I sold my Adventra. Buy now hit 8.5k. People came up and paid the money. Looked at it and drove it away. No test drive. No mechanic check outs. I hadn't even mentioned that I had just got a new WOF. Altho that doesn't mean the trans is on its last legs or anything. Great people that bought it and I am honest so they got a good car. Anyone else take that risk? I have done it with a $1500 car. But 8.5k is a lot of risk
kazbanz,
Oct 31, 5:20pm
Mad_signtist you will be amazed how many people fail to do any kind of due diligence. Then later moan and complain. It genuinely leaves me gobsmacked. That said the reason they are able to do so is that on the whole cars have become appliances.They actually are really reliable for a long time with (compared to 30 years ago) little maintainance. A fresh import jappa you would expect to run trouble free for 300k with just basic maintainence.--Oil/filter tyres/brake pads The result is complaicancy on peoples part.
franc123,
Oct 31, 5:24pm
They do it all the time mate. Then they come on here and start making noises about being ripped off and what are my rights and CGA this and that and blah blah when it all turns to faeces, and the issues for the most part would have been detectable with a competent pro PPI with emphasis on how its been maintained and if its been damaged, and often even before getting that far by proper research both online and in person from someone who knows the model in question well and can give an experienced based heads up of what is likely to go wrong as it ages. No doubt some get genuinely lucky but you don't tend to hear those stories so much, just because you can buy something major like a vehicle or property quickly online without seeing it in the flesh doesn't mean you should.
bjmh,
Oct 31, 6:35pm
I sold a vintage dodge on TM the guy won the auction $8500 sight unseen ,came to pick up the vehicle and said awww it needs a lot of work. paid and took it away.Like you I couldn't believe people would buy something without looking.
stevexc,
Oct 31, 6:39pm
I bought my Fairmont for 8.5k with no inspection whatsoever. Love at first sight :D
peja,
Oct 31, 6:45pm
Astonishes me too. Last car I bought was 9K, thats a lot of money to me, so I went and looked at it three times, took it for a test drive on the third time, then got a local mechanic to do a pre purchase inspection. Still had a couple of minor issues that werent picked up, but they were minor so took them in my stride
stevo2,
Oct 31, 7:05pm
Ive bought a lot of cars over the years. Have never bought one sight unseen but I have never had any of them inspected by a mechanic either. I have never been burnt on any of my purchases although a couple have developed issues (a clutch and a head gasket) within a few weeks and the dealer has come to the party and repaired them both. I have sold about 10 cars privately and only one person has ever asked for an inspection (AA) and although it came back with a clean bill of health and was described by them as "above average cond for age and mileage" they never went ahead with the purchase.
headcat,
Oct 31, 7:07pm
Bought a number of cars sight unseen on here for up to $10k. Only two of them ended with some funny business. Both were from dealers.
m16d,
Oct 31, 8:31pm
Thats because they thought there's a 3 year 100thou K warranty.
bigfatmat1,
Oct 31, 10:54pm
Last 3 cars I have purchased 10k + sight unseen turn out to be best cars I have ever purchased out of the 40 odd cars I have owned
tamarillo,
Oct 31, 11:14pm
I've bought unseen, though I don't advice others too! But I do have a good chat with seller and go by my sense of them. Stupid but works for me.
tgray,
Nov 1, 1:00am
Someone did that with my $95,000 car last month. Really! They came from Christchurch, started it up, didn't even drive it and drove it off from Auckland back to Christchurch. They hadn't even insured it at that stage! I sell cars for a living but now I have seen everything.
socram,
Nov 1, 2:08am
I borrowed a fair bit from the bank for the classic GT. Knew it was what I wanted, 25 years ago (only 2 in the country). Never sat in it or drove it or checked it - though I had seen it running/racing.
