Shopping noob here, keenly interested in returning to the glory of Bronco ownership. Found what looks like my unicorn of a clean, stick shift, '94-96 available 800 miles away. Offered at an independent dealer for what would be a fair price based on how they've described it.

Would love some insight from those with experience on the best way to approach this. How do I work with the dealer? What should I ask about and/or request from the dealer? What should I request videos of? Should I ship it home for ~$800? Or, is seeing it before pulling the trigger a necessary evil, thereby assuming a 22 yr old truck with a 140K miles will make it another 800 miles without issue having never laid eyes on it? Not only reliability concerns, but the cost of driving it back even without issues would probably be about the same as shipping and require burning two days to do it?

As an aside, the dealer has been very responsive. They're offering to take videos of anything. I've requested the engine running, the under carriage, and the interior. They've indicated it doesn't appear to have any deferred maintenance or repair issues. They felt like it only needed an oil change and tires. They've indicated that the rear window works, A/C works. No visible rust anywhere. The car fax history shows a pretty diligent ritual of maintenance with both its two previous owners.

 

I've bought several trucks and bronco's over the years sight unseen (only pics) out in Cali. I've been lucky, and all have been good deals, were the trucks/bronco's were as described. But, if you feel the need for someone to look at it before moving forward, you might post where it's located and see if there's an FTE member that would check it out as well. You could post "need a bronco visually inspected" over in the Chapter of where the vehicle is too...might get luck, and someone would check it out for you!!?? just my .02