We all love to bad mouth car dealers but in my case it was a benefit! I "overpaid" for my '06 in 2014. Bought it from a large Honda dealer in Columbus, Ohio. A couple thousand more than some private sales but it had been professionally detailed, fully serviced including engine coolant and fresh front brake rotors and pads, an alignment, AND the brake booster recall had been done. Car had 38,000 miles and met all my criteria other than "pure stock" as the prior owner had put black aftermarket wheels on the car. Reconditioned, proper AP2V2 wheels were quickly found and placed on the car along with fresh tires. Proper wheels, though, are getting harder to find. Found this via my priority list where the top items were essential and lower items desirable. This list filtered out all the pre-2006 (non-DBW) cars so I wasn't chasing cars I wouldn't buy.

There are still too many cars out there that will meet your requirements -- if they're not too bizarre.

-- Chuck

 

I bought my 2003 sight unseen. I was confident the car was good. I was very familiar with the cars because it was my second s2k. I knew what to look for as far as problems. The car was in Maine, I am in Vermont. It was about a four hour drive one way. I saw it come up on Craigslist. It was exactly the car I wanted to have long term. It was in pristine unmodified condition. It was a one owner car. The owner and I hit it off immediately. I trusted the guy completely. I knew I had to jump on it. I sent him the full purchase price, (there is some trust for you). I got the title by mail, and got it registered in my state. He stored it at his place for the winter. I picked it up in the spring. It was 100% everything I expected. Fair price, (maybe little low). Low miles (17K). It is a terrifice car and I am looking forward to pulling it out of winter storage in a few weeks. Can't wait!

One suggestion. If you end up looking at at 2006 or newer model year, and the car has more than 30K miles or so, consider a compression test especially if it is a long distance sale. Those cars have a documented tendency to burn valves because the valve gaps tighten up quicker than the service interval. If you adjust them periodically it is no problem at all. But, if they aren't adjusted for an extended time, you can run into problems which can be very expensive to repair. The pre 2006 model years do not have that issue. They have their own set of issues. But, burning valves is not one of them.

Personally, I would be extremely hesitant to buy sight unseen except in a situation like I describe. I don't think I could bring myself to buy like that from a dealer. Maybe. But unlikely. You don't get the same level of knowledge about the car from a dealer. They actually try to have plausible deniability as far as the history of the car.

Keep in mind - if you wait for the perfect deal you will never get one. Don't worry to much about a thousand bucks or two here or there. Find a good one and buy it.

 

Lots of good advice in this thread.

My experience, drive about 3 hours to look at one found on Craigslist (this was in 2012). It was a FL car now in upstate NY. Older (my age) guy bought it while on extended vaca down there. Drove it around all season, then drove it home. Kept it for a while, then decided it was more of a fling not a long term relationship.

Inspected, left a deposit. Drove all the way back again a week later once all the paperwork was done. Drove home on my plate, my registration, my insurance. That was important to me, avoid any potential issues.

My cautionary tale is the repairs the original FL owner had done. These increased the cost of the car, but it would have been way better if these repairs were never done, as it would have lowered purchase cost and saved me money and headaches later.

Whoever did the repairs used subpar parts and botched a few things up. Its all good now, but I had to put in money and sweat equity to get it back to correct. These were mostly things not easy to notice on an inspection.

My point is, sometimes a car that needs work is a better deal, as you know what is wrong and can bargain on the price (and can make the point likely other unknown issues, and bargain down more - whereas can't make that argument on a car that looks perfect on surface.)

 

Four easy steps to see a car:
1- Uber to your local airport
2 - Rent a car from the airport for 24 hours round trip since they will have the lowest rates unlike city pickup locations and better variety of carsin
3 - Drive rental car to see your future S2000 in person
4a - Buy the S2000, retun rental car to the local airport (one way rental about $200) and Uber back to dealership, drive your S2000 home
4b - Did not purchase S2000, drive rental car back to your home airport (about $120 one day), Then Uber home

I have done this a few times, both 4a and 4b. Just make sure to plan your rental car drive within the 24 hour period so the rental car company won't charge you for an extra day.

