parting '91 200 20v

[Scalmanini Steve]

Valuable story, Mike.  It reminds me to mention that
having a prospective vehicle checked-out remotely by
a dealer near the seller has worked for many people,
including me a few times.

In my case I was searching the western US for my
first Audi, in '88, looking for an average mileage
'85-'87 4000Q, from my home then in San Jose.
I had two private seller's cars near Portland
checked-out by a dealer there, and one dealer's
car in Seattle checked-out by their service dept.
The cost back then was ~$50.00 each.

The value was in learning that the used-car-sales
guy in Seattle was a deluded liar regarding the
car's condition, the car from the coast near
Portland showed the effects of years in the marine
air that I hadn't been told about, and the other
was one step from pristine.  So that's the one I
bought, site unseen, and drove for 110K miles until
getting my 200q20v in '95 in the San Jose area.
The check-out by then was up to ~$110.00 I think.

The site-unseen risk was lessened by knowing that
such cars were going for $1.5-2K less in the PNW
then than in CA, so I could have resold it locally
and not lost money if I had to.

Anyway, I've had great luck doing this.  The service
departments seemed happy to have the business and
talk to someone who was obviously knowledgeable
about the car and interested in their opinion.

' my .02,

Steve
Ukiah, CA


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