Would you buy a GTS sight unseen????

[genXgts]

Well my search for a blue/white 96 or 97 is coming to a head, after months of research and fact finding, I am now comfortable looking into cars for sale and consider myself well versed in early GENII GTS cars, and herewithin lies the problem.....

When talking to dealers about these cars for sale they seem to offer little if any history on the cars, promising they are not repainted, frame work ever done, etc, and that's about it.....

"Does it have K&N's smoothtubes, anything?"

"No sir, I've never had an M&M smoothie"

"Has the front end been repainted from steep driveway angles?"

"All sports cars sit low, this one is no different"

I am truly wondering how a dealer can sell a Viper with no knowledge whatsoever on what they are selling. If nothing else, an hour on this board would bring dealers to a marginal level on knowledge, I just don't get it.....

Woodhouse and Tator are exceptions to the rule and have spoken with Bill, he is the man, and would trust him if one came up that I was interested in, but......

Would you purchase a car sight unseen on vague descriptions over the phone and a few pictures from someone who knows very little about the car? sounds dicey from the outset, but I am sure there are some gems hiding at these dealers, wondering what you guys think, maybe been there done that stories would help....

I am thinking of narrowing the search done to 1 or 2 cars and flying to each of them and then going from there, but feel I may miss out on a primo car based on a salesperson that can not conevey the car simply from not knowing where/what to look for?

respond away, I'll be checking in my bi-daily visits

RYan

 

[SSpeed Racer]

GenX, Call Bill Pemberton..Woodhouse.com I was going to buy a 2000 GTS from a man in Texas.. I was very close to flying there and buying it..... but Bill set me straight about the 2000 model with no abs.

I race hard and I wanted the Abs and did not even know that that model did not have it.

Bill has alot of knowledge when it comes to our Vipers I have trusted no one since I have delt with him. He has over 40 Vipers sitting in his VIPER PIT New and used Talk to him Before you buy anything. Its funny I flew out there to buy a 2001 blue saphire Viper and when I got there we where wheeling another deal for the 2002 Grey Graphite. I could not be happier with my decision. Just give him a call see what he has to say and go from there. I am sure he can find you the 96 or 97 of your choose.

Be Safe and Drive FASSSSSSSST

 

[Ron Hickey]

I don't think I'd even consider buying a $50K+ car sight unseen. Maybe from Bill Pemberton. Or maybe if I was a pro athlete and $50K was chump change. Buying a car out of state (or in your case out of country!) is a hassle: You have to fly to the seller's place, with cash or check in hand ready to make the deal, and hope that he's been straight up in describing the car to you. You don't want to discover, after investing time and money, that the "excellent condition" vehicle he's got is really a well-worn mediocre car.

I suggest you contact the Viper Club president in the seller's region. He might know the seller and/or the car, or know someone who can check the car out for you, and save you a wasted trip.

Good luck in your search!

 

[SSpeed Racer]

Forgot to give you his phone number 1-800-889-1893


Good luck and let me know how it goes!!

 

[Hisser]

Only from one of the reputible Viper dealers.



<FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Wayne Byrom on 02-14-2002 at 06:36 AM</font>

 

[onerareviper]

You would be insane to purchase a used car - unseen - IMHO. I don't care who it is from, you must see/drive/feel the car before purchasing. It's worth the extra money/time to travel around and find the 'PERFECT' car for YOU......

Later

 

[USAF BAD ASP]

I just purchased my green 95 sight unseen from an idividual. First, I too also called many dealers.. when I asked them to 'walk around the car' and describe every inch to me, some could do it in less than 5 seconds! They would say, everything looks good man. Do you want to car or not? I would never buy from a dealer like that. The guy I got mine from spent hours on the phone with me. I got about 8-10 pics and was satisfied it was mine. I wired a downpayment. It's a good idea to get an email contract from someone like this that if you show up and something is not as he described it you're under no obligation to buy and you'll get your money back. With that assurance, and my feeling that this guy was extremely honest, I got mine. When I showed up everything was PERFECT! You can do the sight unseen thing.. but you better have spent hours on the phone, gotten lots of pics, and have that assurance that you can back out of it if it looks/drives/etc any different than explained. From a dealer, you better get someone else to look at it. IMO

 

[Matt M PA]

I bought a used RT10 awhile back from Bill Pemberton. It was EXACTLY as described. You can buy unseen from Woodhouse.

