Whats the safest method of purchase ??

tell him your Pantera club president wouldn't like it if there were any problems....

Ron,

I have bought 2 cars off Ebay. Much of the judgment has been from how the car has been represented. You can often get a feel for some one in that way but there is a bit of luck involved. So far I have been lucky.

The first was a 73 Trans Am. I was the winning bidder. It was kind of funny because I was out flying a trip in the Keys and my wife placed the bid for me. Not too comforting for the seller when the winning bidder says "I am bidding for my husband , he will be back tomorrow to shore up details".

Anyway I called him as soon as I could. We talked of down payment and I said, "How about if you give me one day and I show up with a trailer and a cashiers check". That worked out real well. We exchanged car/title for check. That was a real comfortable way of doing it. That is the way I did #1280 too.

I bought a 76 Cutlass with 455 and t-tops a year or so ago. It was all the way across country. I really couldn't take a trailer that far. Another fellow pilot took a trip out to California and swapped title for check. He then put it on trailer and sent it this way. That worked out well too. You still have to have a certain amount of faith in who you are working with.

You can hire a lawyer to act as an escrow officer for the transaction. He will release no funds until told to do so.

this will cost you some $$$, add some complications, and....bring a lawyer into the deal.

lawyer...

Pay a visit to see the car before handing over the check or pay in cash and have shipper ready to load it up before you leave.

Plane ticket and a day off is cheap insurance in my book.

quote:

Plane ticket and a day off is cheap insurance in my book.

Agreed!

Although, I have a friend who purchased a Porsche Boxter across the country through eBay and paid for it on faith that it would be delivered as promised, and it was. I'm just not willing to risk that kind of cash on the "hope" that it shows up - as described.

I once won an auction on a 453 mile DeLorean in VA I went with cash in hand and drove to pick up the car picked up a trailer along the way from a U-haul in VA that I reserved. I didnt come home with the car as I felt it was misrepresented enough to break the deal. I dont know if this scenario is possible for you but it is a good option, it allows you to fully see the car first hand and lets common sense get the better of you on a long trip as well. The one drawback is the trailer cannot exceed a speed limit of 45 MPH so plant on a stop somewhere or make a family trip out of it.

Ron,

You don't divulge how much the car is total, but $2K is a pretty good deposit and 'faith payment' in my book. Faith and trust has to be both ways not all the risk falling on you, or I'd be suspicious. Of course the degree of 'risk' is dependent again on how much you could lose here.

The owner should release the car to a shipper on the basis of the downpayment and retain the title until the rest of the funds are deposited, (unless it's in one of those funky states that don't have titles ) Once you verify it is in the shippers hands you can make the final deposit.

This doesn't ensure that is not misrepresented however. Only way to do that is to pay an independent assessor (AAA or a fellow Pantera owner in the area?) to look at it or go yourself to see it and load it to your shipper.

Although #7024 wasn't purchased on Ebay, I didn't see it in the flesh until it was off loaded at my door and it worked out very well.

Good luck

Thanks guys ..its a 70 Boss 302 Mustang for 26k total .. the car is in florida ... its been in storage for 26 years ..complete car in need of resto. I;m in NY ..so its a long trip ..I figure 19 hours ... I could go for it and exchange cash trailer it or put it on my rack body truck .. BUT a very hard trip .. I;m not good at driving that long .. I start to pick up speed the longer I drive ..so by the time I get to florida I might PASS the place at 150 mph ..LOL

No I agree ..thats why I questioning my judgement .. cant see mailing a bank check for that kind of cash and hope the car shows up.

But I do have 2 friends who are willing to make the trip for me ??

What about a USPS money order ..I was told something about it being a federal offence if the deal is not completed or violated.

Thanks for the help .. gotta sort this out.

Ron

PS George do we have any fellow Pantera friends in Palmetto Florida ??

I'm not at the club office to read the member database, but I took a quick look at the registered members of the forums.

Jeff Vozeh (hitchman) is nearby in Sarasota, he sold his Pantera, I don't know what Jeff is up to.

Al Rubin is our rep for Florida, he's about 90 minutes south in Fort Meyers. Al is a very active guy in the Pantera commmunity down there, he's probably the first place to stop.

There's a couple of regulars here that list themselves as "Central Florida".

There are many others registered, but they either rarely participate, or don't participate at all.

Thanks George ... I'll try a post to see who is near there is anyone .. just to look at the car .. as not to waste a trip. Because if I make that trip and the pics are not accurate ..I may end up in jail. LOL

I just printed the MAP QUEST directions ..I just got to see if I can borrow a comfortable tow vehicle ..its going to cost me a favor .. but who cares I help the boys out on a daily basis anyway .. but all my vehicles are work trucks and not comfortable enough for 19 hour trip.

Thanks Again Ron

Ron, the guy I bought my car from insisted on cash. I had to make arrangements at the bank to have a federal agent there so I could withdrawl that much cash. I used a brief case to carry it all and had my kevlar vest and my colt as insurance that this was not going south. Everything went smooth as silk.

Cant imagine why ???? LOL I think the COLT helped ... yes I think if this pans out I have to make the trip and transaction myself.

Ron

It's an adventure. That is what it is all about. I drove mine home. Course it was only a hundred miles or so, but still, it was a day I will never forget. Not like going to work everyday. Everyday the same. I can't remember what I did a year ago, but I will always remember that day just over ten years ago.

I guess that everyone's jumpy these days. While it may seem fishy to demand cash, there was a lot of counterfeit cashiers checks going around for a while which fueled the desire to be paid in cash or not turning over the title/car until the cashiers check cleared. I flew to San Fran carrying $32k cash in my pockets to buy my first Pantera. One good thing is that the seller was known and vouched for by the local Pantera club.