Buying a car without viewing it in person

[JayRidesBikes]

Anyone done this recently? I haven’t bought a new car for over 8 years and things have changed since then, with covid and contactless pick ups, online viewings and dealers offering delivery.

I’ve got my eye on a car but it’s many miles away and I don’t really have the time to spend an entire day travelling there and back.

The dealer seems to have a good reputation and have uploaded a walk around video and many a photo. All looks well I am happy to purchase over the phone / online however they want to do it but I’m just wondering how others have gotten on with the experience of buying cars online without seeing them over the last year or so and is there anything in particular that I should be aware of?

[JayRidesBikes]

c6r said:

Am in similar position to the OP and been thinking the same. Looking for recentish midrange repmobile type thing like 330i/S4/etc 3-4yo probably but most of the suitable ones always seem to be at the other end of the country. I don't get involved with spannering cars - I know all the bits, and how it all works, but never do any real work on them myself - so I'm not sure what the point of going all the way to see one will be. If it's got clouds of smoke spewing out the back I can probably spot it, but anything less obvious but still serious there's no way I'd be able to tell especially not in 15mins on a forecourt. Added to that, I'll have just spent a morning and half a tank of petrol getting up there to view it, so you sort of have the pressure to go through and buy it or it's all been a massive waste of time.

I'm not that bothered about superficial stuff like scratches and scuffs, as my cars just end up covered in them anyway, it's only buying a well disguised lemon that is my concern really, so actually an online distance sale seems like actually the best way of avoiding that. Am I mad though?

This is my thinking, I can't fix a car myself I'm not going to find any issues myself by going to view it. The dealer has sent me a 6 minute walk around video, has done a fresh MOT and service and has sent it to Suzuki for air conditioning regassing, which wasn't mentioned in the advert but he told me over the phone it needed to be sorted. The car should be delivered at the end of this week so let's wait and see.