2.2: Buying Locally

Hand’s down, the best place to buy a car is locally, especially if you’re looking at a used example. Not only will you get to see the car in person and take it for a test drive, when you buy locally you are more likely to be able to have a pre-purchase inspection done by a shop you know and trust. We will cover inspections later in this chapter but suffice to say, especially when buying used and older cars, having a trusted mechanic examine the car to look for most common points of failure or, worse, any attempt to hide damage can save you time, money, and headaches down the road.

My classic Mini Cooper that I got locally in Oregon.

Another advantage of buying local is that, depending on how large a town you live in and how tight knit the car community is, you have the potential to have either seen the car previously or perhaps know someone who knows the history of the car. For me a car that has been well kept for is far more interesting as a potential purchase than one that was driven hard or, worse, neglected. And while you won’t always have access to that information, for example if you buy from a local dealer where the car is as likely as not to have come from out-of-state, when you can get it, it’s great. I have definitely considered buying local cars that, when I shared my interest with my core group of “car friends”, I have been warned off usually because the current owner was known to thrash the car or worse, use regular gas not premium at the pump.

Buying from a Local Dealership

Depending on your collection strategy, buying locally from a dealer can provide a handful of advantages. Some dealers focus on specific brands — for example your local Ford or Mercedes dealership — and so are going to have better access to those brands across both new and used inventory. If you’re able to establish a relationship with that dealership, even if you’re not trying to buy your way in, having them look for cars on your behalf and leveraging their ability to inspect and sometimes even warranty cars can provide a great advantage. Remember that when I went looking for my 1979 Porsche 930 my local dealer was able to help me find that car without any expectation of compensation, although he did know it was very likely that I would end up servicing the car with his dealership. And while not all dealerships are created equally in their willingness and ability to form long-term relationships, in my experience the best will, and sometimes those advantages of those relationships manifest in unusual ways.

Of course in addition to brand dealerships there are in any major city endless used car lots that vary in utility to the car collector. In my experience, most collectors aren’t cruising their cities “used car strips” — you know what I’m talking about, that part of town where there an inexplicable number of parking lots with cheap cars — but rather working with a higher end dealer who is focused on a specific type of car but that transcends a single brand. These are my favorite type of dealer to work with to be honest, one who is able to source cars from auction or other dealers without being tied to a specific brand. In my experience buying European sports cars, these dealerships will usually have Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and even sometime Ferrari or Lamborghini. Rarely will the cars they have be “top shelf” autos — those cars usually end up in a brand dealership or at auction — but the cars they do have are often still very nice examples that can be had at a more reasonable price.

The advantages and disadvantages of buying from a dealership are roughly the same whether they are single- or multi-brand shops. While certainly not exhaustive, here is a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of buying from a dealership:

Advantages of Buying from a Dealership

In general when it comes to dealerships that buy and sell “collectable” cars you are likely to find:

