I bought a car on E-bay..what a mistake! It was in Fla. and I was in Calif. I trusted the sellers assurances that it was a great car..He even had an award from e-bay as one of their top sellers...what a crock!
the car had been in 2 accidents, and the door was missaligned, and the window rolled up crooked! a lug nut was stripped, and the lowering kit was a chopjob! one tire was bald when it arrived by truck and I had no recourse. ( You can leave a bad report on his record, but I checked his record and he would always reply that the buyer was some kid who was a sore looser or some comment )
Then the car's check enging light came on and I found that the downstream O2 sensor was cut and the wires were tied up and tucked away so as to be not noticeable, the Smog mechanic said this was a trick to get a car that had a bad catalitic to pass smog, and then the light would come on after the test and the car was driven 50 miles to reset the sensors. it cost us thousands of dollars to get the car decient enough to drive...I will never trust E-Bay again.
Although, a mail order car will keep you from having a pistol stuck in your face, Id advise getting out the yellow pages and demanding an inspection from a local shop before buying anything sight unseen.
Even with an inspection, no guarantees to the 'unseen' eventualities, but Ive pointed out many a lemon to people who were eager to buy, and didnt see the obvious for either plain uneducated observation,lack of desire to see it. ..
I don't think I would buy a car without looking at it first, even with ebay. I have had so many people tell me there are real frauds selling cars there. One told me the car they bid on was NOT the same car the seller produced after the sale.
I told the seller that I would have to examine the car personally before any money changed hands, and if the car was mispresented, I would cancel. But through ebay I was able to locate a car that was hard to find otherwise, a 1963 Dodge 880. It was a replica of the first car I ever owned.