Well folks, I took the leap of buying a used car on Ebay, there are a few points I want perspective buyers to consider based on my experience.  This is not meant to be all inclusive but things I tell folks about the experience.

1) Ebay has a  $20,000 fraud guarantee...you should review it prior to bidding.  I then had to consider how much risk I could assume if I bid more...I ended up bidding $21,000 for a 2003 Infiniti M45, so my max loss could be $1000, I could live with that.

2) I made sure the car I bought still had some of the factory warranty remaining...that way if it blew up on the New Jersey turnpike on the drive home I would only be out the inconvenience of the whole tow in event.  It didn't, and has been pure pleasure from day one.

 A) In hindsight of the buy, I found out that many dealers can pull service records if you have the VIN...good to see if the previous owner was diligent about maintenance.  Carfax is useful as well.

3)  You probably want to buy from someone who is a licensed auto dealer/wholesaler...I was required to as I used a Capital One "Blank Check" loan, and that was a stipulation of the loan.  The guys I bought from sell 300 cars a month, so this was no game and were quite diligent/professional on every aspect of the transaction from start to finish.

4)  I flew to Boston to pick up the car...it took two days to drive it back to Florida...a BIG MISTAKE...it would have been much less hassle to have the car shipped.  Get a quote if you time is valuable to you, most Ebay dealers have relationships with shippers and can get good rates...of course the drive down I-95 was miserable as well.

5)  Questions I should have asked: 

     1)  Has it been smoked in?  Thank goodness mine hadn't.

     2)  How much to have it shipped?

     3)  Do you offer any warranty?  Massachussets has an implied drivetrain warranty, obviously the factory warranty would  be best.

6)  Get your financing in hand prior to bidding...Capital One was very easy to use and will pre approve you with a "blank check" that you fill out when you buy the car...I sent the dealer the check, they sent me the title, I flew up to Boston with the "temp tag" in hand for the drive back...

7)  I told my insurance company what I was doing and had the car added to my policy prior to delivery.   Also, I wanted the "proof" in hand in case something came up on the drive back.

8)  In the end, I wound up saving several thousand dollars over local retail of the same car...and 14,000 miles later it is nothing short of a dream to drive.

9)  My father was so impressed with my experience, he bought a Lexus a few weeks later on Ebay and loooves it...(he had his delivered!)