l tend to look for very specific vehicles and as such have had to purchase them out of state more often than not. Never had an issue.

I’ve also never been pressured into signing a purchase contract ahead of time, prior to traveling out to see and handle the transaction that way in person. I probably would agree to that, but would agree to a refundable deposit only if you were asking them to hold the car while you traveled and you thought there was a real possibility they’d sell it to someone else before you could get there. Otherwise, I flatly reject anything I feel is a baseless pressure tactic.

That said, if the deposit is refundable and the car isn’t hugely expensive or beyond your means to absorb some issues or added expense, perhaps there isn’t a ton of risk.

I have had the experience more than once of flying in intending to purchase a car and finding the condition to be less than it appeared in pictures and ended up going home empty handed.

If you’re worried about it there are professional 3rd party inspection services that will go look it over in detail, take copious notes and very detailed photos of the condition, for a couple hundred bucks. Might be a worthwhile expenditure. Have gone that route as well.

First determine how much risk there really is, and based on that, determine what you need to do to mitigate it down to your comfort threshold.


In the end, don’t stress too much about it.