What is your geographic buying range?

I flew from Philly to... Wait for it... Atlanta to buy a '95 Neon ACR.

I'm willing to drive a couple hundred miles for a good car. Unfortunately all the classified ad results I get are to the north, not the south of me.

Great thread. It blows me away how some people won't drive even 50 miles to buy a car. I see people in the Northeast buy rusty cars and spend thousands to fix rust, because they can't afford to spend hundreds to find and buy a southern car. Rust is way more expensive than shipping costs. This is coming from the guy that just bought the rusty WRX from CT. Generally I avoid cars from the Northeast and find the Carolinas and Georgia to be the best place to find cars. I have also bought three cars out of California and drove two of them home in unrestored condition to Forida.

Its interesting to see how many are willing to travel. As I pointed out in the OP, pick any forum's classified section and it seems like its full of "you're too far" responses. For most of us, the types of cars we want are not usually plentiful (or available) locally. Id rather pick from a bigger pool. Take my recent failed RX7 experiment. Everybody that saw the car was amazed it was rust free and wanted to know where I found such a straight car in Michigan. I said "Kentucky via Tennesee". I spent a day and a couple hundred in gas to get it. Totally worth it to start with a car that can be disassembled without a torch! But some of my coworkers thought I was insane for going "so far"

i have bought cars from all over this nation. my favorite is the Northwest some of the best deals have been out of Seatle and Portland and i can get them shipped for $700.00 to $800.00 and you can find the strange cars up there rust free.

i also buy from forums and sell on forums. i really enjoy dealing with the new generation of "car guys". i sold a RB26DETT engine to a kid in South Datoka and him and his friend drove to Pittsburgh in a S10 that i wouldn't drive around the block to pick the engine up. they had a cooler with ham and bread in it and a cooler of Kool-Aid and they selpt at rest areas.

then i sold a 2JZGTE engine to two brothers from maine and they drove to pittsburgh in a toyota pick-up that was so bad i gave them two tires and rims because cords were showing on the front tires and their spare was flat because they changed it on the way down.

i have meet members here at 1:00am at truck stops, picked them up at train station and had arguments with them because three show up to buy the same car.

i guess it's the chase and the find that drives me and the crazy, wonderful people you meet on the way.

patgizz wrote: before i had a kid i would go lots of places. i live in cleveland and have been to connecticut, baltimore, buffalo, kalamazoo, chicago, charlotte, and as far south as southern georgia for a parts deal. anymore i don't have time so i pay for shipping or wait for a deal to be close to me. i don't even want to drive 30 minutes to look at something anymore.

I hate to admit it, but this. With three kids, I don't have much free time. What little free time I have is already taken by several different things. "Back in the day", I wouldn't mind driving far. I once drove 7 hours each way to pick up a Fox body Mustang shell....left home at 5am and was home by 8pm. But now, it's just not realistic. I'll still by a car from almost anywhere, but I'll have it shipped. I live in PA, but have bought cars from AZ, Utah, GA, VA.

One more that I had forgotten about, while not directly car related, is worth noting. This guy may be the winner in my opinion.

I sold my old arc welder on eBay (again: "No Shipping"). The buyer was from Eveglades City, Florida. He asked if I would hold it for a few months, as long as he paid in full immediately, and I agreed. Two months later, he stopped at my house in Connecticut, on his way to upstate Maine. He had bought rural land up there (also on eBay) and needed the welder to make gates for the access roads.

I seem to be willing to go just about anywhere. I bought a saab in atlanta. Flew from flint and drove home same day. I bought my 4 door wrangler just outside st louis and drove home same day. I bought my bmw in ft lauderdale but i had that shipped. I like to try to buy outside the rust belt if i can.

Chris

However far Atlanta is from my current location.

Oddly enough I flew from Bay Area California to buy our current 1995 Volvo t5r wagon. It happens to be one of 5-8 Green Metallic t5r wagons and the seller was not aware or concerned with the rarity. Seller bought my ticket and a couple friends flew out with me. We took secondary roads much of the way and had a blast. Eight years later the car is worth more than when we bought it so it worked out. Kinda scary with it being an east coast car but no body rust and only minor environmental gnawing on a few bits here and there.

I try to stay within the province since anything outside of that means a huge hassle and strict safety inspection upon registration. That said you can drive for 10 hours just in province.

I've always wanted to fly somewhere and drive back very far, I'm thinking of doing a car-purchase vacation to pick up an rx8 in the spring or summertime.

Depends on the car.

I drove 12 hours each way to pick up my WRX, flew down to Chattanooga from Ohio to pick up the Miata and drove it back. I prefer to look in the south for a car that I am planning on keeping for awhile, I hate rust.