OKB

You are buying the car from the lein holder. The car 'owner' does not own the car he does not own the title. Have him go to the bank and talk to a manager and have them call you and make arrangements as they normally do when they transfer title. You wont be paying the 'owner'

Melbourne15

I bought my 911 from Porsche of Monterey while living in Australia. Moved back to the States (Illinois) on June 13th, car arrived on June 15th (my birthday). $1100 shipped in enclosed transporter. I called a few dealers regarding cars for sale before I found my 911. Most did not believe I was serious about buying a car while still living in Oz. Their loss.

ric-ko

Bought my 997 and two other cars without seeing them. I expect many will disagree, but I sort of feel that cars today are so well designed, that a low mileage car will very likely be perfectly fine, so long as no accidents or abuse. Dealers will be straight with you, because their reputations are even more important in the age of social media.

When speaking to them, each said they are selling a significant number of used cars from out of towners.

Dartmouth

Me too. Bought mine out of Detroit and had it shipped back to NJ by 1/4 car trailer. Nerves were shot getting it loaded on a transport due to poor small dealership service after purchase. Not sure I would do this again. Too hard worrying when my care would be shipped.

Turbodan

I recommend flying out to see it in person. Many people I know have not been happy with buying sight unseen and with desperate people out there I would not take the chance for the cost of a flight in and out same day even.
If he does not need your money to pay off lien then use escrow.com just used it to sell a car to a guy acrosss a few states. They are reputable and registered with gov in California.

StormRune

For me I wasn't comfortable committing until I flew out and had eyes on the car myself. All-in-all spending the airfare gave me the peace of mind I personally needed. Your comfort level may differ.

Before flying out though, I carefully examined all of the images and asked the dealer to take close-up photos of places where I might have concerns... all of the wheel rims for example. In your case ask them to send you close ups of those areas of the passenger seats. In my case they were happy to oblige and did it within minutes. Smartphones make it easy these days.

Another route to consider is to ask if a Rennlist member from that area will go get eyes-on the car for you and send you photos and notes of anything you might find interesting. I did this for an out-of-town guy once a couple of years ago. In this case I didn't drive or PPI the car at all, it was just a visual/audible scan of the running car to see if anything popped out. Tire conditions, scrapes, stains, obsvous chips/scratches, etc.

Edgy01

Bought my car without seeing it at all. I even had to travel to a little town outside Stuttgart, Germany to get it. (Some place called Zuffenhausen). Paid $135,000 plus for it but was told by my salesman that I would like it. Sadly, a couple guys had put about 4 miles on it before I could get to it. Today, with an additional 103,800 miles on it, it turned out to be a good buy.

jhbrennan

I prefer to buy after seeing the car...but having said that you can buy with confidence from Park Place and Eric - quality dealership and Eric is very experienced with out-of-state buyers - over the last 10 years I have purchased 2 cars from him. Also, in working with this dealership you won't have to worry about title and liens.

gg1

Thanks for all the replies. Dallas is 1,200 miles away, which is a little far for a day trip. lol That dealership seems to deal in some volume. Good price on that car, but I never saw that color, which makes it a little harder. Also, thanks for your stories on how you purchased your cars. It is tempting to just say heck with it and buy. I will go to the local Porsche dealers to look at colors. I will probably miss that car, but there will be another one. There are non-stop flights to Dallas, so that may be my choice and then have it shipped back. I don't think I would have time to drive it home, but..... hmm. Again, this place didn't disappoint with the information.

garyinseattle

I bought a 2 year old 987, about 10 years ago, sight unseen. I did have it inspected by a Porsche dealer, and spoke to a representative on the phone. everything was as advertised, and i was satisfied. On a newer, off-lease type of car, I would feel comfortable doing that. Not so sure I would for something older.

Ben Z

I'm an old guy and old-school. There are only two ways I'd buy a car without seeing/driving it myself. One is if someone I knew and trusted saw/drove it in place of me. The other would be if the seller agreed to a 5-day return period with him picking up the shipping. Naturally I recognize the unlikelihood any seller would go for option 2.

I have bought a couple cars from Carmax. Both were located in-state so there was no shipping charge getting it to the location nearest me.

andy92782

Not a Porsche, but in a previous life I took over the lease on a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V that was nearly new (7K miles). I figured it was still basically new and under warranty so the risk was minimal. Flew from SoCal to NorCal to pick it up sight unseen and drove it home. The car turned out to be a lemon and I eventually got GM to buy it back under the California Lemon Law.

TL;DR: bought a car sight unseen, it turned out to be junk, probably wouldn't do it again

esc911

I bought both my 997.1 gt3 and 993 sight unseen, though both had ppi's completed. I'd say it worked out pretty well. With the 997 I put a deposit down, had the ppi done and just drove down and picked it up. While I prefer buying after seeing and driving the car, sometimes that option doesn't work as well. Especially, if a particular car is in demand.

joseph mitro

short story - yes, I bought my 996 sight unseen.

Long story - it was on ebay, low mileage, sold by reputable dealer, carfax clean, photos looked good, the car was exactly what I wanted, had necessary documentation in place. Dealer was easy to contact and agreed to a headlight upgrade at the "buy it now" price. Even had a rennlister vouch for them.

it's only been 3 months but the car is perfect and so far has been every bit as expected.

jsalah

Good luck, and post it when you get your car!