It's from a small mom-n-pop dealership in the East coast. It's a 2005 Rio Yellow S2K with 6500 miles on it. One previous owner. Very clean carfax. No fender bender, no paint work, nothing. The price is the best I can get anywhere else (by far).

The problem: I can't see/drive the car. I have to buy it and have it shipped to me from the East coast and basically take the dealership's word that it is "absolutely, totally brand new." I told them I'd fly out to see it. The owner of the dealership encouraged me to step into any Honda dealership near me and check out a brand new yellow 2005 s2k, that his is gonna be EXACTLY the same. Otherwise, he was willing to pick me up from the airport. I'm thinking I'm safe because the car is: 1)a Honda, 2)under factory warranty until 2008 or 30,000 more miles, and 3)it's a dealership (so it's not like they're gonna disappear under the radar after the transaction). Basically, this car is gonna cost me $5k less than if I were to buy it here. I feel like that's a good enough amount to warrant taking this leap of faith. What do you guys think?

 

Saving $5000 isn't worth a plane ticket out there?

 

Go fly over there. It would be stupid to buy that car and have it shipped without seeing it and driving it

 

I have a free ticket to fly with SWA right now, but for the deal I'm getting, somebody will easily pick it up by this weekend. I won't be able to fly til Saturday or Sunday. Another thing is that MA has snow right now. Even if I were to go there, the best I can do is stare at the car because I won't be able to drive it anywhere. I'd be going just to look for scratches and dings, which really doesn't sound worthwhile to me for the reason below. (And no, I'm not worried about the snow and rust. This is the car's first winter.)

The carrier company insures 100% against all elements (including acts of god, gravel flying up and hitting the car, etc). So when they pick up the car, they will inspect it with a magnifying glass to make sure it has nothing on it, otherwise, if I find something on it when it arrive that is not listed on the initial inspection, then they have to pay for it.

I once found a 2003 yellow S2k on carmax listed for $22,500. It had 7k on it. It was picked up in 5 hours, and I was kicking myself for not jumping on it when I saw it. This time, it's a 2005 for almost the same deal. I can't let it slip again.

 

I'd fly out there. Give them a wire deposit or something to hold it for you. Or at the very least, go on S2ki and ask someone in that area to go check it out for you.

Also, with shipping, I'd go the enlosed trailer route. It'll be a little bit more than an open one, but you don't have to worry about paint chips.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slideways2000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Saving $5000 isn't worth a plane ticket out there?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just go and fly out there...make it a weekend or something.

Better safe then sorry.

 

put a $100 deposit for him to save you the car......then fly out there

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P Nut &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Or at the very least, go on S2ki and ask someone in that area to go check it out for you..</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT ... buy this car w/o an inspection. Get someone from here or S2ki.com to take a look at it. Even better hire a third party to do a pre-purchase inspection.

http://www.carchex.com/ is but one vendor.

As stated previously, DO NOT buy this car w/o a PPI. There will always be another S2k.

 

Where in East Coast... If it's near me, I can definitely drop by for you... pm me or email me at driftingli4e@yahoo.com

 

Looks like it's in Mass.

 

Get jlacoy82 to look at it for you.