The Viper Search

[Bilal Syed]

I remember playing gran turismo on PlayStation and thought I basically won the game when I purchased a viper lol.

Well, now it’s time to buy the real one. I’m 30 years old and will finish grad school in a month. I have a job that pays me well. I could aggressively pay off my student loans over the next 5 years OR pay them off a little less aggressively and buy a viper.

I have eyes set on a 4th gen. I’ve contacted 2 dealers so far. My issue is the dealers are over 1000mi away from me.

Would you guys state hop to find a viper?

 

[OXIA]

Found mine in OHIO then shipped it to FLORIDA
You almost have to state hop if you are particular unless you just get lucky
Maybe some of the VCA guys here can point you to a good lead and be sure to check out the classifieds on the forum
All the searches I did for mine were nationwide, there are too few cars available to search just local
Best of luck and be patient !!

 

[mac533]

yup its worth it if you get a good one

 

[Bill W]

Statewide search is common for Vipers. I got lucky and found mine on eBay. Car was only 100 miles away and was exactly what i was looking for: Gen ll in my price range and the right color and low miles (11,000)

 

[B-DiamondViper]

Just purchased a Gen 4 in Ohio. Having it shipped to Washington next week. I put out a request on the Viper FB page to see if anyone would inspect it for me and sure enough a member did a complete inspection with numerous pictures and video for me. I flew out to Florida a couple weeks ago to look at one, it wasn't the car he had described to me over the phone or in his add. Couldn't continue flying across the country to keep looking at them so if you find one you are interested in put some feelers out for someone in the area to look at it for you. Good luck in your search.

 

[WHY U TRY]

I bought my '00 ACR in Huntington Beach CA, flew out and drove it cross country back to Livingston NJ. One of the best decisions I made and I now I can't wait to get another car across the country so I can drive it back.

 

[Sennahnamrecken]

I bought my 3 Gen Viper after a nation wide searhc through Car Gurus, E-May and more search engines.
It is coming out of Belleview WA and goes to West Palm Beach FL. The car was inspected by Auto
appraisals Network for $400.- with a detailed report in writing, Video and plenty of pictures.
The car turned out to be in top shape with 16K Miles.

 

[MichaelJB]

Nation wide search is the norm..of course, preferable if you are fortunate to locate one nearby..but, limiting yourself to what the local market has to offer probably won’t get you the year, options, color etc. that you desire... live in Indiana and purchased my Gen4 from Texas sight unseen..(but had it inspected locally first prior to buying)..zero issues and extremely pleased with results...one addition to add, find local Viper Club in your state..always a good reference on what cars are around and what might be available..

 

[DJ'sviper]

I found my Gen 1 three states over. Drove out with my daughter and husband and drove back with a viper. I hit a blizzard in Chicago and cars were sliding in the ditch as I was trying to catch up with them as they left before me. Wanted to ride out the storm in a motel. Drove through the storm and caught up to them in Iowa. Never drove a car with this much HP. In Michigan I step on it to get through a light and went sideways but got it under control. Word of advice. Don't drive it back in a storm, punch it to see what it can do before you are used to the car or you may get Viper Bit. Total your car.

 

[littlecaars]

You have to search coast to coast if you are fussy like we all are. My first was local, I live in pa. Second was in NY. Third was in new hampture. Fourth was in Arizona. Frankly, I love the hunt.

 

[Graysnake00]

A nationwide search is unavoidable with the low production numbers of these cars. That's especially true if you have a particular car in mind. I wanted a Gen II steel gray or graphite which limited me to model years 2000 and 2002. I searched daily (actually multiple times each day) and finally found mine in Connecticut. My wife and I left at 2 A.M. with with our truck and trailer for the 8 hour drive. The viper was too low to get on the trailer so I was forced to drive it all the way back to Ohio . We arrived home around midnight. It was a long day but I loved every minute of it!

 

[John333]

It took me about a month to get my wife onboard with the idea of buying a Viper. We preferred the original styling, so I limited my search to Gen1 and Gen2 Vipers. During this time, I did some fairly in depth research to determine the changes and improvements made for each model year. This helped us decide that I ought to limit the search to the 2001 and 2002 model years. Anti-lock brakes and powder coated brake lines were the deciding factors for me. Learning that Viper front brakes tended to lock up first, I decided that anti-lock brakes was an important feature. Having dealt with the danger and expense of replacing rusting brake lines on my '98 Durango, the fact that Dodge switched to powder coated brake lines the same year that they added anti-lock brakes sealed the decision for me. Narrowing the search to just two years necessitated widening my search to nationwide.
My wife's preference was for a Sapphire Blue RT/10 with Cognac interior, so a nationwide search was essential to turn up a small selection of cars--typical search results was 2 - 4 cars. I checked up to 10 sites daily. Most sellers advertise on multiple, but I didn't want to miss the one car that might be posted to just one site. So, I checked Cars.com, Autotrader.com, Carfax.com, Cargurus.com, Carsforsale.com, ISeeCars.com, TrueCars.com, Hemmings.com, DupontRegistry.com, ClassicCars.com and Ebay.com. There is also Auto.com now. Cars.com is my favorite site, since they provide the best set of info up front. You are provided a Picture, Year, Make, Model, subModel, Price, Mileage, Seller, Seller Phone, Distance from Seller, Exterior Color, Interior Color. Autotrader.com and Cargurus.com provide all of the above except interior color, thus requiring an extra step to find it. Carfax.com and Carsforsale.com also leave off the Seller Phone.
Checking 10 sites daily is quite easy to do. You just open a separate tab for each site and click the refresh icon for each tab each day or evening before doing your check. BTW, I never thought to check Craig's List, but several have found decently priced Vipers on Craig's list. Also, there is a Facebook group (Dodge Viper Owners and All Viper Clubs Member's Site) that has a page for posting up Viper and Viper parts and accessories for sale. Of course, the Viper Owners Association and Viper Club of America each have a Facebook group as well. From time to time, you will see For Sale posts there too. Good luck! I ended up buying both of our Vipers at Ebay.com. Not the way I thought things would play out, because when you bid or select "buy it now", you commit to making the purchase. However, Ebay makes it easy, because if the item doesn't match the description, you are off the hook. Of all the sites, I think more Vipers on Ebay are single listed (just there) than any other site. Two Vipers? Yes, originally we struggled to decide which body style we liked more. I made the silly suggestion that we buy one of each. Over time, I got serious about the idea and proceeded to convince my wife that a his and hers was a good plan. Once she was onboard, I set my sites on an ACR. No regrets. We love both. We found her RT/10 in Carmel, CA and my ACR in Texas. Lemon Squad handled the PPI well, and we used United Routes for shipping.

 

[daytonaman]

Live in eastern PA, bought mine in Chicago. Flew out with the wife and drove it back. One of my best decisions ever. I think I'd actually be disappointed if it was local.