From a dealer with some warranty yes. From some unknown guy on the net no.
If you can get someone to check and test drive the car ok. And you need the vin number to check history at a nearby dealer and a full scan to see if the car is having issues. The seller might clear all codes and send you a clean scan though.


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Yes agreed on the dealer and warranty. All the ones I've been eyeing do have warranty because they are low mileage and relatively late model.

Several have sat because of the tdi issue. Any serious or lasting issues due to sitting long periods I should be aware of?

 

Flat spot tires maybe. Try to get a new set of tires installed before shipping. The rest you will discover when you drive it and with a running warranty you should be good. There is the 100k miles drivetrains or powertrain warranty on some models.


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You can actually request the dealer to have tires replaced if they show signs of sitting long term flat. Most will do that, since it is a serious hazard to have a car drive off the lot and get wrecked because of a blown tire. You might not get brand new set, but perhaps at least something that was not sitting flat for a few years on the parking lot.

 

I was also thinking about doors and other components out of alignment and rubber parts decaying. I had a 2012 passat tdi that sat and had a lot of rattles and road noises that drove me nuts. I love the quiet ride of a Touareg.
That's the risk of no test drive I suppose.

 

Well, consider that Passat is not exactly luxury model of VW, so there is something to say about material quality for mass market model versus luxury SUV.

 

Great point

 

Don't get me wrong, but I would still NOT buy a car I had no chance to test drive, even if it was test driven by someone I reasonably trust. A car is a personal thing at the end of the day - the way it drives, handles, etc. it is all supposed to fir you as an owner, not someone else. I have my own personal preferences and nobody will really match those.

if you like the car, drive over there to have it test driven or fly over ... worst case you just spend some money and discover you do not like it. The alternative is that you will end up with something you dislike.

 

I am sure it is, though it is still not 30k car at the end of the day

 

There is probably only 25-30% difference in the net cost of building the two models. The big difference in the retail price is down to the margins VW can get in the different market sectors.

Don't buy any Touareg without seeing it, inspecting it, resetting the gearbox (takes 10 seconds), driving it slowly and at speed, and then inspecting it again.

 

I bought my TDI Lux from Wisconsin and had it shipped to California. Buying CPO was the deciding factor in being comfortable with it.

 

I bought my TDI Lux from Wisconsin and had it shipped to California. Buying CPO was the deciding factor in being comfortable with it.

Very interesting. Can you share some details of this transaction?

I also bought my TDI from Wisconsin, sight unseen, and had it shipped to Seattle. What did it for me was the dealer I was working with had hundreds of 4-5 star reviews from similar out of state costumers, and they offered a 2 month/2k mile warranty. The car ended up needing two things in the first few months: a NOx sensor covered by the TDI warranty, and a comfort control module which the selling dealer covered under the 2mo/2k warranty. Otherwise, its been rock solid for over a year.

If you find a dealer that seems reputable and a Touareg that you want, I would go for it. Things to ask:
-Are there any bad odors in the car?
-What condition are tires and brakes in?
-Any surface rust? Ask for underbody pictures
-Make sure service is up to date
-Length of remaining warranty?
-Carfax
-Does it have at least two keys?
-Be prepared to pay for an alignment when you get the car.

Obviously there is some trust and risk involved. Having a warranty helps. I looked at Touaregs locally for months and never found one that was as clean and low mileage as the one I ended up buying.

Also interesting! Is it the 2010 in your signature that you bought?

 

I also bought my TDI from Wisconsin, sight unseen, and had it shipped to Seattle. What did it for me was the dealer I was working with had hundreds of 4-5 star reviews from similar out of state costumers, and they offered a 2 month/2k mile warranty. The car ended up needing two things in the first few months: a NOx sensor covered by the TDI warranty, and a comfort control module which the selling dealer covered under the 2mo/2k warranty. Otherwise, its been rock solid for over a year.

If you find a dealer that seems reputable and a Touareg that you want, I would go for it. Things to ask:
-Are there any bad odors in the car?
-What condition are tires and brakes in?
-Any surface rust? Ask for underbody pictures
-Make sure service is up to date
-Length of remaining warranty?
-Carfax
-Does it have at least two keys?
-Be prepared to pay for an alignment when you get the car.