 

Same happened to me. Most kept coming up about 6 hours or more away making it difficult to convince my wife that yes, I’m wanting to buy an older used, 2 seater and I need to drive really far to get it. She kept saying one would pop up closer to us and be patient. There was one 2 hours away in Roanoke that we drove up and test drove - it was “the one” but the Honda dealership was asking over market. While watching others go all over the Carolinas, KY, TN and VA with lower mileage etc I knew what it should go for. Walked from that deal because they were no haggle and manager wouldn’t even come over to talk with me. Move forward a year later and I had started the search again and discouraged as the pickings were slim. One morning a new listing on CarGurus popped up with no pictures but was in Raleigh. Price was a little high but contacted the Toyota dealer listing it and they just got it on a trade. There when they opened Saturday and was a year newer, 20k less miles and exactly what I wanted. It happens, just not in the timing we want it to. I would still have considered flying out somewhere but much happier I could physically go see it, drive it and negotiate with the dealer (talked him down $2k which not sure that’d happen today). Hopefully the right one pops up near you with Spring approaching and maybe someone is getting it out of storage, ready to move on from it.

 

I spent a year looking for the one I eventually bought out of state, so as others have said, be prepared to spend some time on this if you're in the market. I am a Florida resident but drove 7 hours to South Carolina to buy mine; if you know what you want and are patient, you can get it. This was the only car I drove out to see, and since out-of-state trips are high-commitment in terms of time, most of what follows is what I did to help ensure I would drive out as few times as possible.

The first thing I would recommend anyone do is read up on the car and the various differences between model years, so you know what you're getting. These cars are coveted, but they are also old, which presents you the challenge of buying an old but still moderately expensive car; knowledge of common issues will quickly help you spot sellers who are neglectful and help you know when to walk away–or not even walk up in the first place! You can find a list of common issues here. Some of these issues are a little difficult to envision without having driven one; for this reason, if you've never driven an S2000 before, I'd recommend finding someone you trust who has, and asking them to come along and test drive the car for your so that they can identify anything unusual–this is especially prudent if you're heading out of state, because it will make a long trip easier, especially if you encounter any issues on the way home. In my case, my brother has autocrossed multiple S2000's, so when I went to buy mine, I had him drive the car for me and look for problems; I didn't get behind the wheel of one until after I'd bought it. It's not necessarily a bad sign if you're buying from someone who isn't familiar with some of if not the majority these issues, but if it becomes obvious that they haven't been doing something essential like changing the oil regularly, I'd be careful. I think it's a good idea to know at least as much about the car as whoever you're buying from, if not more. SavageGeese has a great buyer's guide on YouTube that has more information than you probably need for buying most cars.

Aside from helping you suss out additional expenses, learning the year-on-year differences of the car will help you be happy with your purchase. Apart from the obvious major differences between the AP1 (2000-2003) and AP2 (2004-2009) models, these cars have lots of quirks that vary by model year and may not be readily apparent unless you've done your research. As a more obvious example, the 2000-2001 model years originally came with a plastic window in the soft-top; as a less-obvious example, the 2000 model year specifically is the only one which lacks an in-car clock, and is the only one that requires you to pull the head unit out to get its serial number in the event you need to look up the anti-theft code. If you just want an S2000, you may not care about the nuances like this, but again, knowing them can potentially help you spot things that have been changed, giving you the opportunity to ask why and learn more about the history of your potential purchase.

Mileage and mods are also something to take into consideration; these things are not dealbreakers if the car has been meticulously maintained and can even lead to you getting a good deal. If the car has had any modifications done, be sure to read up on how they're done and understand what it potentially means for the health of the car. This is especially critical if, like me, you're interested in keeping your car all OEM. For example, installation of certain cold air intakes (e.g. an AEM V2) requires cutting up the plastic panels underneath the front bumper; if you're looking for a car that's all or at least mostly stock, this is something you want to keep in mind. If the seller mentions aftermarket parts by brand or you can identify the brand from the pictures, see if you can find any videos on YouTube detailing the installation of these parts so you know what, if anything, has been replaced and/or messed with. If the seller has done any maintenance personally, be sure to ask them where they bought their parts and if they have receipts/part numbers. Mods on their own are not bad and should not be a dealbreaker if you know what to look for, i.e. if the people who installed them were attentive owners or qualified mechanics; if you think this isn't the case, be careful. As mentioned above, dealers especially will basically deny any knowledge of anything to do with aftermarket parts, so unless it's something inconsequential/cosmetic like an aftermarket shift knob or head unit, be wary.

