To ship or not to ship

Hey guys! I'm fairly new here (long time lurker) and I've got a question that you pros may be able to help me with.

I live in AZ and I found a great deal on a Mach 1 in Missouri. I'm in the process of purchasing it, but won't be able to make a flight out until mid December when I have time off of work. The trip to get there, taxi to the dealership, and drive the 1400 miles back home (with a second driver) will cost me north of $600.

On the other hand, shipping the car is around $700, I get it here sooner and I don't put more miles on the car than necessary.

What do you think you would do? Anyone ever shipped a vehicle before? Bad experience? Good? Just curious as to the route I should take. Thanks guys, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I have and would ship again.

Funny thing, the truck I had shipped was delivered on Thanksgiving eve 5 years ago, late at night, about this time lol.

My concern is with getting scammed via misrepresentation of the condition of the vehicle, title irregularities, or fraud etc.
If you don't have any of those concerns it's a coin toss if you would rather have it shipped rather than drive it.
I have driven 2,000 miles round trip in a weekend to pick up an unused JDM stroker shortblock from a private seller in Kentucky.

I had my 2012 GT500 shipped to my front door, straight from the Dealership, sight unseen.

Make SURE it will be shipped in an enclosed trailer, especially this time of the year.

I had no problems and I went through a complete inspection before signing the paperwork.

If the car arrives and it is not what you agreed to, do not take delivery or sign anything. Back it goes.

I would not have a problem doing this again.

I shipped my mach with no issues. Like stated the question is do you want to buy it with out seeing in person.

Is it a dealer sale or from a private party?
You might want to ask people here on the site if they live close to the car and will take a look at it for you. Lots of people have done that with great results.

Booky said:

I had my 2012 GT500 shipped to my front door, straight from the Dealership, sight unseen.

Make SURE it will be shipped in an enclosed trailer, especially this time of the year.

I had no problems and I went through a complete inspection before signing the paperwork.

If the car arrives and it is not what you agreed to, do not take delivery or sign anything. Back it goes.

I would not have a problem doing this again.

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Excellent advice, but I'll add one important note. If you are going to do an inspection on arrival, be absolutely certain that the seller knows this and is fine with it. In many cases the trailer operator will only want to drop off the vehicle and be on his way. He likely will not wait around for a full inspection unless that was the agreement. If the shipper charges extra for the "wait time", in my opinion it is worth it.

I say drive it, that's half the fun of purchasing a car you've always wanted...

I bought my cobra sight unseen off this forum. Shipped from Cali to my front door in Mass. Would do it again In a heartbeat. paid $1700 in an enclosed trailer which I thought was very reasonable.

1. Send someone out to inspect the car and provide you a report before finalizing the purchase (for example, http://lemonsquad.com/?gclid=CM6G-sGCxNACFQtMDQodh6ANCg). A sight unseen, "great bargin" is likely a risk unless are using it as a donor car for a significant rebuild.

2. Get a carfax, just to see what turns up.

3. If all is well, ship the car. For the addition $100.00, paying someone else to do that task makes sense. (BTW, I think between flights for two folks, food, gas, possible hotels, etc you are going to be over $700 and you probably save money shipping the car).

Ship it. I did this with both of my cobras. Both bought from dealers sight unseen and both were as described. Had them send me a pile of pics before closing the deal.

So there are plenty of feel good shipping stories.

HAs anyone made a deal, flown there and driven back?

That is what I plan to do, but at the same time I plan to branch off and see some buddies so it makes more sense for me to do that than to have it shipped straight to me.

I've sold 2 cars that were shipped. Just make sure both sides are very detailed.
I bought my Focus out of state and flew out/drove it back. But that was only a 10 hour drive. And my flight was cheap enough to make it worthwhile.

Have the dealer do a walk around video of the vehicle and ship it.

Edit: Where in Missouri. If I'm close I can go check it out for you.