to Columbia Mo, to buy a Suburban from Singleslammer. Still have it, been a good Burb.

Suprf1y said:

And I just saw one for sale less than 2 hours from home... almost exactly the same but with most of what I had planned already done. Plans may change

I drove that car last night. Built, cammed and in pretty good shape, It reminded me of a rough around the edges 70's build. It could have been fixed but I suspect it was low on compression in one cylinder. It idled fine (but rough as hell) but had what felt like a misfire that didn't smooth out until about 3000 RPM. Pass.

Funny, the guy was super nice. As soon as I passed on the car his dad started bad mouthing me calling me a hack, a shoemaker and other words that would just get filtered here.

Leave for Sudbury in a few minutes

Should have turned around as soon as I saw the truck without even waiting for the seller to show up 

That's how my last 200 mile look-see went. Every once in a while you run into someone who really does know how to make a car look good in pictures (better than it is).  Hopefully you don't learn that about someone after you've committed a whole day to the trip.  

dropstep said:

503 miles each way. Back when my 79 Capri died of rust I decided to track down another Capri. Friend in Hagerstown looked at it but had no clue apparently. The car was rotted in all key foxbody spots. Good news is I got to visit family so it wasn't a complete waste.

79 Capri, you rang?

Southern PA to way-South Carolina to look at a 66 F100 that wasn't as good as the photos. Came home empty handed.

Southern PA to eastern NC to buy a 65 F100 that was way better than the photos. Drove it home.

Southern PA to Knoxville, TN via the Blue Ridge Parkway on my motorcycle. Bought a '93 Ford Lightning, loaded the bike in the back and drove home.

Yes, there is a trend here. No good trucks in the northeast. Two out of three for travel has proven beneficial. No or little rust and cheaper prices on 2wd trucks that the confederate flag wavers don't want. Even the truck I didn't buy wasn't an unpleasant experience. Nice folks down there.

I took my dad on a 600 mile adventure to racistville, Mississippi a couple years ago to buy a motorhome.  I had talked to the seller and they assured me that all the appliances worked, tires were good, absolutely no water intrusion ever, and it was 100% ready to hit the road.  Got there and found that the entire gas system had been disconnected ("whud y'all evr wanna hav gas fer?"), the tires were aged out and visibly cracking, the ceiling had obvious signs of repair from water damage, and the windshield had a top-to-bottom crack.  When I started negotiations with $900 windshield replacement I'd have to deal with, they suggested that I solve the problem of the windshield by just telling my insurance company that it was fine when I bought it but it cracked on the way home.  Or, alternately, since "all" of another ethnicity -- referred to, of course, using multiple slurs -- "always" drove around with cracked windshields, I could just let it be since "they" -- more slurs, of course -- always get away with it.  It was at that point, that I decided to call off any further wheeling and dealing.

I didn't buy a motorhome that day, but we did have some very fine bbq and ice cold beers on the way back to the interstate.

The search for a cheap-but-good motorhome took me several months and probably close to 2,000 round-trip miles.

Fly and drive:

Lagos Nigeria to Clearwater FL. ( 5,764 miles) Bought the car and drove it to London Ontario via Rapid City SD. Then flew back home to Nigeria. 11,000 miles in the air and 3,000 on the car by the time I got home to Warri. 3 week adventure. Did not know it at the time, but had acquired a wife on the same trip. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pete

We made the drive to Sudbury, about 5 or more hrs, but we took our time. Had a nice dinner out, camped overnight in the bush and looked at a car. Owner was a super nice guy and the car was clean. He was so happy as I complimented him on the condition. He's in love with the car but he's had it ten years and now with kids (and a wife who's not nearly as in love with the car as he is) it's time for him to move on.

The car was everything I was hoping it would be. And I didn't buy it. I just couldn't get excited about it and I don't know why. I purposely set it up so I would have to go back to get it, just so I would have time to think about it. That should have been my first clue. So I'm still car shopping, ready to buy something with cash, and nothing is exciting me.

Just under 500 miles each way. However that was after owner and I had talked several time and he had sent detailed picture of areas I wanted to see. We also agreed on a price before hand. Ended up buying car after seeing it in person and test drive. Owner actually stored car for almost  three weeks until I could arrange shipment to our house. Good guy! We have probably talked a half a half a dozen times in the last 10 months since buying.

1600 miles is the longest round trip.

700 miles for the longest fly and drive,  well ride since it was a motorcycle,  when I bought my old k1200s.

I’ve also purchased several cars sight unseen and had them shipped,  most of them coming out of CA.

Atlanta to Newington CT for a Galant VR4.  The plan was hang out in NYC over July 4th if it didn't work out anyway.  - Bought it.

Atlanta to El Paso, TX for a 911. No backup plan, bought it.

560 miles each way from Suffolk,VA to Columbus, OH. Decided to go look at the car Friday evening. Left home around 11pm. Bought the car the next day after catching a few hours of sleep at my in-laws house (they were actually visiting us in VA at the time, so they were not home) then started the drive back home. Both myself and my buddy who went with me had duty on Sunday so we had to be at work by 0600. Somehow, the plan of driving all the way home in a old british car through the WV mountains with a tight deadline didn't work out all that well. I lost oil pressure on the WV turnpike and it was too late at night to rent a U haul trailer for it, so I parked it in the mall parking lot and drove back to VA arriving just in time for my 24 hour workday. The following weekend I went back to Beckley with a trailer and picked the car up.