• Higher quality cars, typically because dealerships have a reputation to protect. With our increasingly litigious world and people’s propensity to take to social media and complain endlessly about any perceived slight, most of the dealerships I have worked with have been very thoughtful about the cars they take in, either passing on cars with less-than-optimal history or just sending those cars direct to auction to avoid having to deal with them directly. The result is, again typically but not exclusively by any means, a good selection of better cars to choose from;
• In general, trustworthiness. To piggyback on the idea of dealership reputation, especially with single brand dealerships that represent the auto manufacturers, the folks I interviewed for this book expressed that they trusted the dealers that they worked with. This trust extended to the way they represented the cars they were selling, the cars themselves, and any service work that was done on the cars prior to sale. And while not universal, when compared to generalized “used car salesman” or private sellers, there was certainly a feeling that dealerships representing specific brands had much more to lose and thusly were more trustworthy;
• Access to the dealer’s network. Car dealers, by definition, deal with cars for a living and typically have robust networks they can leverage to that end. If a dealership doesn’t have the specific car you want, it’s not unreasonable to ask them to do a search for you with the understanding that if they can find the car you will buy it from them. This can get more involved for sure depending on what you’re looking for and where they find it, but it’s one of those “never hurts to ask” situations that dealers are usually open to;
• Ability to trade cars in to offset the purchase price. One huge advantage of both single- and multi-car dealerships is their ability to take in cars on trade. Now depending on the type of collector you are, you may not actually want to have to give something up to make a purchase, but for most of us reality dictates that you need to sell to buy and so being able to do this directly with the dealer is a huge benefit. Keep in mind, however, that when you trade a car in with a dealer, their goal is to give you as little as possible in trade to protect themselves financially — well come back to that in the section on Selling Cars under “Trade-In Value”;
• Better access to aftermarket warranties. If you’re buying a used car you may want a third-party warranty as protection against some unforeseen expenses. While you can purchase warranties directly, dealerships are typically able to add either OEM or aftermarket warranties to a car as part of the purchase, again assuming the car is eligible for warranty. Not that a warranty is worth it in all cases — but having a dealer just tack the cost onto the transaction is nice;
• Typically easier access to financing. While I will explain my own personal feelings on financing “fun” cars in the coming pages, if you need to borrow money you need to borrow money and dealerships can make that happen with ease. In fact, because most make money on financing, it’s likely that they’ll be delighted to help you finance your purchase;
• Access to manufacturer incentives. Especially for new cars, often times dealerships have access to discounting provided by the brand to help sell cars. And while these discounts depend heavily on the make and model of car you’re looking at, the time of year, and market conditions in general, being able to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on your purchase for no reason other than some global sales executive in Detroit had a number to make and they were running behind is nice;
• Community. Depending on the type of dealership you buy from, and depending on the type of collector you are, you may be invited into the dealership’s broader community. Model launch parties, track days, “arrive and drive” events, and introductions to other community members are not uncommon when you become a valued buyer from the higher-end brands. And yes, while most dealership events are simply a nice way of encouraging you to purchase the latest and greatest model they have, they’re still nice, and I am not sure I have met a collector to date who would turn down the opportunity to test drive, well, anything;
• Access. The biggest advantage of buying from a dealership for someone growing a car collection is access to newly available inventory. Dealers are always getting new cars, and by forging and maintaining a relationship with the dealership you increase the chances that they will keep an eye out for cars for you or that you’ll get a phone call when something really unique or special shows up. It may not seem like time well spent, but if you recall my story about how I was able to acquire my 2018 Porsche GT3 Touring, I can assure you, the investment in my relationship with my local Porsche dealer paid off handsomely.

Disadvantages of Buying from a Dealership

As you can imagine there are disadvantages of buying from a dealership as well, including:

• Generally higher prices in many cases. Dealerships, when compared to private sellers, have staggeringly high overhead given the cost of having a staffed showroom and the necessity of advertising and marketing constantly to stay top of mind with potential buyers. And while you probably don’t care that the dealership has nice looking actors in their commercials or that you can get a free latte while you wait to talk to a salesman, all of that costs the dealership money and ultimately they expect you to cover that cost. What’s more, because of this overhead, dealerships are often more constrained in their ability to negotiate on price than a private seller might be;
• Having a monopoly on the best cars. Especially if you live in a smaller market where you may only have one local dealership for a particular brand of car, or in cases where the brand themselves limit the number of dealerships by geography, you may end up having to deal with folks you don’t want to simply because they are the only game in town. I’ll revisit this in the next chapter on “Buying ” but depending on the car you’re looking for don’t be surprised if the dealer doesn’t want to negotiate simply because they don’t really have to;
• The hard sell of additional purchases. If you’ve ever bought a new or lightly used car you know exactly what I’m talking about here. That point where you and the sales person have agreed on a final purchase price but then you sit down with a nice looking individual in finance who then wants you to consider several thousands of dollars worth of sprays, insurances, and warranties that can have a dramatic affect on the final purchase price of the car. And in my experience, these are the best and most compelling sales people the dealerships have, hidden away in the back room just waiting to work you over with all these seemingly valuable packages that, in truth, you probably don’t need;
• Sales people in general. It feels a little unfair to write this since personally I have almost always had a good relationship with the car sales people I have dealt with, but I also recognize that my experience may be more of an exception than the rule and more a function of the types of cars I buy than luck. That said, there is a generally negative connotation around the phrase “used car salesman” for a reason, and it’s not uncommon to hear horror stories of bad sales tactics employed in an effort to close a sale.

