OK.
What are peoples thoughts/opinions on this one?
If you want to buy a car interstate and you're serious about it, would you pay out for airfares to go and have a look at it or would you just go with what you can see in the photos?
I've flown to the mainland twice now to have a look at cars and on the second occasion I've bought the vehicle.
I've also boought my squareback virtually sight unseen off this forum (mind you it was only $850!!!!)
I've sold my bus to Sydney and despite my requests for him too look in person, the buyer is quite happy to buy it without looking.
I guess it depends on peoples circumstances. In my case it is quite easy to get time off to go interstate and look but I know my buyer doesn't have that luxury.
What would you do?
The flip side to the story (having now been on both sides!!) is that from the sellers point of view you hope that what you are selling is what the buyer is expecting when they get it.
Thoughts??

depends on the value of the purchase,if its a resto you are buying regardless of which model or type it is then i would certainly fly to look, but if its just another car then just do it, really its a money thing :beer:beer:beer

I bought interstate from here...sight unseen.

BUt only because the guys rep was known to me...that is, other ppls who opinion i greatly respected, also repected his....

If they were unknown (as in one case) I asked for help and someone went to check vehicle for me...which i am so glad they did, cause i would still be paying for that mistake now.

and for me, resto vs driving..is opposite....if its resto, i can fix it...if it driver, then i need to know its good now....and would check

what i bought, was in between. i wanted to fix the body and paitnwork...but mechanics had to be good...and that is exactly what i got.

It is a hard one. In alot of cases I guess it does come down to the value of the vehicle and what you want it for.
Still it can be hard to judge alot from a photo?nn[ Edited on 2-7-2005 by 62deluxe ]

I have bought 2 vw in Sydney.The first, flew down early morning flight and was back home same day bit of a risk driving an unknown car 1000k.The other one went down with the wife on the bike and she drove it back.Didnt hand over any dosh till I saw the vans though.

I would be prepared to travel interstate (including flying) to go and see a car that I wanted. It's a bit like clothes, if you don't try the jeans on before you buy them then you are likely to find that when you wear them they have a tight waist and saggy crotch !

Nothing worse than a saggy crotch!!!:P

over this side of aus we dont have a lot of choice but to rely on sellers, photos and hopefully asking somebody independent like you good people to help us out [like my post regarding karmann ghia at shannons auctions].airfare to syd,melb is about 1,000 for quick flight down to about 500 with 60days warning .most sellers dont want to wait till then to maybe buy it.who can blame them.on top of that add about $1,000 freight to wa,whos going to drive 3,500 km in a car you know very little about[except for hire cars]

Mate its hard to buy with out seeing it,but today's world is a bit more helpful with digital pic's and the net.Maybe get a well known vw mechanic in the area to check it out for ya.

Personally I would not sell a car without the buyer coming or sendiong someone they trust to chheck the car out,
Some people have differant opinions of what certain conditions are.
I might think a vehicle is a shed and others might think it is quite good.

When selling my van I told any prospective buyers that they must come or send someone as I intend to be in the scene for quite a while and I didnt want my name to be bandied around as selling a dodgy vehicle .
Now they know what they are getting for their money.

I had numerous enquiries from England but I insisted that they have someone they trust come and have a look, most people in England have a relative or they could even contact a local VW mechanic to have a look,
Luckily I didnt have to go down that route as the first person who came and had a look bought it.

In my opinion if you buy without looking you only have yourself to blame if its not what you expected and you cannot blame the seller, As I said people have differant ideas on what conditions vehicles are in.

Cheers
Mr No Van

my question would be to you 62delux. ive spoken to jamie re the purchase and he has asked me what i thought. i said at first that i thought it was too much ( in my opinion), but its up to him. as for your word i could only say that you appeard to be a genuine kinda bloke. you deal in vws and there for he would need to decide.

i am not second questioning, but reading this, i can only hope that you are indeed of character and have described the car in honest terms, and not left anything out. there are a lot of people who still today trust people on their word ( a good old day style of business) and have not had to be concerned. i do this myself daily, and of course you risk, but trust has always got to be placed somewhere at some time.
if you are saying that there is no rust other than the two little spots, and that the floor is perfect and that there are the few minor dints and scrapes for 36 year old bus with og paint, and that it is mechanically great, then so it woudl be safe that some one could buy in confidence... dont ya think?

anway i hope so. my sis is so looking forward to her kombi. they didnt get to enjoy their splitta much. this will be her daily, and she will cherish it.

if your worried, take a last look over ya bus, and note all the good and bad and give jamie a bell. he is a nice bloke.

wes

if it was me i would do the flying thing to see and purchase, fly back n freight it home.. but i would be having to spend more than a coupla spondoolas to justify the time and the flying hassle thing..
just lookin at pics, well pics are pics, it real hard to see good and bad bits on a car through just pics.. but then again if it was only a cheap purchase, pics could suffice and if you were unhappy n unlucky with what you scored, you can always put it down to experience..
i suppose thats why i like to wait around for things that come up around my environs for puchases.. as when it becomes many miles away, more time and planning is needed.. plus more questions asking myself is it really worth all the jinning around etc..
unless it is a hard to find rareish type of item that i suppose you would have to jump all over quickly.. thats sorta my 3.5 cents worth..

i bought a van of this site with limited pics from S.A to sydney painless only a bit hard to find a courier to go from S.A
to sydney a few calls later $670 and i trained it to the depot and drove her back A 1500 dollar van, depending how bad u want it i guess.

I think 62deluxe has done the right thing, he has asked the person who bought it to come and look, I think the van is a nice van but I still think the new owner should have gone and looked at it , just my opinion but if I was buying one I would go and have a look first, why couldnt the buyer go and look, the prices of flights are nothing nowadays. Then they could be sure of what they are getting,
Remember it is always, Buyer Beware.


