You found the car. It's the right price, the right miles, maybe the exact color you've been hunting for. It's also a few states away.
So you start planning the trip: the flight, the hotel, the drive home. Here's our advice, and it comes from watching buyers do it the other way around. Have the car inspected first. Then book the flight. Not every car is worth the trip.
The trip that should have waited
Stephon, who owns Car Pro Inspections and still inspects cars himself, remembers one buyer well. They flew in from across the country to buy a high-end sports car, and asked us to meet them at the car for the inspection. We did.
We found a fault code for the coolant temperature sensor. The sensor wasn't giving any reading at all. And the plan was to drive the car home, thousands of miles, with no working coolant temperature reading. That's a fault we'd recommend having diagnosed before any long drive, not after.
If we had looked at the car before the flight, the buyer would have had choices. Have the seller fix it before the sale. Get the price lowered to cover the repair. Have the car shipped instead of driving it. Or skip the trip and keep looking. In Stephon's words: "Not every car is worth the travel."
You're not the only one buying from far away
About one in three of our paid pre-purchase orders since June came from a buyer who lives in a different state from the car. Buying from a distance is normal now. Doing it without anyone looking at the car first is where it goes wrong.
One of our customers put it this way: "A pre-purchase inspection saved me from flying to GA and buying a vehicle that would not have made it back to TX."
Why inspect before you travel
Once you've flown in, the trip itself starts to push you. You've spent the money. You've taken the days off. Walking away feels like wasting all of it, so a problem you would have passed on from home starts to look like something you can live with.
Read the report at home instead, and nothing is pushing you. You can look at the photos twice, sleep on it, and decide with a clear head.
Here's what that looked like for one buyer this fall. They lived out of state and were looking at a car for sale in Florida. The car's history reports showed a minor repair, and they asked us to check the body on that side. They booked an Enhanced inspection, which includes our Panel-by-Panel Repaint & Body Filler Check.
One of our certified technicians measured the paint with a coating thickness gauge. The passenger-side rear quarter panel read 12.79 mils. The other panels it could measure read between 8.16 and 9.89, including the same panel on the other side at 9.89. The report flagged it: "Prior repair detected." Now the buyer knew which panel had been repaired, and could decide what that was worth before spending anything on a trip.
What to do from home first
Before anyone looks at the car, you can do a lot from your couch:
- Get the VIN and run a history report. It tells you what was reported about the car, not what the car shows today. Our post Is CARFAX Accurate? explains the difference.
- Ask to see the paperwork. The title, the service records and any inspection the seller already has. Our post on two questions to ask any used-car seller covers what the answers tell you.
- Check for open recalls. Enter the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. It's free.
- Get the seller's OK for an inspection where the car sits. Then you only travel for a car whose report you have already read.
- Check your own state's rules. Title, registration and sales tax on a car bought in another state work differently from state to state. Your state's DMV website is the place to check.
If the car is close to home, go see it yourself first, drive it, and give it your own once-over. Our free used car quick check gives you 15 things to check. If it passes your look, then have it inspected. If the car is far away, flip the order: inspection first, trip second.
How an inspection works when you can't be there
You don't need to be present. We're fully mobile and inspect the vehicle right where it sits, anywhere across the greater Atlanta, GA and Orlando, FL metro areas.
- We go to the car. A dealer lot, a private seller's driveway, or wherever the seller allows an inspection, in the areas we serve. Get the seller's OK, then tell us where the car is and we'll schedule it.
- You see what we saw. A written report with photos and, where the car can be scanned, the diagnostic scan results, sent to you by email. Enhanced and Elite add a video walk-through.
- Talk it through. On Enhanced you can request a 15-minute consultation call with your inspector or our lead technician. Elite includes a 30-minute priority consultation you can request, plus we follow up with you.
- When the report arrives. Essential and Enhanced reports arrive within 24 hours of the inspection, and most go out the same day. Elite reports arrive by 11:59 PM Eastern on inspection day, or we refund $99.
Which tier fits a long-distance buy? Enhanced is built for careful shoppers and long-distance buyers. Elite is for high-value or one-of-one cars and sight-unseen out-of-state buys, and it adds a re-inspection credit if the seller fixes something and you want it verified.
If a travel fee applies where the car is, we confirm it with you before the inspection. For the whole visit step by step, see How a Mobile Pre-Purchase Car Inspection Works.
Buying a car in the Atlanta or Orlando area from out of state? Call us at 833-644-0800 and talk it through before you book anything. Then book your inspection. More on our Atlanta and Orlando inspections.
Quick answers
Should I get a car inspected before buying it out of state? Yes, and before you travel if you can. If the inspection turns something up, you can negotiate, have it fixed first, ship the car instead, or skip the trip.
Do I need to be there for the inspection? No. We inspect the car where it sits and send you the report by email. Enhanced and Elite add a video walk-through and a consultation call you can request once you have read it.
Where do you inspect? Across the greater Atlanta, GA and Orlando, FL metro areas, at a dealer lot, a private seller's driveway, or wherever the seller allows an inspection.
Is a history report enough when I can't see the car? No. A history report shows what was reported. It can't show what the car looks like, how it runs or what has been repaired without a record.