how do you buy a car?
Who here has bought cars long distance without seeing them in person? Would you fly from east to west to look at a 20k car? One country to the next?
Your looking at a loss of aprox. 10% of the value by the time you factor in the cost of going to view the car. That 20k (high end price to start) is now 22k (including the 500.00 non-refundable, lol). To insist a buyer shows up in person (whoever posted the n-r deposit) is really the icing on the cake. I don't think I'd get past the first phone call with you.
You can have it looked at by some very knowledgeable people if you are serious, but the seller has to be thinking outside the box. This is an new age of buying and selling that is still in it's infancy for most part. Sometimes it's better to have a 3rd party opinion then losing time and money that you can never get back on a car that will not appreciate in value like some others may.
I have bought cars long distance, but I have gone to look at them before handing over any money.
I flew down to SC once to look at a 67 Barracuda. It was a slant 6 car and the garage that it was stored in was hit by hurricane Hugo and one of the rafters hit the roof of the car and they never fixed the bent support across the roof. Then after further looking, I found that the rear had been hit and the frame was bent. They had already put a new quarter panel on it, but did not get the frame straight before hanging it. You would then have to remove the quarter panel, pull the rear frame straight, and then remount the quarter panel. I passed on the car.
The lady selling it, offered to take a lower price, and I still refused. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if she would give it to me, it would still take more money to fix it than it was worth.
A few weeks later, I flew to FL and drove my 68 Formula S fastback home....
My son found a 71 Valiant that he liked in VA. It was listed on Feebay for $750 and by the time the auction ended, it was up to $1200. We had it shipped, and were disappointed in the condition of the car as the owner had stated that it was in better running condition than it was. The shipping was delayed because the shipping company had problems getting is started We learned our lesson to look at a car in person before buying it. You need to be able to start and drive it to find out the true condition of the car before buying it...
I would not trust another person's opinion. I would look at any car that I'm going to buy myself.