Obviously there is some trust and risk involved. Having a warranty helps. I looked at Touaregs locally for months and never found one that was as clean and low mileage as the one I ended up buying.

 

Can you make a conditional offer - and only then fly to test drive and if acceptable, drive it home ?

 

I bought a 2016 TDI Lux. One previous owner, serviced at the dealer with records, 2 year CPO warranty. Got a walkaround video, lots of pics, and basically pestered the sales guy and the sales manager. They didn't budge much on price; there wasn't much inventory out there when I was looking. They did leave an ad up on Auto Trader which lowered the price by $500 after I committed to purchase, which they refunded to me without hassle upon request.

I was issued a temporary Wisconsin registration until I could get it registered in CA, which was a mess because of the pandemic and DMV closures. Because it was an out of state purchase the VIN had to be physically checked by a DMV officer, so I was a month late doing that, but the DMV waived late fees with a one page form request.

I had it picked up at the dealer in Wisconsin and shipped to my door...took about a week and cost a little over a grand. The shipping game seems a bit shady--from my understanding, most, if not all of the companies use the same pool of drivers and post bids to one communal board. When I committed to one quote I received follow up emails from other companies telling me that no driver would take that amount, but after a one day delay it was pretty smooth sailing.

 

My advice is to invest in a quality paint depth gauge and when inspecting the vehicle, test everything. Every dome light, the AC, the heater, the turn signals, cruise control, etc. You cannot spend enough time looking at body work. It's amazing how many defects I find when I hand-wax a car versus just washing it; you can find repaint work, tiny rust bubbles, etc..... that a 10-foot inspection will never identify.

Also, make sure every dash light comes on when the key is turned to the ON position. Years ago, my elderly parents insisted that I disable the early generation airbags on their BMW due to my mother's severe arthritis. I reluctantly removed the triggers to the airbag, but also disconnected the warning light from the airbag module to the dash. If you were not looking for the SRS light with the key on, engine off, you would never realize that there are no functional airbags in the car.

The final thing to recognize is the emotional investment that you have to be prepared to walk away from. You expect the car to be in great shape, you invest hundreds of dollars in air travel plus your own time, and you have a perception in your own mind that you will be driving a car home. The seller also has an expectation that if someone travelled 1000 - 3000 miles to look at a car, that it's as good as sold. It's human nature to reconcile a defect, or convince yourself that you're not really looking at accident damage. Try to go in with the mindset that the car is probably a scam. Purchase a round trip ticket and try to prove yourself wrong. I've gotten better at this.

I've bought most of my cars remotely, but my experience is that 2 out of 3 are walk-aways. All of the above is from some hard lessons over a couple decades of this.

 

The final thing to recognize is the emotional investment that you have to be prepared to walk away from. You expect the car to be in great shape, you invest hundreds of dollars in air travel plus your own time, and you have a perception in your own mind that you will be driving a car home. The seller also has an expectation that if someone travelled 1000 - 3000 miles to look at a car, that it's as good as sold. It's human nature to reconcile a defect, or convince yourself that you're not really looking at accident damage. Try to go in with the mindset that the car is probably a scam. Purchase a round trip ticket and try to prove yourself wrong. I've gotten better at this.

Great point. This is key and very hard to do - particularly after a long trip. As you said it IS human nature to try to make it work out like you planned.

 

I would never pay for a car that I haven't seen in person. Though, I always do online car window shopping.

 

Doing shopping online and getting a test drive, or a chance to have a mechanic inspect it before is different than paying for the car before you do any of that. Flights are cheap these days and spending a day and 150$ both ways to make sure the car is indeed what you're looking for versus putting down several grand on something that may or may not work for you is a non-decision for me.

 

You explained it better than me. I'm bad with words.

