How to Inspect a Car Before Shipping it Overseas

Buying a car from the internet can be a great experience because the buyer normally does not have to pay full retail price. The reason we are writing this blog post is so our customers know ahead of time what they are purchasing and to reduce the risk of fraud.

Beneath the Hood –
This one is almost a dead give away that there has been some work on the vehicle. Pop the hood open and look at the bolts that run along the fender. Nearly all car manufacturers paint the bolts the same color as the fender. They do this for one main reason. It is faster for them to assemble the car first, then paint it.

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Viewing Dings –
Try and look at the car from four angles. This is a must. You can lower the purchase price if you can spot out dings that the owner knows about, but is concealing. I used this method 100s of times when I worked at Enterprise-Rent-a-Car (the largest car rental company in the US).

Start in one corner and go around the car in a circle. Make sure that you are able to see the refletion of the street. You will notice small dings by viewing at this angle, but you may not notice it if you are looking at the car from a perpendicular view point. Any ripple is a sure sign of a ding or even a ding repair. While working at the rental car company, I had to charge dozens of people for door dings.

Finding a Mechanic –
If you are in another city or country and need to buy a car over the internet, any decent car mechanic can easily spot signs of a car that was in a small accident. One of the best places to look for a local car mechanic is through Craigslist.org. Once you select the city your car is in, go under Services and then to Automotive. YOu will find many mobile mechanics there. You can arrange payment through Paypal or even through Western Union. I would recommend Paypal before Western Union because at least you can open a dispute if there is something wrong and you can get your money back. I would personally offer $50 to a mechanic to inspect the car INLUDING gas. I would also promise that if everything went well, that I will continue to use his service.

Shipping Your Car –

Try to buy your car in a city nearest to the departure shipping port. You can compare car shipping rates from a regular car shipping company and compare their rates with ours. Ship Overseas, Inc always cares about taking care of their customers in every respect including handling of vehicles and cutting costs. You can also opt to drive your auto to the shipping docks and meet us there.

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