Fortunately the advice I have to offer in this regard is pretty cut-and-dry: if you don’t like the sales person but you really want the car, ask to speak with someone else. If they won’t let you, leave, and either keep looking for the car elsewhere or, if you really want that car, call the next day and ask to speak to a manager. If you explain to the manager that you were really interested in a car they have but tried working with whatever sales person and you and he (or she) didn’t connect then politely ask to work with someone else, I assure you, the manager would rather sell the car than not;

• Hidden fees. While less common among collector cars, during my interviews I did hear from collectors that they had experience with hidden fees when trying to buy from dealerships. Different than the additional purchase options described above, usually these fees manifest as last minute line items on a purchase contract that hadn’t been discussed. Examples include the mandatory addition of a $800 USD lo-jack, the sudden addition of a $3,500 USD fee to cover the full detail the car just got despite it being headed to an open carrier to cross the country, and so on. To be blunt, shit like this drives me crazy and in no instance do I recommend you buy a car from someone who tries to sneak stuff like this in at the last minute and without full transparency. Possibly if they remove the charge and apologize profusely, and even then it might still be better to walk away from the deal on principle.

At the end of the day the big advantage of buying from a reputable dealership is that, in theory, they have a reputation that they want to protect. The universe of car collectors isn’t infinite, and if the dealership earns a reputation for being difficult to work with, dishonest, or for selling cars that are misrepresented, eventually buyers will notice and will stop calling. In my own experience, if a deal isn’t going the way you hope or a sales person isn’t acting with integrity, often times a quick phone call to the sales manager is all it takes to get things back on track.

Buying from a Private Party Locally

Buying from a private seller can be tricky. Most private sellers have limited experience with selling cars given that the average American is keeping their car from six to eight years and buying fewer cars in their lifetimes. Car collectors are certainly an exception to this trend, but you’re not guaranteed to buy a car from someone who identifies as a “car collector” and has given the same thought to their purchase and ownership of a vehicle as you are considering while you read this book. What’s more, sometimes people that do have experience selling cars take advantage of the fact that most people don’t have a lot of experience buying cars.

My 1965 AC Cobra replica from Superformance that I was lucky to find locally.

Much like with a dealership, there are advantages and disadvantages of buying from a private party:

Advantages of Buying from a Private Party

The broad advantages of buying a car from a private party include:

• Often times you’ll get a better price. Because few private sellers have the same type of market data that dealers have it’s not uncommon to find cars listed under market value. Especially with cars in a rapidly changing market, it’s not uncommon to find listings for prices that would have been reasonable six months ago but that are now a steal. And you could say that in this case that you, the buyer, are taking advantage of the seller … but that is sort of crazy talk. It’s up to the seller to do their research and determine fair market value for their listing just as much as it’s up to you to do your homework regarding what you’re willing to pay. Other times you’ll find a car that is “priced to sell” simply because that is the case — the seller needs the car gone and they don’t want to mess around. This, in my experience, is the ideal situation with the private seller; you want to buy, they have a good car, and they are willing to lose a little money on the transaction to make it happen quickly. Of course, keep in mind that there may be other buyers thinking the same thing with respect to the car, and often if you snooze, you lose.
  
  My best advice here is that if you find a car that is clearly priced under market, move quickly. As car collecting becomes more and more popular, the chances that you’re the only person looking at a specific offering are increasingly small, and the general rule for private sales is “cash is king.” Even if the seller says “oh sure, come by on Saturday and I’ll show you the car,” if a buyer shows up on Friday, cash in hand, you will be shit-out-of-luck come Saturday. This isn’t to say to make bad decisions — you still need to leverage the other information I provide in The Car Collector’s Handbook with respect to inspections, pricing research, etc. — but especially when a good car is fairly priced, getting there first and being ready to negotiate can make all the difference;
• More willingness to negotiate. Private sellers often have a goal in mind that necessitates them selling the car they are offering. If this is the case they may be more willing to negotiate on price so that they can keep their process moving. And while there are myriad reasons people sell cars, the most common in my experience is that they want to buy something else and need the space, money, or both. If you find a seller who is trying to buy a new car you may be in luck; they may be seeing cars list and sell while they try and raise funds and so might have more wiggle room in their asking price than a dealership. This isn’t to say that private sellers are willing to take low-ball or ridiculous offers, at least when they are unjustified. Rather that they often have a number in mind that they need to feel “whole” on the car but that number may not be absolute, and the longer the car takes to sell, the lower that number becomes.
  