 

I've done this exact thing twice now. About 9 years ago, I found an E55 AMG that was a few states over. I had a friend nearby go look at it, and sent it to a local euro indy mechanic for a PPI. I also talked to the servicing Mercedes dealer. Every thing pointed to it being a garage queen with low miles, and an impeccable service history. PPI came back with no issues, so I negotiated, and bought the car. The loan was setup before I left and I handed them a check from my credit union and drove it back. No regrets. It was a great car that I kept for about 5 years and put almost 80k miles on with no issues.

Just two weeks ago, I found a 2015 T-reg TDI a few states over. It was from a quality new car dealership. I pestered the hell out of the internet sales manager and had him go out and take specific photos and videos of everything that I could think about. I negotiated, had a deal in place, was pre-approved for financing with the terms I wanted, but left the finalizing until I got there. They didn't ask for any deposit. I flew there, looked at the vehicle, test drove, and then sat down to finalize everything. Overall, a good experience. Of course, there were some small nit-picky things that I found in person that did not come out despite me being anal with the salesman. Nothing that was a deal breaker. However, if there was any major issues, I could have flown back without losing anything except time and the cost of my flight. (Spirit airlines was $30 each way, so not a huge loss).

Overall, I would prefer do see the car in person before finalizing any deal, unless they had a return period like Carvana or Vroom. I don't think I would like to have a car shipped to me and then be stuck with it if I didn't like it.

 

I've just been on both ends of this exact thing. Sold one and bought one, at the same time, both privately.

Existing vehicle went 1,000km north and new vehicle came from 5,000km west.

Due to travel restrictions nobody could come or go before the deals were done so I got to feel the emotion of wondering if I'd done the right thing buying without touching and at the same time dealt with a buyer having those same fears.

From a selling perspective, I knew the car was rock solid and would be a great vehicle for someone else moving forward, and that they would get as much if not more enjoyment from it than I had. From speaking with the buyer I knew what they wanted it for and over several conversations, I walked them through every tiny detail of the car, the history of it, servicing, etc, but they still hesitated out of worry that they couldn't reach out and touch it. That makes it tough being the seller when you know you're telling the truth and being as open and honest as possible to feel like it doesn't matter what you say, this person does not know you so how can they really confirm you're telling the truth? Fair call really.

From a buying perspective, I had the same concerns - what if the seller is just glossing over things or leaving out details of anything wrong? The seller wasn't a "car guy" so it made it a little tougher to get information because unless you asked the specific questions to get right information, it wasn't volunteered because it wasn't really known what I'd want to know overall. I was fortunate enough to have someone have a look over the car for me, and the finance company wanted an inspection which came back fine but it's still not "touching" it.

In both cases however, after a while of talking with someone back and forth, you can start to form an opinion on the | genuine <---> bullshit | scale as to where they are on it and while still wary, everyone ended up where we reached a point of relative trust.

Interstate travel opened up just in time for my buyers so they flew to my city and I met them to exchange car for cash. Spent an hour going over everything with them so they understood the controls and little things you find as you go along when owning a Touareg - the "I didn't know it could do that" sort of stuff. They then drove home over a few days and sent me a message when they got there telling me how lovely the car drove. Makes you smile when you hear that as you know they're going to fall in love with a great motor vehicle.

Because my new one was so far away, it got a train ride followed by two truck trips to a holding yard before I got hold of it to drive home. My wife's brother said to me "Ever wonder if you've done the right thing and hope that the new one is as good as the old one?" Thanks for that buddy - I had that voice quietened down in my head... Turns out it's a great car, well looked after and probably 95% compared to the one I let go. A bit of tender care and time on it, and several hours in detailing and it will be just as good.

The funny part of all this though is people get jittery when it's a private sale but don't think twice when it's a dealer. I'd looked at a few dealer cars over the internet and went to see a couple in person and they were rubbish...one of them had undercarriage damage and half the electronic systems were offline. Sales guy walked me out to the car, I hopped in and started it up, followed by a string of warnings on the MFD flashing up at me. And this was a VW Dealer... "I thought you said your master technicians had looked over and approved this vehicle?". "Yeah, why?". After I pointed out all of the warnings I got "Oh, don't worry, we'll sort all that out for you"... Why wasn't it already sorted????? After a detailed look, you could see a bag of angry cats had been let loose on the interior, then I found the undercarriage damage. To top it off they low-balled me on a trade figure AND then told me in the current climate how you had to pay a premium to get good used cars on the lot to which I said "yeah - so why are you low balling me?". "Oh, we'll work towards a deal with you" - code for we'll just wear you down so you sign on the dotted just to get some peace. Walked away from that one thinking poor bastard that buys this is paying a ton of cash for a lemon.

