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      07-20-2018, 12:35 PM   #13
$iriu$black
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Drives: 2012 BMW 128
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: NE

iTrader: (5)

Quote:
Originally Posted by eatsleepboost View Post
I went through this twice so I can certainly provide help. I too live in Massachusetts. One car I got from SC years ago and I got my m3 from PA less than a year ago using the same process.

1) Yes mass does make it exceptionally hard to buy a used car since you cannot drive it home. A few options I considered before I shipped both cars were... Take a pickup truck and drive to the car to see it, rent a car dolly down there 1 way and trailer the car home. You can also rent a pickup if you don't have access to one. Adding up gas, tolls, rental, and time off from work it wasn't worth it for me to go this route.

2) The transportation company doesn't require paperwork. Just somebody present to sign off on it at pickup and delivery. Yes you would send a certified Bank check and then once he confirms payment you schedule shipping and he overnights you the title and bill of sale. For the bill of sale I filled out two and mailed them with the bank check, then he filled out both and kept one and mailed me one back with the title so we both have original hand written copies.

3) Yes a PPI by a company familiar with that car is the way to go. They should be able to send you a long report and even sometimes speak with you on the phone regarding the inspection and test drive. What I also did with both is a live Skype or FaceTime with the seller. It was about 20 minutes each time. Just to talk about the car for a few minutes and have him show me around it. Then I want to hear a cold start and idle. Then they had their girl or whoever hold the phone and do a drive by on throttle with a few shifts. I see all that, no smoke out of the tailpipe, a good PPI etc, I am confident enough to buy the car. Both cars I got like this have been perfect. I bought both cars without seeing them in person.


As for how the shipping works, lucky for me my buddy owns a shipping brokerage so I don't have to pay him his cut but here is how it works. You never speak with the company who is actually moving the car until they are about to pick it up. You speak with a brokerage, a whole different company. You give them the pickup and drop off addresses and they see what the going rate for that trip is. (It cheaper if the pick up and drop off are in cities and near highways as this will be less out of the way for the driver) The broker then puts you bid out there for the job. You can tell them you want to bid low but it may not get picked up for some time, you can bid in the middle and it should only be a couple days tops or bid high and it will get picked up very fast. Once your job is out there truckers will take the job. Your broker calls you and gives you the information of the trucking company and you are done with the brokerage and it's time to pay them. The trucker calls u, sets up pick up and drop off and it's cash on delivery for the truck driver. Estimated 150$ to brokerage and 400$ cash to truck on arrival for a trip like that I am thinking. There are multiple threads on here about shipping companies you can read. Also if you chose enclosed trailer the price is way higher. I did not do enclosed and the car does come a bit dirty so assume the first thing you do on arrival is a good hand wash.


Edit. Mass doesnt accept any form of temp tag. Call your insurance company. They will tell you that you will be uninsured if you go through another states laws to obtain some sort of temp plate to drive the car.
Hey eatsleepboost,

Thanks for the detailed reply, appreciate it and definitely answered a lot. So transporting it is the way to go? What do you think about a direct transporter like Intercity? They said they're not brokers and quoted me $1295 for the car. Am not sure if that's covered or not (it's an old car, probably does not matter if it's open). Maybe you can hook me up w your buddy!

I agree with everyone here saying that MA laws suck for this kind of situation.

What do you think about the "trust" factor with me sending payment if all is well with the car (the car has a somewhat well documented history on forums so I kind of know the history, though of course a test drive and visual definitely trumps that- the PPI is trust enough for this)? I'm just afraid the seller might run with my money and the car. Any ideas on how to mitigate that risk?

I also agree w you that yeah with all the hassle of flying back and forth, tolls, renting a trailer and of course TIME spent driving the trailer and NOT the car, going there is just a waste. Add to that the registration issues, forget it.

Again I appreciate the lengthy reply and it did help a lot w my queries and confirmed my frustration with current MA laws in this regard.
Appreciate 0