How do you go about buying a car on the other side of the country?

ESP47 said

How did you guys make the actual purchase and do the title transfer? At some point it seems like you just have to send your money and hope a car comes back but is there some sort of way to send your money and have some protection or security in case the person has no plans on sending the car back?

Also how was the title transfer done? You had to put pen to paper at some point. Was it just mailed to you or did it show up with the car?

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First I talked to both sellers several times. I knew them and where they lived according to their address. I looked the address up through their county and both times was actually able to see a pic of their house and confirm the address. I also goggled both sellers.
Over the years I've gotten to know my banker. Each time he called the bank and spoke to them to confirm that the seller indeed had an account, good customer, etc.. I wired the purchase money bank to bank.
Title before I bought the car I got the seller to take a pic of the title and vin of the car and send them to me to confirm. Both my purchases were over 50K so asking for something you pretty much got what you wanted. Title came to me certified mail after the money hit their bank. One buy I had to wait a couple weeks for the bank to release the title.