Looked at another one, again at a dealer, after I'd asked them over the phone to rate the car out of 10. "It's a solid 8"...yeah, nar. How about a 6 and I'm being generous champ. There was also one which had no service history, few close up shots, and when prodded for details the salesman was as clear as mud. "Yeah it's a great car"...no it's not....Getting them to respond to emails, text messages, phone calls, etc was as painful as polio. No deal yo be had cause they found a sucker locally. Didn't even bother to talk about a trade.

Another dealer who was remote was probably the 2nd best car salesman I've ever come across. Older guy who was straight up about the car and told me he'd look around and take detailed photos of everything he found. Said he'd look for traces of sand to see if it had been a beach car, etc, etc. Who ever originally wrote the advertisement for it was obviously well versed in bullshit because the photos that came through did not match the description. Thanked him for being straight up with me and wished him well with the sale.

And then another which was actually a decent example was probably $10k over where it should have been because with so many people finding poor examples in dealers, it would get snapped up by someone desperate for a good car. I got as far as talking a trade and the dealer had offered good money for it (and said he really wanted the car) but said he was confident he'd get a premium price so we left it at that.

All in all, after going through the exercise with several dealers and getting told "the condition is good for it's age" over and over, you just start to glaze over and realise that, for the most part, the reason these cars are showing up at dealers is because either they're crap and someone couldn't sell it so traded it in and took a bath, or they're "just" cars to some people who treat them without care or regard, simply turning them over for the next one.

I don't think I got to the serious point with a dealer in 5 cars I'd looked at, and arrived at the conclusion that quietly finding someone who wanted a good car was going to be much more satisfying than handing the keys over to a dealer for nothing, only to watch them make $10-$15K on it because "it's at a dealer so it must be worth a premium". That's when I decided to wait until I found someone privately who I would be happy selling the car to, and it just happened to coincide with the right car coming available to buy from someone else pretty much doing the same thing.

FWIW, a private sale means you're not getting a snow job by a professional artist and you just need to feel the seller out to see if the pictures match the story...

Oz

 

I've bought a lot of cars out of state. Most of them required a $500 depot ahead of time with the understanding that if the car wasn't what they said it was I'd get my deposit back (for major issues). This involved several phone calls getting a feel for the seller. I then asked for more pictures- and if something didn't look right as for a better photo.

Montana vehicles are usually overpriced and often in kinda poor shape. Rock chips, rust, cracked windshields... So I've found that I still save money driving or flying out to where the vehicle is along with all the assorted expenses.

What have I bought?

1993 GMC Typhoon in Portland Oregon area
2000 Golf TDI from Salt Lake City Utah
2000 Audi A6 Avant from Davis California
2000 Audi S4 from Flint Michigan
2004 Passat TDI manual from Greenville South Carolina
2007 Touareg from Salt Lake City Utah
2010 Touareg TDI from Portland Oregon
2014 Passat manual from Minneapolis Minnesota

I haven't been bit yet on my decisions. Sure- a few surprises, but nothing major.

 

I've bought LOTS of cars remotely. Its very hectic and you take on a lot of risk. Now days unless you're looking for a specialty car (for instance.. a MINT condition v8 Passat) that you simply cannot find locally, its usually worth it to pay a couple bucks extra to buy local.

 

Unless there is next to nothing local, which for me was the case with Touareg TDIs of any generation. They have mostly vanished from the market here except for one that is asking about 10k over market and a few others that have either no remaining TDI extended warranty or less than a year or 10k miles. .

 

I would definitely consider the Touareg a specialty car