Transportation- Austin TX to SF Bay Area (and buyer/seller transfer protection)

[M5280RCR]

I finally get to join the group here with a verbal agreement I made last night on a '73 tii.  I am replacing a '76 2002 I owned half a lifetime ago when I was fresh out of college.

 

Anyway, regarding transit, I have quotes for $800/open and $1,300 enclosed; and wanted to see if anyone had thoughts on this pricing and/or if anyone has other car transportation company referrals?  Also I have heard horror stories of missing parts, tools, etc. upon arrival, and thoughts on how to protect myself from theft of the extra wheels, mats, speakers, tools etc. that will be shipped in the car?

 

Lastly, I have not purchased a car without physically meeting the seller and transferring title and $ at the same time.  Seller suggested him fedex'ing the title to me, and then me sending him a cashiers check. or transferring funds between banks.  He seems like a stand up guy, but there must be a better way, I have heard of escrow services that hold title and $ until car is received.  Any thoughts feedback or suggestions are appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[tomphot]

I bought my 356 in Boise and needed to get it to ATL.  I flew in to inspect the car, gave a cash deposit and took all records home with me.  I used Reliable to move the car.  Once I had confirmation of the exact day it would be picked up, I wired the rest of the money to hit their account that morning.  Use a reputable carrier and you shouldn't have any problems.

[jgerock]

Inspect it yourself. An old car is expensive to buy sight unseen.  Pictures can hide faults.

[halboyles]

$800 seems reasonable for the distance.  But keep in mind that any broker you use is just bidding it out to individual truckers or transport companies.  You don't have much control of the quality or honesty of the drivers.  Also, I don't think any transport company is going to guarantee the safeguarding of the contents of the car.  Anything that is not tied down should be boxed up and shipped separately if it is valuable to you.

 

One small company I have used for local and cross-country transport is http://www.strattonexpress.com/.  They don't charge huge broker fees and will get the best price they can for you.  

 

I have used PayPal on the spot when buying directly.  But since there has to be an element of trust in your case, the escrow service might be safest.  I've never used one.

 

Good luck and congratulations!

[Mike Self]

If you have a good relationship with your bank, they should be able to provide an escrow service.  The seller sends the properly executed title to your bank (or his), and you give them payment.  Then once title and payment are in the bank's hands, the bank will issue a cashier's check to the seller and give you the title.  At least that's the way it's worked for me in the past.

 

And if the car's in Austin, have the seller take it to Terry Sayther's shop for an inspection, and have Terry send you the results.  He's been working on 2002s for at least 40 years and is a real expert. 

 

cheers, and welcome (back) to the '02 fraternity/sorority

mike

[M5280RCR]

4 hours ago, jgerock said:

Inspect it yourself. An old car is expensive to buy sight unseen.  Pictures can hide faults.

 

Sorry, I should have realized that not everyone was following my recent threads in the "for sale" section".  I would not buy a car long distance, or even locally, without a PPI.

 

4 hours ago, mike said:

If you have a good relationship with your bank, they should be able to provide an escrow service.  The seller sends the properly executed title to your bank (or his), and you give them payment.  Then once title and payment are in the bank's hands, the bank will issue a cashier's check to the seller and give you the title.  At least that's the way it's worked for me in the past.

 

And if the car's in Austin, have the seller take it to Terry Sayther's shop for an inspection, and have Terry send you the results.  He's been working on 2002s for at least 40 years and is a real expert. 

 

cheers, and welcome (back) to the '02 fraternity/sorority

mike

 

Thanks for the lead, two nice people in the "for sale" section already directed me to Terry's shop.  Paul (the vintage guy) already had one of his guys do the PPI Friday morning.  Paul gave the car pretty high marks (aside from some lower trim rust) and thought price was fair.

 

Thanks everyone for the ideas and thoughts

Edited November 18, 2017 by M5280RCR
typo

[BarneyT]

Wait a minute, something is wrong with this picture...2002s come to Austin from California not from Austin to California...