Shipping a Car You Bought Online, Sight Unseen

The car is three states away and you have never touched it. How to get it home without inheriting somebody else's problem.

Buying a car at distance is now completely normal. The awkward part is the gap between paying for it and standing next to it, and that gap is where a good transport plan does most of its work.

Get eyes on it before the truck does

A pre-purchase inspection from an independent shop near the seller costs 100 to 250 dollars and is the best money in this entire process. Ask for photographs of the tires, the underside, and any panel gaps.

Do this before you book transport, not after. Discovering a problem while a carrier is already dispatched turns a decision into an expensive scramble.

Confirm it will actually load

Ask the seller one question in writing: does it start, steer, and roll? Those three verbs decide what kind of truck you need. A vehicle that does not do all three needs winch service, which is a different price and a smaller pool of drivers. Sellers are often vague here, sometimes because the car has been sitting for months.

Sort out who hands over the keys

The carrier needs a real person at a real address with the keys, during a window. Private sellers frequently underestimate this. Confirm directly with them, not through the listing platform, and give them the driver's contact details as soon as dispatch happens.

• Get the exact pickup address, not just a city.
• Confirm the seller can be present, or name who will be.
• Ask whether a full-size transport truck can physically reach the address. Narrow streets and low branches are a real cause of failed pickups.
• Arrange where the title and both keys travel. The title should not ride in the car.

Protect yourself at delivery

You are the first person to see this car in person. Inspect it against the listing photographs as well as the pickup condition report, and note anything you find on the delivery paperwork before signing. That distinction matters: transport damage is the carrier's responsibility, while a problem the car already had is between you and the seller. The pickup condition report is what tells those two stories apart.