I have my eye on a 1969 Camaro and I know I will not be able to travel to view the vehicle in person. Even if I did see it in person I do not know enough about classic cars to ask the right questions to ensure that the car is mechanically sound, and up to par as advertised.

So my question - is there a local or national service with expertise in classic camaros that I can call to arrange for a vehicle to be inspected and reporting back to me on what they find. Kind of like a home inspection for cars. The car at a dealer in Maryland.

I do not know anyone close enough to Maryland with expertise on classic camaros so I figured this might be an option.

 

I dont think there is such a service. Where at in MD is it? The engine is not necessarily the main point of the car, unless its being advertised as numbers matching. These cars are old and you will be concerned with rust, windows and pannels. As far as the motor, most anything wrong with it can be fixed at home. if you get a chance snap some photos and post them here so we can take a look.

 

I have seen car inspectors advertized before, and a Google search will turn up a number of them like:
www.automobileinspections.com
www.greatoldcars.com/Inspections.htm

 

I have used inspectors, all over the country,many times in the past. I look locally (where the car is located) and hire independent appraisers to look at the car. they are usually between $75 for the most basic checks, up to around $150 for a complete appraisal including a roadtest, pics and a colmpete written evaluation. I have actually had people that wouldn't let the guy I hired check the car over, or roadtest it, so that was a quick and cheap answer for me

they have all been real good and actually stopped me from buying a couple of cars, so that was cheap insurance.

 

Wow, I was way off. I never even heard of anything like this and thought it would be tons of money. Good to have more experiance around here to get the answers members need. Thanks guys.

 

it was something I had never heard before I did it. I know a few guys, before me, that bought cars online and never used that type of service. they got screwed more often than not and had no recourse

another good thing about doing something like this, is that a lot of these shipping companies are "independently" insured so if something goes wrong, you really have no recourse most of the time. it will cost you more money to get paid from them, than things are actually worth, and I think that's what they hope for

if you have the written and pictured appraisal before hand, if something goes wrong while the car is in their posession, you have alegal document, from a licensed individual,that makes things a lot easier

 

Thanks for the responses to my OP. Good to know their are appraisers out there.