Getting a Pre-Purchase Inspection From Afar

[wrenchtech]

I am in Wisconsin and the bus is in Texas. I can't go down there until probably the second week of June, so I'm thinking of hiring an established mobile truck repair Company to do a pre-purchase inspection in my absence. All I know about the company is that they have over 50 customer ratings on Google search with an average score of 4.9 out of 5. They also take calls 24 hours a day and when I called them in off-hours they called me back within about 10 minutes and they seemed to be conscientious and professional sounding. I think the asking price for the bus is reasonable, especially for a rust free Texas bus, which is a wondrous thing to me as someone who has spent the greater part of his life in the upper Midwest. If the prepurchase inspection finds the bus free of major problems and sound enough for a thousand mile trip up north I would offer the sellers a deposit to hold the bus for two weeks. I am also going to see if I can get the person who inspects the bus to verify that the sellers are holding a clear title and maybe ask him privately to give an opinion on the legitimacy of the sellers based on their appearance and their circumstances and behavior. Does this sound like a good plan? Am I missing anything? Any suggestions?

[mrpincher]

Last year I purchased a bus in San Antonio, 500+ miles away. I called several service companies who were close to the location of the bus, those with decent online reviews. Found a guy who lived close to the bus & we agreed on the price and what he would check out. Had to call the owner of the bus to get permission for the service guy to enter the property. After flying in - it was a BIG relief to give the bus a quick once over and turn the key for instant ignition...it was worth every penny I paid the guy. Called the service guy and paid him the balance of the bill. Turns out he installed two new batteries at a decent price.


Good luck.



MIke