Pre Purchase Inspection out of town

[movietvet]

The one big company, that was doing mobile pre purchase inspections and started out in Texas, was Lemon Busters. They spread to other states. I inquired about a job offer but was rag tag as far as I was concerned. Random hours and using their van. I took that idea and started doing basically the same thing and called it Lemon-Aide. I was doing pretty good and then along came CarFax.

 

[Idle Serge]

I'll share my experience, from about 4 years ago, purchasing a rig a few thousand miles away...

Needed a truck after selling my only car at the time - had a deal lined up locally but the seller's family made him back out since they wanted to keep the C1500 in their family...

Anyhow, not being able to find anything locally and within a reasonable price tag, I explore my options and came across an OBS in Alabama. In short, called a local shop that had great google reviews, asked if they did pre-sale inspections and informed the seller to take it in. Received great marks with the exception of needing ball joints soon.

Got seller information such as his ID, bill of sale (title needed to ship with truck) and purchased via PayPal, aligned shipping and a week later it was in my driveway located in the PNW.

Would I go the exact same route next time? Hmmm mostly - due to PayPal only being able to protect the buyer up to 5k...

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20210428_143437 by Sergio Zapien, on Flickr

 

[BeXtreme]

Have not seen this one but I am only looking for a K2500.

I bought a rough 97 K2500 Suburban from a lady in a trailerpark right off I-5 in Jefferson for $500. I wanted it to swap the drivetrain into my 1980 K25 and didn't care how trashed the interior and body was. I got it running decent enough and drove it the 5 miles back into Salem and it stayed parked in my back yard getting parted out until I sold the rest of the body to a scrapper for a few hundred bucks.

 

[fancyTBI]

If you mean the maroon '93 regular cab dually I picked up just a year ago now, that thing is such a pile it would have given any pre-inspection person the heebie jeebies. They would've recommended I run, not walk, from that deal! Unless it was free, or REALLY cheap. Unfortunately with GMT400 prices around SE TX, there's no such thing anymore!

Richard

Maybe it is a stepping stone to something better. Don’t have to hold them forever - which I know you’re aware of.

 

[skylark]

My experience with this. I was on the old full size chevy forum in 2012 and I was interested in a truck in Homosassa, FL. I live in Grants Pass, OR. I asked if anyone local would be willing to check it out and I offered $100. I specifically said that it needed to be safe to drive cross country and the A/C had to work. He checked it out and said "if you don't buy it, I will".

I had to put 4 tires on it, charge the A/C, replace the pitman arm (I kid you not, the was a quarter of a turn of play in the wheel) and replace the boost solenoid just to get out of Florida. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased.

 

[movietvet]

My experience with this. I was on the old full size chevy forum in 2012 and I was interested in a truck in Homosassa, FL. I live in Grants Pass, OR. I asked if anyone local would be willing to check it out and I offered $100. I specifically said that it needed to be safe to drive cross country and the A/C had to work. He checked it out and said "if you don't buy it, I will".

I had to put 4 tires on it, charge the A/C, replace the pitman arm (I kid you not, the was a quarter of a turn of play in the wheel) and replace the boost solenoid just to get out of Florida. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased.

Living in Eugene, Or., I know the distance to Grants pass from FL.

You have to trust the inspector and obviously this guy just wanted the money and was full of BS. Did he not supply pics?

 

[someotherguy]

Maybe the "inspector" was buddies with the seller and got paid on both ends. You never know. Helps when the person you're hiring is already doing this and has a reputation with reviews, but also a clear-cut criteria and grading system for each category would be important. People can still be dishonest or have subjective views on how good or bad something is, but the more data points, the better.

Richard