If you study the above carefully and contact a few sellers, you will quickly get a feel for what's a good buy and what isn't. As for where to buy, I had the most luck finding decent cars on Autotrader, which is where I found the one I ultimately bought. There are lots of dealer listings there, but in my experience dealers are generally less likely to haggle on price (mostly because they know someone with enough money will eventually pay what they're asking). Private sellers who list on Autotrader are generally pleasant to deal with and won't be scammers as they have paid to list the car. If, like me, you're working with a budget and looking for a deal or a specific car (e.g. a decent-mileage AP1 in New Formula Red), you'll have to wait–and if you do find "the deal", you unfortunately MUST be prepared to act immediately and meet the seller (not necessarily buy the car) at the earliest available opportunity; I have seen several fantastic cars show up and disappear within a mere 24 hours on Autotrader (mine was one of them, LOL). Don't be afraid to contact the seller ASAP with any questions if the Carfax/pictures/vehicle history report checks out; I would save the more detailed questions for an in-person inspection unless you've got a really friendly seller, because as an out-of-state buyer asking loads of detailed questions it's hard to avoid coming across as a pain in the neck. In my case, I asked no questions about the car before I inspected it in person because the pictures were detailed enough for me to come to several conclusions, and I didn't even let the seller of my car know I had come from out of state until after we'd had a chance to talk in person.

If you're looking somewhere other than a dedicated automotive classified site like Autotrader, CarGurus, etc.–in other words, somewhere like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace–you will likely have to do a lot more homework and be substantially more discerning and self-reliant, because the cost of placing an ad on these platforms is free, seller/ad quality and aptitude varies far more, and the cars on these platforms tend to have far more aftermarket work done to them. Sellers on these platforms were also more likely to be unpleasant or flat-out refuse to talk to me if they suspected I was coming from out of state for fear I was a scammer. If you're looking for cars here, carsforsale.com has a tool you can use to look up vehicle history from VIN numbers. While it won't get you information on accidents, it will let you know if there are odometer discrepancies or title issues, which will be much more common on the aforementioned sources of classifieds. There's also a handy crawler of sites like this at collectorcarfeed.com; I'd link to it, but it appeared to be down when I last checked.

There's a lot to digest here, but the moral of the story is be patient, don't give up, and keep looking. Good luck!

 

I want to take a moment to thank everyone for the great advice.
I was very lucky to buy my first s2000 on March 20th, from Seattle about 15miles from where I live. (Vehicle was not listed at the time of the post)
The front bumper VIN was missing, does have both fenders and hood VIN. I had the car inspected by State Auto Center ( A know s2000 shop) Was told it was a minor accident with no severe damage found.
I want to keep the car for a long while so that was ok with me.

2002 S2000 with 57k miles.

The information in this thread is very useful and hope it helps anyone who’s looking to buy out of state.

 

Congrats and well done. Might we inquire what the going rate was?

 

Car looks very nice, especially with the updated AP2V1 wheels. Nice to find one that hasn't been buggered improved with aftermarket wheels and suspensions. Does need new elastic between the roof frame bars as it doesn't appear to be all the way down, a common and recurring problem as the elastic wears from being stretched.

-- Chuck

 

I know exactly what that feeling is like when going from one of frustration to all of a sudden one pops up within driving distance - I still remember mine said 89 miles so 15 I bet you thought it was a joke. Haha. Mine also didn’t have the front vin and looked to be a new bumper which I didn’t care as everything checked out and I too am going to own long term. Helped a little talking the price down. Congratulations on a great find and I agree the AP2 wheels look great. Have fun driving the car! I recommend S2000 Enthusiasts if you’re a Facebook guy.