  My best advice regarding negotiation is to be fair and honest. Unlike with dealers where a car is just a commodity, with private sellers and collectable cars you’re usually dealing with their pride and joy or an object of great sentimental value. If you low-ball a private seller you’re as likely to make them angry as you are to get a counter-offer, and at the point you’ve made a seller angry you’re not likely to complete the transaction. If you have done your research on pricing with respect to mileage, the condition of the car, and the local market then by all means, make an offer that is reasonable based on that information. Don’t expect that if you offer 30% under asking to get very far unless you have recent sales data or other information from a reputable source that suggests that they are 30% over market. If you really want the car and feel it’s overpriced, share the data you have with the seller and let them think about it. The worst that happens is they still won’t sell you the car for the price you’re offering and you’ll have to keep looking, but they will realize they aren’t being realistic about their asking price;
• Sometimes private sellers can become friends. While most transactions are just that, an exchange between a seller and a buyer, in the collector car world there is always the potential to make a real connection with your seller. While similar to forging a relationship with a dealership, it’s less likely that you will complete multiple transactions with a private seller, but more likely that you will continue to see your seller at local car events. Especially if they are selling something they’ve built or babied — like my 1965 Cobra S/C replica — it’s not unusual to maintain contact after the sale so that you have the ability to ask questions about the car and they get to see that you are being a good caretaker for “their baby”.
  
  It’s strange, I know, but it’s happened to me and the folks I interviewed enough times to know it’s a possibility so worth mentioning. There isn’t much advice I can give you here other than to treat the seller fairly and to maintain integrity through the purchase process so that if or when they see you around town or at car events they don’t feel the need to turn and walk away. Especially if you’re planning a larger car collection, your reputation as a buyer becomes somewhat important and it’s better to not complete a transaction with honor than to force something through at the expense of the seller’s feelings;
• They aren’t going to try and sell you stuff you don’t need. I don’t think I have ever bought a car from a private seller and had them ask me if I wanted to add additional warranty coverage from bumper-to-bumper for a low price of $999 USD per year, plus tax, or if I wanted to add paint protection for an additional $1,500 USD. Private sellers may have additional parts for the car that can be added or left off the transaction, especially if you’re buying some type of modified car, but it’s rare that this’ll surprise you when you’re nearing the end of the transaction.
  
  To this end, if you are buying some type of modified car, you should ask if the seller has the original parts. The classic case is modified exhaust, aftermarket stereos, bolt-on body parts, or even engine components that the seller has just sitting around and has forgotten about. And while you may not want the original parts, you never know how long you’ll actually keep the car and whether the next buyer will want to have the option to convert the car back to stock. Especially with some old European cars, OEM parts have become very difficult to get and thusly expensive, and so rather than have your seller forget they have that original Blaupunkt radio, floor mats, or period correct set of tools and eventually sell or worse, throw them out because they don’t own the car anymore, ask if they have any other parts they’d like to include with the sale;
• Private sellers are more likely to have documentation and history for the car. Documentation for older collectable cars can be pretty important, if not for diagnostic’s sake in case something goes wrong, simply because often times buyers will pay a premium to have a stack of paper that document’s the car’s history. While the best cars sold via dealerships and auction houses usually have good documentation, I have found that sometimes larger dealerships end up throwing out repair history and other valuable paperwork because of privacy legislation, and rather than just blacking out names and addresses they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Private sellers, on the other hand, have been more likely to have at a minimum their own documentation and, as often as not, a more or less complete history of work done on the car.
  
  Now to be fair, in all of my collecting I have only rarely referred back to past repair records for diagnostic’s sake but it’s nice to know I could have if I needed to, and again paperwork is likely more valuable for when you go to sell the car than for your actual ownership. If you don’t believe me go have a look at older cars being offered at Bring a Trailer and you’ll see that both the description of the car and often even photos will reference included paperwork whenever possible.
  
  The advice I have regarding paperwork is simple: ask for it and keep it. Even if you only have one or two cars it takes no effort to put the paperwork in a folder and toss that in a safe place. If you have a larger collection then you should already be thinking about a more organized way of keeping track of paperwork, repair history, and other documentation and so the car’s history would just get added to that. Fight the temptation to scan and convert the paperwork into electronic files, or if you do, do not throw the original documentation away — the space you save will very likely cost you when you go to sell.

Disadvantages of Buying from a Private Party

The disadvantages of buying from a private party are all sort of what you’d expect given that you’re dealing with a human being who is as likely as not to have some level of emotional connection to the car being sold:

• Sellers can be completely unrealistic about the value of the car. Much like the advantage I described moments ago of sellers who sometimes don’t do their homework and thusly undervalue their cars … is offset by sellers who have unrealistic expectations of their car’s worth in the current market. This happens for myriad reasons but fundamentally it’s still because they don’t do the necessary research to understand the range of reasonable values for their particular car with the specific miles it has, the current state of the car with adjustments made for any deficiencies, with consideration to colors and general wear, their geographic location, and current market conditions. And yeah, when I put it like that it sounds complicated, but honestly nobody said selling a car was easy.
  
