Buying a Car From Far Away

[BoxMann]

I've bought cars from out-of-town before, but only 100 -200 miles out of town. But now, in my search for a Boxster, many candidates are far away, as in 1,000+ miles, involving airlines to go see the car and pick it up.

So I have a question for those of you who have bought cars from far away:

(i) Do you ordinarily do it in two trips, i.e., one trip to see the car, then if you like it return home and arrange a PPI, and if it comes through the PPI with flying colors, you fly back to pick the car up?

OR

(ii) Do you do it in one trip, i.e., fly there to see the car, have the PPI done, and if it all checks out, pay the Seller and drive home?

OR

(iii) Arrange for the PPI first, and if it checks out well, fly down, pay the Seller and drive home?

Obviously, doing it in one trip saves time and money. But under option (ii), you gotta be prepared to fly home if you don't like the car, and buying a plane ticket last minute is expensive.

And then there's the issue of tags, temp transit plates, etc