well, I listened to all the advice here... and did it anyway haha. But now I get to write about my experience in case others end up using this thread as a reference in their own search.
I have the same concerns as anyone here would about buying a bronco that i haven't seen in person, and conducting a transaction with a stranger in another state. I worried that the vehicle would be less than advertised, or that the seller would use the opportunity to defraud me. I in NO WAY would say that my plan was foolproof. If it was, I wouldn't have been half as nervous as I was today. But it addressed my concerns well enough that I felt comfortable taking the risk. So here is what I did.
The bronco I was after was in Louisiana. I am in Massachusetts. I got lots of pics and video from the seller. I also gleaned as much information from googling him as possible. I found his address and used imagery from google satellite to confirm that the photos he sent were in fact taken at his home. This was easy because he had some easily distinguishable features like a barn and a boat. He also was associated with a business and one of the videos he sent me was taken in front of that business. My FB stalking of him also had a photo of him that was posted by the local PD , thanking him for his donation of a cake. At this point, I was well satisfied that he did in fact own the vehicle and wasn't just a dude posting pics and phishing for money.
We discussed escrow for the transaction very briefly, but even as a buyer, the reviews didn't seem like something that would make an easy pitch for him.
I have a friend in New Orleans, which is about 1.5 hours from him. I got in touch with her, and she got in touch with her friend who has an auto shop down there, and I enlisted both of them to handle the transaction on my behalf. Once the truck was off the trailer, she would hold the title, while I did a wire transfer. He would confirm the transfer of funds, and everyone would be cool.
It didnt quite go that way... but mostly. He arrived on time with the truck. My friend went through the checklist I gave her for verifying title and vin and condition of truck, but, we had been made aware that the wire transfer would take possibly a couple hours.... NOT part of the plan.... The seller and I discussed, and my bank told me that within an hour, a federal reference number would be generated which I could provide to the seller, and his bank could use that to locate and determine the final destination of the money. So we agreed that I would do the transfer, and he would leave for lunch with the title, and the bronco would stay with my friends until the money went through and he would come back with the title. After a mentally harrowing hour, I started wading through bank of America's phone menu to retrieve the fed reference number. I got it, and provided the number to the seller. And then he said exactly what you don't want to hear.... "My bank doesn't see the money". He asks if maybe there is someone at my bank that can talk with his bank to figure it out, so I race back to the branch (theres a nor'easter here right now BT) and get there 30 minutes before they close, only to find that they have packed up and gone home for some reason or another. I screamed a little, maybe a lot. I get back in my truck, and start looking for other banks that are open, when my phone rings. It's the seller. I almost don't take the call in my frenzy, but I hit answer anyway. He says, "Hey man, the money went through". I haven't breathed a bigger sigh of relief in my life.
So, I have a Bronco, and its the one that I want. But I definitely understand all those that say, "I did, and I don't know if I would again".