  Depending on how unrealistic the seller is being often times the best advice I can give is to just walk away from the deal. I have definitely encountered sellers who knew “way more about the car than anyone else” and so haven’t done any research on a car’s value and, as a result, are so far off fair market value it’s unlikely they will negotiate to anything close to a good deal. And don’t get me wrong, the research can be time consuming and complicated, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth your time to try and negotiate with someone who is asking substantially over market for what is ultimately a depreciating asset. Keep in mind; if you pay too much for a car, you are very likely to get stuck absorbing that loss. It is only the very lucky collector who “buys high” only to see the market turn positive, thusly allowing them to mask a poor purchase when they go to sell.
  
  That said, sometimes you can still negotiate with a seller who is unrealistic, and depending on the rarity or desirability of the car to you, it might be worth it. In cases like these my best advice is to very clearly state what you think the car is worth using the tools outlined later in this book. Provide printed documentation that details recent sales of similar cars including their mileage and condition, Hagerty values if they are appropriate, and any other detail that makes the case for the price you’re actually willing to pay. And still, depending on the seller, they still may tell you to pound sand but honestly at that point you should be looking for a different car anyway;
• Sellers who expect to recover the cost of modifications and work they’ve done on the car. Perhaps the worst-case scenario for anyone trying to buy a car is the seller who is trying to get every penny they have into a build back out of it. We will cover this issue in more detail under “Common Upgrades that Seem Like a Good Idea” but there is definitely a type of car owner who doesn’t understand the relationship between “modifications I love” and “modifications other people will want to pay for.” Modifying cars is technically not a problem when the current owner is gleefully spending money without consideration to make their car “just perfect”, but issues arise when it comes time to price to sell. You’ve seen yourself, no doubt, in ads that state “seller has over $15,000 USD in upgrades into the car” or “original car had $50,000 USD in options from the manufacturer.” They sound good, and certainly if you can find a car that has tasteful or useful upgrades it can make the car more attractive, but when sellers expect you to cover the cost of those upgrades at the point of purchase, honestly, it’s usually best to just walk away.
  
  The reality of modifying cars is that you are making changes for yourself and that it’s very rare that the cost of modifications will impact the actual value of the car. And, sadly, this transcends some of the crazier modifications you might see — trust me, no Miata needs a massive wing to add down-force — and extends through to more common stuff like built out sound systems, embedded radar detectors, and even paint protection film. Again, this will get discussed at length in subsequent chapters, but with respect to private sellers you need to keep in mind that they may feel like the money they spend on modifications is recoverable but in reality, it’s usually not. Of course there are exceptions — an LS swapped Mazda RX7 is more valuable than a stock RX7, any Cobra replica will be more expensive if it features a Roush Racing 427R V8 putting out over 550 HP, etc. — but in the universe of possible modifications to cars, it’s far more common to find those that make the car more desirable and somewhat easier to sell but that won’t justify a premium price.
  
  Sadly, many private sellers don’t realize this, and so the best advice I can give is to be ready to walk away from any modified car. Sometimes you might be able to negotiate having the modifications removed or undone, although that is risky since you either need to negotiate that a shop you trust will do the work or that the seller will do a good job with the work, but in general if the seller is unwilling to budge on price due to whatever changes they have made to the car you’re wise to keep in mind “There Will Always Be Another Car” and politely decline the purchase. Even if you want the modifications, unless you’re 100% sure they have been done carefully and correctly, I’d advise you to not use the changes to justify a premium price for the car since a) you may need to undo or repair said modifications and b) it’s unlikely that the next buyer will share your enthusiasm and be willing to over-pay for the car like you did.
  
