Quote:
Originally Posted by Boonedoggle
I am going to be driving across the state to see a TM 2720 that is for sale. It is a 2007 and looks good in the pictures.
My question is this. Are there any good questions I should ask before wasting my time driving such a far distance? Also, are there any basic questions that any new / prospective owner should ask or look for?
Thank you in advance for the help. I am REALLY excited to finally pull the trigger and join the TrailManor nation!
This has been a great site.
John
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When doing this long distance, this is what I did:
Do they have the title? (they did, I had them fax a copy) (I also googled their street address and phone number to see if everything seemed to match up with the title)
Are there any liens? (If yes, I'd have called the lien holder and asked them how you can make sure they get paid, and then figured out how to do exactly that)
Get the VIN number.
- Then I Googled it, looking for any reports
- I called my insurance agent, and told him I planed to be insuring it with them, and asked him to run it in his computer.
- I tried to figure out how to look it up in it's home state DMV, but couldn't (trailer VIN numbers were hard to research), so I called the trailer's home state DMV on the phone and asked them if their computer showed any reason why I couldn't title it if I bought it (they didn't want to answer questions for "privacy" reasons, but they said "no" to this most important one).
Is there any damage?
Does everything work?
(then I negotiated the price, made a handshake deal on the phone, and when we got together, I would have renegotiated a subtraction for anything that wasn't exactly right with the representations they made on the phone... but everything was great).
I went with them to a branch of my bank. I had the bank make copies of their driver's license and the title and had them prepare the check to pay them. I had them sign the title at the bank in my presence, and I handed them the check (banks have such great surveillance systems, I figured that any crooks would be nervous about this arrangement).
Yes, a dealer could have been easier, particularly if you have towing vehicle hitch and controller installations or issues. But I met some nice people and got a great deal this way. (But you could easily arrange to pay a dealer near the point of purchase to go over the trailer and to install a hitch and brake controller for you)