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I have made several purchase transactions through ebay and have mostly been displeased by the experiences.
My first one was a 540iT from Boston. There was a dual purpose to this as my wife was interested in a cross-country road trip vacation back to LA. After several calls with the seller (wholesaler), I was assured the car would be in strong mechanical shape with just a few scratches, and just over the 50K warranty. Given the winning price, I felt it seemed to be a pretty good deal, I completed the funds transaction. When we arrived a week later, an associate of the seller picked us up from the airport to take us to the car and it was definitely not a looker. It looked like it was picked up from the car auction and had sat at a rented lot until then. Nothing had been done to clean any part of the car and from closer inspection, the few scratches looked like the car had been through a sand storm with pitted windshield and headlamps. It was too late to turn back since he already had my cash. I sold it 2 few years later with full disclosure of the exterior on ebay.
My 2nd ebay purchase was my '01 Boxster. I was in the market for a Z4, but decided to stop in and test drive one when I passed by a Dealer. I won't say it was a night and day difference, but the Z4 was definitely not as entertaining to drive as the Boxster. I found a Boxster with the right color and options the next day on ebay from a wholesaler/dealer with a listing that would end in a few days. It only had 31K miles, with 9 months of warranty left. Having some remaining warranty was assurance for me on coverage for possible expensive repairs or if I decide to purchase an extended warranty. Despite not being an S model, it is hard to find the right combination of color and other options so I won the bid and had the car shipped back to me from NJ. I saved about $10K over dealer cars that were less well equipped with similar mileage and model year-even with the hefty cost of the covered transport! The car was fully detailed in and out with just one or two scratches and no door dings.
The only problem areas:
The bumper is slightly skewed, probably due to a mishap with a concrete parking stop. The clutch was in bad shape for 30K mileage, so I had a dealer replace it (at my cost). The 18" turbo wheels had been touched up by the seller (the transporter told me the guys were still touching up the wheels when he got there)
so they look great from 5 feet away.
The latest purchase of another 540iT was not as smooth either, but that is another long story. The bottom line is that you may be able to find a unique car with all the right options from a broader marketplace than trying to source one regionally only.
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