  The same sentiment is true with cars that have a lot of recent work put into them. It’s super common that cars are listed with statements like “owner just put $10,000 in engine work into the car” in an effort to make the car sound more desirable. And in many cases, at least to me, it does, provided the work was done at a shop that I personally know and trust or that has a good reputation, but that still doesn’t mean I would want to help the seller recover those funds. Every car owner needs to maintain their investment and when I see statements claiming that major work was just done prior to the car being listed I immediately wonder if the car was neglected up until that point. Certainly there are exceptions — examples include cars that get expensive mileage-based services ahead of schedule so that the buyer doesn’t need to worry about the expense or repairs of known problems that the cars suffer from — but if a seller is trying to get you to reimburse them for the cost of normal service or, worse, deferred maintenance, I recommend walking away;
• Private sellers are human beings, and not all human beings get along. This is an odd one but again it’s worth mentioning since it comes up. Unlike in real estate transactions where there are two agents separating buyers and sellers, or in the dealership model where if you don’t like the sales person you’re working with there is inevitably someone else who can help you, in the private seller case it’s you and the seller, period. In the wide world of automobiles, even when it comes to collectable cars, not every seller is someone you will get along with.
  
  Here my guidance is going to be somewhat vague: if the car is one you really want and if the price is right, it’s probably worth it to power through the transaction unless you really dislike the seller, keeping in mind you may still have to deal with the seller after the transaction is complete. Of course, if you’re “meh” about the car and can’t stand the seller then it will be easy to walk away, but your worst-case scenario with any car purchase is one where something is wrong after the transaction is complete and you can’t get any type of help from the seller. Even if the seller isn’t technically responsible or financially liable — chances are they are not — it’s nice to do business with someone who will try and help if they can. If you buy from someone who you just don’t get along with the chances of that go down significantly. You have been warned;
• Some private sellers are actually bad people. I alluded to this earlier in this chapter, the notion that some people take advantage of the fact that most folks don’t buy cars very often and so don’t have some of the experience it takes to make a solid decision. And while The Car Collector’s Handbook was written in part to help early-stage collectors avoid some common mistakes, a deceptive or criminal seller is one that can be very, very tricky. In this case I am talking about sellers who purposefully lie about the car’s condition, modify odometers, use techniques to actually hide issues they know about until the transaction is complete, and otherwise knowingly misrepresent the vehicle in order to get a higher sales price or simply complete the sale.
  
  This is about the worst thing about being a car collector, but fortunately it’s rare. The best advice I can give regarding “bad actors” is really to trust your instincts, to document as much as you can and keep that documentation, and always get a pre-purchase inspection from a garage that you know and trust.
  
  Regarding your instincts, this is tough, since some people have really good instincts and some don’t. That said, if a seller seems like they are being dishonest, if they aren’t answering questions directly, or to be honest if they don’t look you in the eye when discussing the car, if you have any other concerns about the car you are probably better walking away. Unfortunately, bad people often have lots of practice being bad and so they may have mastered the art of lying to your face. In cases like that you want to make sure you have lots of documentation regarding the car and the transaction IN WRITING in case something goes wrong. Keep your emails, if you have a phone or in-person conversation make sure to send an email summary of what you discussed and that the seller responds to that email confirming you have accurately described the situation, and make sure you understand your states laws and regulations surrounding the paperwork required for the buying and selling of cars.
  
  While I will cover inspections in greater detail in just a little bit, the long-and-short of it is that really for any used car purchase, unless you’re buying directly from a dealership, you should get a pre-purchase inspection. Even if the seller is clearly a wonderful human being, or even a friend, a pre-purchase inspection is your best way to confirm that a vehicle is “as advertised” and, if for any reason it’s not, to have a list of issues that need to be dealt with regardless of who owns the car as a basis for negotiation;
• It’s harder to get a warranty with a private purchase. While not impossible, as I mentioned when discussing buying from a dealership, it’s far easier to buy a third-party warranty from a dealership than it is a private party. More importantly, third-party warranties for cars have a sort of crappy reputation and are known for complex legal language that ultimately results in the buyer paying for the warranty but the warranty not paying for required work. At least when you buy a warranty from a dealership you have help if you need it and, more importantly, because dealers worry about their reputations, they are less likely to sell you expensive and useless coverage.

At the end of the day buying from a private party is no better or worse than buying from a dealership as long as you approach the process mindfully. Hopefully after reading this chapter you’ll be somewhat more thoughtful the next time you interact with a private seller, working to maximize the benefits and avoiding the pitfalls. When I think back on my history of private purchase versus those cars I bought from dealers, by and large my experience with private sellers has been very good. I have gotten very good deals on some very nice cars that have particularly complete documentation, and despite my private purchases being a relatively small percentage of transactions, those cars make up a substantial percentage of the cars I consider “forever cars”.

Now that we’ve discussed the generally easier path to purchase and buying a car that you can easily see, inspect, and test drive in advance of your purchase, let’s discuss the more difficult case: buying remotely.