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Old 04-07-2010, 04:05 PM   #2
Wavery
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Location: San Diego, California
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Originally Posted by pkwife View Post
First let me say we are totally new at buying trailers, so please bear with me on what may be silly questions. Someone on another wanted thread mentioned looking country wide to find a trailer and using a trip to pick it up as vacation. This would be the ideal situation but unfortunately we are unable to travel long distances from our home area because of time constraints. Currently there are trailers listed in the for sale section that would great for us but are outside our home area. Would it be recommended to buy a trailer sight unseen and have it shipped to our home? Are there companies who specialize in shipping tm's?

Thanks.
Jennifer
There are vehicle transport companies that will deliver the trailer for a fee.

I wouldn't recommend buying any type of vehicle or RV "sight unseen" unless you are getting such a good deal that you have enough room to spend several thousand dollars to bring the item up to your expectations.

There have been people here that have made successful purchases on eBay, sight unseen. On the other hand, I could personally tell you a story about a "supposedly" brand new 2009 PT Cruiser (with 200...two hundred.. miles on it). It was a nightmare that I don't care to fully recount at the moment. My boss asked me to buy it for her.....against my advice.......... Ebay Motors Buyer Protection forced the seller to refund my $ because the car had been totalled and shabilly repaired with parts (including the engine) from a 2005 that was in a junk yard. I still ended up losing $600 ($ that I paid the local Chrysler Dealer to inspect and research the vehicle) and a hell of a lot of time, on the deal (my boss reimbursed me). NEVER again. Burn we once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.......what made matters worse is, I asked the seller to beimburse me for my $600 expenses and because of that they were able to get my negative feedback erased. The seller had 100% positive feedback. How many other people did he screw, then get the feedback erased.

Pictures may tell you of the general "appearance" of an item, from that point on, you would be working on faith. Most people will be open and forth coming about any faults that the item may have. There are always the few that are just flat dishonest. Those people will not show you pictures of the bad things about the item and they certainly won't tell you about things that don't work, are broken or otherwise substandard.

It would be well worth buying an airline ticket or paying the seller to take the trailer in to a place of YOUR choosing to have the trailer inspected. If it costs you $500 to have it inspected and you decide (based on that inspection) NOT to buy the trailer, it's the best $500 you ever spent (apposed to spending thousands on unexpected repairs). If you decide that it is a good deal, it is $500 well spent and you can just add that to what you are paying for the trailer.

If the seller is not willing to have the trailer inspected by an independent party........just say "NO". An honest seller would be happy to take the trailer for inspection, especially if you agreed to pay all expenses, up front, purchase or no purchase.
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