Here’s The Furthest Our Readers Have Ever Gone To Buy A Car

It didn’t matter if the car was rusting away in a field or sitting in a dealership lot on the opposite coast. When an enthusiast wants a car and has the money, there’s nothing that they wouldn’t do to get that vehicle in their driveway. Unless the car is unreliable, the road trip itself is half of the fun for a few of us.

We asked our readers earlier this week what’s the furthest they’ve ever gone to buy a car. Our readers submitted comments that shocked me by some of the distances involved. However, I completely understood when I heard the circumstances and the specific cars that were being driven home. While I wouldn’t risked by stranded in a used car, I would have rushed to get a Pontiac G8 once I learned the automaker was being shuttered. Without further ado, here are the cars you traveled thousands of miles to purchase:

2,175 miles.

Back in 2000, I was working out of town for my job in Scottsdale, Arizona. My co-worker found this awesome early ’80s rust-free Jeep Grand Wagoneer for sale for like $900 and bought it on the spot.

He asked me if I wanted to ride in the Jeep with him back home to Wisconsin or take the Northwest flight we were already booked on. I decided to look around and found a rust-free 1979 El Camino so I bought that and we drove our vehicles home together in a 2-car caravan.

Luckily, work wanted us to stop in Henderson, Nevada on our way home. I was able to work it out that I got paid time-and-a-half for my entire drive home (charged to one job) and also got paid mileage for all 2,175 miles. (charged to the other job) I was also bringing large extra parts home in the back of the El Camino, so I got the higher rate for hauling. (48¢ a mile instead of 32¢ a mile)

Between the mileage and the overtime, I made as much driving home as what I paid for the El Camino. It took us about 40 hours of driving, as that Jeep only had a 10-gallon off-road tank that worked so we had to stop every 100 miles for gas.

Now that’s the way to do it. 🙂

Submitted by: Anonymous Person

I flew from Michigan to Minnesota to purchase a factory manual Lexus SC300 and drove it home. Its nothing super special but an SC300 was my first car I ever bought with my own money and I wanted a pristine one to put in my collection. It was a fun trip and nice drive home, bonus points this was before GPS so I had a printed out MapQuest sitting on the passenger seat to get me home lol.

Submitted by: RC350F

I bought an MT Jaguar F-Type from Edmonton, Alberta. The dealer shipped it to Winnipeg, where they had another dealership, and the closest “big” city in Canada to Minnesota. I wanted to get it over the border personally so there were no problems. Despite very carefully following all the regulations, getting paperwork in order, and even calling the border in advance, I was told at the US border as I came in that I was not allowed to bring the car into the country. I asked the agents to make a few calls before we crushed it. After an hour, and paying the expected import taxes, I was on my way.

Submitted by: Matthew Brenengen

Living in the Upper Midwest, finding fun used RWD cars with Manual Transmissions can be a pain. I’ve gone to Knoxville, TN (1000 miles) for a Manual E90 335is and drove it home. Miami, FL (1800 miles) for a clapped-out E30 325is and drove it home with a bad wheel bearing that groaned mercilessly all the way. The best was the ’87 928S4 from Phoenix, AZ. That drive was over 2000 miles home with detours galore in New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming to explore fun roads and sights. Road trips with the right cars and people can be some of the best memories.

Submitted by: Black Mac

1993, A friend drove me two hours into central Kansas, where we went into a field, put a battery into a rusty ’65 VW Beetle, paid a farmer $100 bucks, fired it up, and drove it two hours back. I could see the road beneath my feet. The tires were questionable. And someone didn’t put the oil cap back on. And the motor would catch fire (no idea why, I’m a terrible mechanic). I drove it for the remainder of the summer. I never managed to get around to applying for a title or anything. One day, it just disappeared. I assume the city towed it. I parked it on the street and never put plates on it.

Submitted by: Papa Chris

I ordered a Plymouth Voyager while in England and picked it up in Cincinnati. This was in 1992 before online ordering was a thing. I was returning Stateside after being stationed at RAF Upper Heyford.

Submitted by: Jerome Whittle

My wife’s company was bought out, and the sales force’s vehicles were being sold off. We got a low-mileage 2020 Toyota RAV-4 hybrid for the cost of its remaining Enterprise lease (about $7,000). So, my wife and I flew from our home in Kansas City to Bozeman, MT, and drive our new car home, which took us about three days.

Submitted by: Jason Shepherd

So, I can beat nearly every car story with a dog story.

We live in the Deep South, have so for decades. I chased a paycheck to go to Washington State, which was an epic trip. Long story short, it didn’t work out and I returned to the Deep South. However, when I was there, we made friends and my wife adopted out many dogs to people working with an animal rescue group there.

We have a family that have adopted four dogs from us that lives in Seattle. Only one was adopted when we lived in Richland, WA. The other 3 came from the Deep South, since we moved back. For the first, we flew up to them with us in the cabin and the dog in the luggage bay (and got Covid before Lockdown). The next two, either the husband or wife has flown down, rented a minivan and driven over 2000 miles home with their new dog in the van. We work with a group that transports dogs from the Deep South to New England or Upper Midwest once a week and 1000 miles for doggy transport isn’t uncommon for us as a result. But 2000+ is insane.

All of the dogs have been great dogs. All have also been some sort of German Shepherd mix, by the way.

Submitted by: hoser68

In 2009, as soon as Pontiac announced their closure, I rushed to find a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT in Stryker Blue, and the nearest to me in New Hampshire was in Ohio. I bought it over the phone, flew out, and the dealer picked me up at the airport, drove me an hour to their dealership, and I drove home 13 hours with my brand new car! I still have it to this day, over 16 years later

Submitted by: StalePhish