Cheers
Dave

As I couldn't afford the time or money to travel to see the cars, I had several twin cabs looked at by reputable businesses. The owners were happy to take them along for an hour or two, and the fee to have them inspected was worth the cost to avoid a rust bucket. In the end AVWPC in Croydon found one for me and their recommendation turned out to be a great ute.

On the odd occassion when the owner could not take it for an inspection I passed on the deal. Not to cast dispersions on these people, I just wasn't prepared to take the risk.

I have bought 2 cars on ebay, just by photos, one turned out much better than I thought, and one turned out worse, just a bit of rust a trashed interior and a big dent in the back, left out of the item description,

I was looking at a '78 twin cab last year in Melbourne, photos looked good, spoke to the seller, (who wasn't a VW Dude) and his description was good, fresh paint no rust etc etc, I couldn't get down to look at it, so I asked someone (off this Forum) to take a look, On his description I decided to pass on it, ended up being a nice looking ute, if you looked past the blow over enamal paint job with rust bubbles coming through.

I think if you can look at it in person, or send someone you know and trust to look at, it may save you from that horrible feeling of "Buyers regret" I hate that!

I bought my T3 Karmann off an AVD member here in Perth off pics emailed. Didnt fly out to see it but spoke to a lot of people out there as recomended by the seller.
At the end of the day it was the fact that I beleive that all people are basically honest that made me go thru with the deal.
And when I went to collect it from the freight guys I was not disapointed. It was exactly as described by the seller.
Same with Ebay I guess. You check and check and look and ask questions, but at the end of all that its just a leap of faith when you buy something sight unseen. Luckily for me I havent been burned.

Hang on a second Twoguns, what have I said to make you think I'm not "of character"?
I merely asked people what they would do in the same situation! The bus is as described and I'll stand by that. I'm an honest person and have described the condition of the bus as best I can.
I've been shafted (and blown alot of dough)a few times by people I used to call mates so I'm alot more wary now then I used to be that is all.
I'm only worried that someone has bought it sight unseen and their version of good and mine may be entirely different, hence my preference for people to look at it first and make up their own mind.
That said, I stand by my price and description of it. I've spent alot on it and I honestly believe it's worth every cent. The cost of parts i've bought for it alone well exceeds the price.

mate i knew you would go that way... i put the smilies in and all to say that i didnt think anything bady of your...

please, i am not trying to get you off side. you jsut made me nervious for a moment. as i said. you have always appeared of good faith, and that is what i said to jim.

it is good that you stand by your descirption. then it should be that i think that jim and kris will be happy. believe me they have poured over the pics. i have too. ive noticed the dints in hte rear corner and the sligth paint fade/change. the scrape down the low of one side, and the little dint in the doors. ive told kris to expect stone chips. they dont come up in pics. youve jsut got to look at my split to see that.

mate believe me if its solid and reliable, as its to be their daily, then be happy amte. it should be loved.

cheers.

It is solid as. The chassis is mint (apart from 36years of road grime!!)
Yes the front has it's fair share of stone chips, as I said it's got a few little scrapes and dings such as the rear corner- that's why I took that photo at that angle- to show it.
The paint change is where I've touched it up, it's never been resprayed, it's original paint all round. That's why I bought it.
You could see it had nothing to hide.

cool man. then i think be happy. they should love it. i hear youve got some seats going in for hte back... :thumb

as i said b4, i was trying for jamie to keep half your logo. wouldve looked so cool. maybe if you wanna change ya mind on that, eh ? i think it would be jsut about perfect then.

I can leave it on if that's what he wants! It's his now!!
It'll save some work with the hairdryer...

I guess I better put my two cents in now, as the new and happy buyer of this bus.
Although as two-guns says trust is a rare thing and there should be more of it i am a big beleiver in in this concept (you can trust me, I'm a real estate agent!)
That said I am not under the impression i am getting something I am not. I do understand the concern though and if the car was in another location or I had the time then maybe I would have gone to have a look before handing over the hard earned.
I bought our first Kombi about 10 years ago and I know what a 30+ year old kombi is like. We have been looking around for some time to buy another and based on the description and photos this looked like the one, not to say I have the slightest doubt that it isn't.
I guess what I am trying to say is everyone's situation is different and only they can deceide what is the right thing for them to do.

I am looking foward to getting our new bus and making it our own, so no need to worry, I am a big boy and prepared to take the risk. I guess I can alway re-post it if its a dog! Only kidding.
Jim

I guess I better put my two cents in now, as the new and happy buyer of this bus.
Although as two-guns says trust is a rare thing and there should be more of it i am a big beleiver in in this concept (you can trust me, I'm a real estate agent!)
That said I am not under the impression i am getting something I am not. I do understand the concern though and if the car was in another location or I had the time then maybe I would have gone to have a look before handing over the hard earned.
I bought our first Kombi about 10 years ago and I know what a 30+ year old kombi is like. We have been looking around for some time to buy another and based on the description and photos this looked like the one, not to say I have the slightest doubt that it isn't.
I guess what I am trying to say is everyone's situation is different and only they can deceide what is the right thing for them to do.

I am looking foward to getting our new bus and making it our own, so no need to worry, I am a big boy and prepared to take the risk. I guess I can alway re-post it if its a dog! Only kidding.
Jim

She's not a concourse winner but it's no dog!!! LOL
Do you want the stickers left on?

wow that was in stereo.. :P

How did you go with the boat booking?

Thanks, if thats ok. That way i can take off what I want and it also may take the attenion away from some of the blemishes.

Cheers

Jim

So I'll take the "WERKS" and the phone numbers off and leave it at that?