Long Distance Travel to View a Car

Next weekend going to go see and very likely buy a 350z in Dumfries from Leicester. 4hr each way 250 miles. Admittedly ive sent the AA to check it out first, im no mechanic.

Hawker
 
Saw my car advertised by a dealer online. Left a deposit by phone and took the train over 200 miles to view it. I was 80% sure I would buy the car and only bought a one way ticket on the train.

Knew exactly what I was buying before leaving, not sure I would have done the same for a private sale though.
 
I put down a deposit for my Honda Insight over the phone having never seen the car. Got it from Toyota main dealer in Cheltenham (they had taken it in Part Exchange) and agreed a part exchange value for my previous car at the time over the phone. I live in Sheffield. Drove there. Swapped cars. Came back. Aside from the distance it was probably the easiest and most straightforward car buy I've done (aside from listening to the spiel and then turning down the Gap insurance, Supaguard, smart repair cover etc etc).

The car was approved through the Toyota dealer and still under manufacturer's warranty though. It had a couple of niggles (dashboard squeaks, needed a software update) but they were sorted FOC through a local Honda dealer.

I would have rather bought locally but it ended up a good 3 grand cheaper than I'd managed to negotiate for similar examples at nearby garages. I enquired out of interest as the price was already on the low side and what started as a hypothetical discussion turned into seriously talking figures. I said that I would need a good deal to even bother coming to look at the car. The salesman called back with a big discount under the window sticker.

The price was low enough I estimate that I could have sold it a year later for what I bought it, perhaps more. Just had a look on autotrader for Insights of similar age and mileage to what mine was when I bought it. The advertised prices are still typically 3-4 grand more than I paid.
 
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I wouldn't be concerned if I was buying from a main dealer. I did it in the past with my Z4. I put a refundable deposit on it and it was brought down from Norfolk. Anyway I'll be heading up there tomorrow and hopefully driving it back down if they can tax it. The cam belt and water pump are due at 90k but most people get it done before then, I'll use this as part of bargaining but I bought a return ticket just in case it turns out that it's not the car for me. Hope it is though because I can't find another like it!
 
When I sold my Suzuki Swift it went in/on Autotrader on a Thursday. On the Friday a girl travelled up from Norwich to Oldham with her dad and paid asking price in cash. Not sure I would travel that far for a £5k car.
 
I drove from Newcastle to Dundee to view a car, then back up two weeks later to collect it (was lower mileage, better spec and £1500 cheaper than what local dealer was offering). Couldn't do it in one trip as my plate needed to be transferred.
 
The chap who bought my S2000 travelled from Durham arriving in Bath at 9.30pm, back out the door having paid for it at 10.15pm. Relatively rare car however, and during the warm peak summer, where all the cars listed were getting snapped up in 2-3 days
 
My partners Brother in law bought yet another Vauxhall Vectra GSi off of ebay. Without even seeing it in person he pressed the Buy It Now button for £1300 for a 150k Y reg.

Travelled up there (150 miles) after work (finishes at 10pm) and arrived in the pitch black and just handed the money over. Drove it back with no tax and I am not even certain it was insured, well he took his present car so one of them wasn't on the way back.

Now that is lunacy in my book. It is the worse colour green I have ever seen. He definitley has rocks in his head as he describes it as a 'Big Boys car'. Makes us all cringe.

No doubt it will be another one that will fall apart in 6 months like the last.
 
Guy come from West brom to oldham to pick up my crashed non running mr2 lol. With a flatbed. Hadn't seen the car before.

If yiu know what you're looking for I say go for it.
 
Captain Fizz said:
Current car was a 120 mile train journey, bought a return ticket just in case, but drove it home :)
Click to expand...

I did the same thing although I bought a dirt cheap coach trip for the return journey so didn't mind losing the fiver I paid for it.

I wouldn't fancy travelling much further than 100 miles but if you see something amazing I suppose you gotta go for it.
 
Well that was a waste of time......a brief summary of why:

The car had been standing for months and was filthy.
The rear wiper was broken.
It didn't have bi-xenon headlights. The dealer doesn't know the difference between projector headlights and xenons :rolleyes:
The 2 front tyres were mis-matched.
It had 2300 more miles than advertised.
The service book was stamped but there were no invoices.

Oh well.
 
Went to Wales to fetch the VXR. Originally went to Warrington for a Focus ST that ended up having finance on it that the owner wouldn't let me settle. Focus was plan A, VXR plan B. Plan B worked out in the end.

Did something like 300miles that day I think. So not that much really.
 
panthro said:
Well that was a waste of time......a brief summary of why:

The car had been standing for months and was filthy.
The rear wiper was broken.
It didn't have bi-xenon headlights. The dealer doesn't know the difference between projector headlights and xenons :rolleyes:
The 2 front tyres were mis-matched.
It had 2300 more miles than advertised.
The service book was stamped but there were no invoices.

Oh well.
Click to expand...

Probably something picked up at auction. You would think they would give it a clean, couple of tyres and repair a window wiper. Typical money grabbing dealer who buys cheap does sweet FA and asks top money.

I bet the description didn't say anything of these things?
 
Furthest I ever travelled for a car was 65 miles each way.

Not the worst road in the world though:
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