Never ever regretted buying it. I may regret selling it though when I decide to do so - which may not be too far away!
totalimp,
Nov 1, 2:39am
My insurance broker has me covered for any road legal car I drive within 10(?) working days or purchase without having to contact them first. I.e if I bought another car and forgot to insure it, the first 10 days are covered anyway. Same thing with a guy who recently bought a car off me - he had the same rollover policy. Apparently it's fairly common.
trogedon,
Nov 1, 2:42am
Last car I bought was sight unseen. and I should have seen it in the 'flesh' first.
totalimp,
Nov 1, 2:43am
A guy recently bought a $10k car off me. Didn't test drive it, had a quick look over the engine, called his wife to approve it aesthetically and then we shook hands. He popped over several hours later with the cash and off he went! He seemed to know his stuff and I talked to him over the phone about the basics. I was honest and he saw I was honest when he saw the car. I don't like dicking people over, I think people need to have more respect than that. I've bought one car sight unseen from a dealer and it ended up being a lemon. Undriveable piece of turd that I paid $18k for. Went through the MVDT. He tried to screw me and failed. I didn't appreciate that, so I wouldn't do that to other people.
lookoutas,
Nov 1, 2:57pm
I hope it had a full tank of gas!
Trying to score a car off someone who write FA good English at the moment. I offer FA, but he want heaps. We're now down to splitting $100 and I won't budge - then he wants me to send him some stuff from inside that I will just dump.
Preliminary CarJam shows it's had 2 new sets of number plates in the last 2 years, so part of my deal is that if he accepts my offer, it will hinge on a full report. Everything else seems to stack up OK. I gather that has pulled him back tho, coz now he sez my (low balled) offer isn't good, so friend will allange transfer back to Auckland ($300+ worth)
I'm not too worried, but favours need to go both ways. So I can take a problem off his hands, and I have to win as well.
nzmax,
Nov 1, 3:53pm
I have purchased my last 3 cars sight unseen, all Maximas and ranged in price from $1200 to $6000. I had owned 3 Maximas previous to that so guess I knew what to look for in pics, what problems they have, and what questions to ask. So far, I have ended up with better cars than I was expecting, and have had no issues with any of them. Before committing to buy, I did background checks for finance owing etc. With the latest one I flew to Auckland and drove it back to Christchurch. If anything was to go wrong with any of them, I know that no one is responsible but myself, and cant blame anybody else for that. I would not recommend buying sight unseen if you haven't done any research for that particular model and understand what can or will go wrong with it, or you dont have the ability to either fix or pay for repairs should it require any, have done no background checks for finance owing etc, or more importantly if you cannot afford to lose the money you are looking to pay for it.
elect70,
Nov 1, 5:35pm
ANy car ive bought & its been too far away to look at ive taken the sell ers word as to condition but always took cash & if it wasnt as described walked away . Only walked once where prick had swapped wheels & tyres .
pebbles61,
Nov 1, 6:46pm
Some people are pretty brave when it comes to that lol, I would go to $2000-$2500 at the most buying unseen. I've heard a few nightmare stories, as I imagine most people here have.
easygoer,
Nov 2, 4:10am
My current car I went to Taupo, took it for a 5 min ride then paid $22,000.00 and drove back to Hamilton, I pre insured it on the assumption I would be bringing it home with me, mind you it was a 2 1/2 year old car at the time, that was 7 years ago and it still runs faultlessly
marte,
Nov 2, 5:24am
Last car I brought I jumped in and drove it to the bank 4 blocks, and offered $800 instead of the $900 he wanted and he did rego change on his cellphone and that was that. He was straight up, said it needed cambelt, 3 owners, had brakes done 20KKm ago, sat for last 4 months since day after WOF, , ashtray used twice, hatchback, towbar, NZ new.
It was the 3 owners/NZ new/honesty that sold it.
Hatchback, towbar was essential. Ashtray and cambelt ment honesty. WOF and brakes + Cambelt ment 1 off cost and reliable.
I think it was deceased estate. So respect.
marte,
Nov 4, 3:04am
My car before that. It had 3 owners and the ashtray and lighter had never been used.
mad_signtist,
Nov 28, 2:43am
So we just bought an 09 oddysey from a dealer for 10k sight unseen haha
mad_signtist,
Nov 28, 11:17am
It's mint tho. Had check done. Very tidy and wife loves it
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