My scooby was 2miles away, how's that for luck?! And this was the model and even colour that I wanted.

I usually put 100miles into auto trader but Ive never had to go that far. All my other cars were here in the north west, except my mr2, I went to Huddersfield for that.

Personally, I wouldn't go further than 100miles or so. Only because when I want something, I want it there and then, and if I drove hundreds of miles I wouldn't come back empty handed.
I'd still check on auto trader though, just to annoy myself!

Have you tried preloved and gumtree Jeff?

2008 - flew from Limoges to Nottingham for a scoob, paid prior (autotrader car)

2006 - flew from La Rochelle to Southampton (i think) then on to Frankfurt for a motorhome
took 18 hours to get back then realised no spare wheel, paid for it the next day

recently, 4 trains, 2 tubes and a bus from Cornwall to Fulham

All of which proved to be good buys

Doh!
Just remembered one
2005 motorhome in Chelmsford, flew to Stansted, drove back to France then on to Greece for winter, didnt go in the end, broke down in Asti
loved the van but the engine was rubbish
I let the previous owner know I was travelling from France and going on to Greece
The turbo worked when it wanted and the water pump was on its way out

15miles max for me.

I've travelled further and everytime its been a waste of time, money and fuel.

How does that make any sense ?

Surely if your standards are high you would seek out the best car.

I wondered that too. That perfect buy is 11 miles away but that extra mile means its not good enough for ps...

I'll be looking for a new (second hand) car next month. As I I've 15 miles from Lands End I'll have to travel a long way. I'm only looking for a work hack - upto £5,000 but even then I'll travel upto 400 miles to source the right car. It seems a long way, but I'd rather have a couple of days travelling for the right car rather than spend days going to and from the dealer having problems sorted for a locally sourced wreck.

Ha ha ha !

That would leave me buying in...Scunthorpe or nowt.

I remember when I bought that huge Merc barge of Moleys dad on here. That was a drive from Scunthorpe to Redhill and back, 450 miles in a day. Paid a mate derv and McDonald's for his time and made a day of it checking out the Ace Cafe

Car only cost me £460 lol and I put £70 of derv in my mates car. S'ok the guy who wrote off my other cars insurance paid for it through expenses on the claim

Bought my current Scoob from 25 miles away

Grimsby? Is THAT why it's so rusty?

maybe

What's your excuse

I'm on about the bumper bars and the front area when we took it apart? MUCH rustier than mine for a year younger car.

The rear wing on mine is from tearing the inner wing when I clouted an anti-gyppo boulder.

I'll double check the service history, Jeff but it'd only been in Grimsby for a year or two. I was on about your rusty arches mate before you sorted them. My whole underside needs a wire brushing

I flew from Stansted to Prestwick to view the Scoob one week, flew back the next to pick it up and drive back down.

I live in Macclesfield, my last Merc came from Dorking 200 miles away.

My Mk2 Golf came from Brighton 250 miles away, the guy I bought it off had himself bought it 15 miles from me, in Buxton

In both cases I had extended email conversations with the sellers before committing myself to buy. I wasn't disappointed in either case

My CB550 came from Hastings, 270 miles away, and in fact came home on the roof of the above mentioned Benz
That was bought on a drunken ebay whim, but it was cheap, and did appear to be (and in fact was) a good basis for a project I had in mind

I took a one-way flight to Nottingham (300 miles away) to look at my Subaru. Glad it was, what it was.

I drove 3 hrs to get my last car (Audi). I drove 8 hrs each way to get my puppy.

You've got to be prepared to travel for something you want, or a bargain.