Buying a Classic Car Sight Unseen

> People put a fair amount of trust in this community of buyers and sellers, and eBay prides itself on this established rating system. The number next to the seller allows the buyer to get a better understanding of what that person is like. The feedback score helps to rate the integrity of the person.


It is this insight that calms nerves and adds a sense of reassurance to the potential transaction. In many cases, buyers want to see the "character" who owns the car being sold as much as they want to examine the car itself. For eBay, the number beside the name assuages that fear. It's a kind of cyberspace kicking of the tires.


> The quality of vehicles is supported by numerous digital photos and sometimes quite elaborate explanations of the vehicle and its history. And because it is an auction, one that occurs over a number of days, a potential buyer can review the process of the listing, and see just what kind of interest other viewers and bidders may have for the car in question. Obviously, a car that appears right in the photos, but has no bidders over days causes most to pass on its purchase. This is a fairly effective check and balance procedure...a sort of "self-cleansing" process. Perhaps there's more than meets the eye, literally, in this car's case.


> The service encourages buyers to contact sellers and offers up an inspection service—a Trading Assistant—that a potential buyer can utilize, for a fee, in order to examine the vehicle in question. In addition, a buyer can take his or her car to a shop and have them perform a complete cosmetic and mechanical inspection. This helps to authenticate the vehicle to be sold. Finally, potential buyers can order up a vehicle history report from AutoCheck or CarFax, based on the vehicle's VIN. This also is a relatively inexpensive way to further scrutinize the car's legitimacy.


Whether doing business cross-town or cross-country, the desire to get the best deal possible is paramount to both buyer and seller. Still, the old motto "caveat emptor" has to be acknowledged and respected. But it takes on a slightly different meaning when purchasing a car through the Internet. According to one web site enthusiast, buying a car sight unseen, especially online, is "like putting a coin into a machine and trying to scoop out the desired toy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."