 

[VIPERESS]

Ryan,
I know that in the past memebrs have checked out cars that were in their area for other people who were looking for "their perfect Viper". I'm sure if you find something in the states, and want someone to do the initial check of it for you that it wouldn't be a problem. Just post it on the board and I'm sure you will have many willing to help you out in your quest for your Snake. Good luck.
Laura

 

[Scott J]

I purchased my '00 GTS sight unseen via a Ferrari dealer. Work with a salesperson that you feel confident that you can trust and further work with a dealership that has a solid reputation. No agency seeks to tarnish their name and a reputable source will walk you through the finer points of the car and the sales process to boot.

Inquire about the transportation/shipping options if you don't plan to pick the car up yourself. My GTS was delivered in a covered and insured transport.

I'd purchase another car this way, as it's not always possible to find the car you like within driving distance. My experience was excellent!

 

[genXgts]

Thanks for the advice, I am sponging off this board like no other, hopefully I can give it back someday to other newbies and laugh back at these days!!!!

I can speak confidently on the import/export issue for those that are interested:

A US spec car coming into Canada is not that big of a deal, and requires NO modifications to the car(researched on 96/97 GTS ONLY), the speedo reads in both miles and km's, therefore not requiring a change. Getting conflicting verdicts on the daytime running light issue, if it is mandatory, it's under 100 bucks and easily removable....
I pay the purchase price to the US dealer, or private, and then take the sale price, convert it Cdn dollars, (at 62% today, ouch!). From this converted value to CDN funds, 7% GST is paid at the border, along with a few hundred other dollars worth of misc. charges, including a 100 dollar air tax, how nice.... vive la canada. If the car was foreign made there would be an additional %, around 6-7%, but not applicable in a Viper. Then another 8% on purchase price at my local licensing bureau.
Bumpers meet spec for both countries, our bumper standards are a touch higher, but (in my opinion) the cost to engineer 2 bumpers and run them seperate based on destination country would not be cost effective on a low volume car, therefor all Vipers have the same bumpers.
When all is said and done, almost double the sale price, to get it into Canada......
Keep in mind, a new GTS runs over a 130,000 new, MSRP with taxes, with a 50% income tax rate, and 35 bucks for a case of beer, am I complaining, sorry

........

For most of you buying a Cdn spec car and importing into the States, a form must accompany the car across the border from DC stating that the car meets USA DOT and EPA regs, the form is free, but tricky to get, as was said in one of the posts.
An import fee of 4% on the first 1000, and then 2.5 on the remainder is paid to US customs....
As for the speedo issue, with all due respect to Bill, a Cdn car also reads both miles and KM's, however, the KM markings being the larger of the 2. The speedo can be changed, OR, a sticker can be purchased, (usually obtained from the broker), for around 30 bucks that is put on the dash indicating it is an imported car, which is easily removed after the fact. For this reason I would think that the value would not drop compared to similiar US cars when selling in the US. A car that has it's speedo swapped out, forget it, it's history is unknown, although the dealer could track and verify mileage through diagonistics I would think........

In closing, if I could find a blue/white GTS in 1996 or 1997 in Canada, it would be my first candidate, with only approx 1900 ever made, I would guess less than 100 are in our country, if anyone knows the numbers please tell, not listed in the VIN specs on the board.
To all that are helping out here, so you at VOI, I WILL be there!!!!
Ryan

and the infamous Laura adds to my thread, I'll take your GTS, the lift, and UPS can ship it all over my way, hahaha

 

[Vypr GT2]

onerareviper states: &lt;&lt;You would be insane to purchase a used car - unseen - IMHO. I don't care who it is from, you must see/drive/feel the car before purchasing. It's worth the extra money/time to travel around and find the 'PERFECT' car for YOU......&gt;&gt;

I guess I would have to agree. I purchased a slightly used "flawless, mint condition" Viper sight unseen from a big name Viper dealer (not Woodhouse!) that came with many cosmetic and mechanical flaws (including failing smog checks multiple times and leaking oil by the pint!) Thank goodness for the warranty. A VCA member near the dealership looked over the car first for me and saw several of the cosmetic flaws, so those weren't a complete surprise (but they would have been if it were up to the salesman)

 

[Viablo]

buying a car sight unseen depends on the circumstances.
The fist time i laid my eyes on mine was when it was delivered, but i did have someone i trusted check the car out, and the fact that it had 400 miles on it helped. So far so good.

Good luck

 

[onerareviper]

I guess if you had the option to back out, as USAF BAD ASP states, I would consider (not insane). Although, I would consider this a purchase 'after seen' not 'before'. Just make sure you protect yourself from being 'ripped off'. Many, many cons out there.....