Hello all, brand new to the forum.
I’m looking to buy my first S2000, I live in Washington State unfortunately I can’t find anything decent here. I found a couple in Nevada and Texas. Can I get some advice on buying out of state with out getting ripped off?
-Do I fly to the state to check the car or have it shipped ?
Would highly appreciate any help !!!

 

Buying so far from home is gonna take a lot of travel (and expense). Unless you're a Mighty Car Mods guy buying sight unseen of the internet is just asking to get ripped off even unintentionally. I'd personally never buy a car I hadn't personally inspected which includes driving it. We see unexpected problems on just purchased used cars all the time here. Guy in Italy threw a rod thru the side of the engine in the past month or so. Prior owner probably ran it out of oil and it lived just long enough to sell...

Keep in mind these cars are not all alike. Honda made changes every two years during production. '02, '04, '06, and '08 cars differ from the previous year. Some major changes, some minor. Review the specs and decide what you want/need. Major styling/handling change in '04 with a bigger engine and wheels. Drive-by-wire (tunable, traction control, stability assist) in '06. (Just to mention a couple major changes.) Make a priority list. If you want DBW, like I did (and do) put it as #1. This will create a much shorter list. Color was not on my list but may be on yours.

Unless you're shipping between major cities you'll probably have to use a hotshot trucker. $2/mile is a good estimate. Dallas to Seattle is 2100 miles so even $1/mile is expensive. Especially to move a car you've never seen.

I'd be patient and keep looking within a day's drive to be able to inspect the car before buying it. The newest of our cars are now 12 years old and some pushing 20. Maintenance is critical. Pickup truck or full size SUV and a UHaul car trailer make bringing one home easy. As is flying out and driving back -- if you trust the car.

Good luck, the car is worth it.

-- Chuck

 

So, I purchased my S2000 from a person in Chicago last fall and I live in Houston. I went that far because of the condition of the car, previous owner, and price were all right for me. Here would be my advice:

1. You can have the car shipped by an open shipper for probably $1000 or less, but I wouldn't want my car on one of those, enclosed is probably a better option.
2. I got a carfax and receipts/service records beforehand
3. I had the owner take a ton of pics as well as give me a good facetime tour of the car. I also him facetime me while operating the soft top, cold start to warm up, and a facetime test drive so I could see it was hitting vtec properly and there were no issues.


At the end of the day it is a bit of a risk but a lot of it can be mitigated.

 

I purchased my car out of state. I'm from New England and the S2000's here are either cheap and rusted or well maintained and very expensive. I had a friend in the state look at the vehicle he vouched for it so I purchased insurance and flew to that state. I did a once over and a fun test drive, then purchased the vehicle private sale. I drove it 1000 miles back to my home. Just keep the documents; former owner's registration, use the plate that matches the registration, bill of sale, insurance information, and title if you buy it outright. After I registered the car in my state, I mailed the guy's plates back and he was cool with it.

 

Agreed about driving it back yourself. I drove the S2000 from Chicago to Houston when I purchased it and I've purchased a car in NYC before and drove it back to Houston as well. It's kind of part of the fun.

 

So many variables. I live in Northern California and had been watching S2000s for months all over to get a feel for the market. One perfect example was not selling (did not meet reserve price) on eBay month after month. It was an 09, 30K miles and the color I wanted: Yellow Pearl. One owner. Stock.

In my case it was being sold by a dealer (apparently the one owner had cardiac issues and could not drive anymore -he may have died. I found some hospital paperwork in the secret compartment) They wanted much more than the book value so it never sold reaching the reserve despite lots of bidders. However, it had been sitting on the lot for 6 months and the dealer wanted to move it. I negotiated with them directly instead of screwing around on eBay. We settled on book. They came down $7K! Lots of pictures and most importantly, we agreed in writing that if the car was not as advertised, the deal would be off. I purchased it and did most of the paperwork remotely. It was 2 weeks before I could fly down to Phoenix and drive it home. I wanted to drive over the Sonora Pass instead of just shipping it.

Arizona collected the tax and California recognized the amount and did not charge me twice. Pretty cut and dry as it was a dealer who knew paperwork like the business depended on it.

Bottom line was I found exactly the car I wanted and I knew I probably would never see another one quite like that again; I did not mind paying a fair book value for it. It Turned out there are only (were) 38 of those yellow 2009 sold in the USA. Plus it was one owner. Plus it was stock. Plus it was low miles. Plus it was now mine!

 

I'd suggest checking out Bringatrailer.com and you'll get an idea of the amount of pictures needed. Videos of cold start up and actual driving videos are also usually provided. If a seller is willing to provide that amount of detail its a good sign. Once you get all of that detail, ask that you can put a REFUNDABLE deposit on the car to hold it.

I'm in California and just purchased in Arizona and drove it home yesterday.

 

If your looking for a good S2K and willing to spend the $$$ narrow it down to a few cars if you can that are nearby driving distance from each other.
Have a very long conversation and write down all your questions with the owner before booking a flight or road trip so your not wasting your time.

I Plan on doing the same when purchasing my next car (Viper) most are cheaper in other areas of the country where I live and a good 1000+mile distance. I plan flying there and driving it home.

Do your research and I mean a lot of studying. There are plenty of Youtube videos to watch and what to look for when buying these. I saw A LOT of hidden issues sellers were trying to cover when looking at cars locally.

Another thought if the car is in an area with other s2k members (which it looks like they are) maybe offer to etrans some other member some money to go take a look at it for you that's got some experience with these cars.

CARFAX!

 

We purchased ours in Oregon, flew out and drove it back to Wisconsin. Would do it again in a heart beat. But be patient, one can be in your backyard and randomly come available. Nearly exact same car, same miles, same price came up for sale within 50 miles months after we got ours. No difference to us and no regrets, just typically what happens.
btw, my avatar is a pic of our car the previous owner used in the craigslist ad.

 

I did just exactly what you're thinking of doing back in June 2020 to acquire my 2006 through a dealer. I'm the 3rd owner of the car & ironically it was originally sold in Jacksonville, FL so it was a sort of homecoming to bring the car back to FL from IN. The car is not perfect by any means & I am fine with that because all the issues will be addressed over the duration of ownership. Even with that said the car itself was pretty much stock with the exception of the stereo so that saved me the trouble of doing that & I had a bumping system to listen to on my 1k mi drive back home.

As others have already said in this thread ask for lots of pics & vids of the potential vehicle you are wanting to purchase, especially the known areas of issue. I used an independent company to do an inspection before flying out to look at my car & purchase it. Happy hunting & hope you find yours.