buying a car from out of state

so the dealers in VA have the lowest prices in the country and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience buying a car from an out of state dealer?

I have a deal in principle with a local dealer but they are really lagging in getting the paperwork sent to my mother who is co-signing for me so I can get the tier 1 financing.

the deal was approved on Tuesday at 3:30pm and they keep saying they are sending the paperwork to her priority overnight however they still haven't sent it and neither my SA or his sales manager have any idea where the paperwork actually is.

so in the meantime I've been looking online and am contemplating going elsewhere if they can't pick up the pace.

the dealership that has the huge discount is almost 3K miles away so quite a journey and only reason I'm hesitant to fly there and drive it back is due to fact that your not supposed to use cruise control during the break in period or keep a steady speed/rpm which would obv make a cross country trip alot more difficult.

another option is to have the car shipped to me so also open to any recommendations on a car shipping company if anyone has used one they like.

all input and suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks.

Wouldn't worry about the whole cruise control thing.
You're going to have enough variance in speed and rpm.

First of all, you do NOT want to drive the car back to Pasadena from VA. Goes against every break in theory out there like you mentioned. It's 2600 miles (give or take) from VA to CA. Not good. Have it shipped. However do the math. Shipping is probably $1k or more. So take that into consideration.

Second, give the dealership a bit of time. You're not there in person. Out of sight out of mind. It happens. I dealt with this buying out of state. (I've done it twice) Bugged the sales guy and he said the car was mine, he knows it's sold but he had to deal with the sales right in front of him. Once a car is sold, they are looking at selling the next car immediately. You become an afterthought, although they have more work to do to finish the sale. Most buyers are in person. You're not. It's just a different sale. Not the end of the world. Took maybe a week longer than I wanted, but all was fine. IF you have agreed to an absolute price then all should be good. They can't play any games IF they send you the sales contract before purchase. Keep in mind some have said these VA dealers are a bit sneaky with their low prices. You have to ask yourself why are they the lowest in the country? A contract in your hands will show whether they are the real deal or not. I sure hope so. I'm i currently in the VA area and looking to buy myself.

Third, they are probably going to screw up the paperwork about registration and possibly taxes. I highly doubt a VA dealer sells to many CA buyers, though they will tell you they do it all of the time. They are full of it. Expect a screw up. Get on their arse about it.

Care to pass on what GTI you have in mind?

Good luck with the sale.

thanks for the input I def agree with the out of sight out mind it's just really frustrating cuz literally all they have to do is drop the paperwork in the mail.

and ya the gti in question is a 2016 white gti SE 6MT with PP n LP.

I literally just did this same thing. I'm in Missouri and bought from Maryland. They were pretty good about getting all the sales paperwork done; sent it overnite and provided overnite return envelope. Here in MO, we're responsible for doing our own title work, so it was rather shocking that they insisted on doing it for me. They hired a third party service to handle all that. I was like, knock yourself out, one less headache for me. Once the sale was all done, I hired a transporter through UShip. Aside from the anxious waiting, it actually went really smooth.

I just bought from Sheehy Springfield, VA. Pretty much did everything over text message to start, then email.

I was on vacation and the day before I left (cruise) the timing belt popped on my 04' Aveo (base 5mt, no air bought new from dealer $6400 back then when I was poor and needed reliable transport). Was going to buy a GTI in March of 2017, but that whole plan got expedited due to the Aveo's timing belt. I already had the entire plan laid out. I messaged them from my phone and the conversation started. Answered all questions. During the course of vacation I would pop in and reply or ask something, plenty good response timings from them, I had a week and a half or more before I would be there... After everything was settled they gave me an out the door price. I flew from EVV to Chicago to Reagan National airport ($211) and Scott (Sheehy salesperson) picked me up from the airport. Drove back, filled out the paperwork and drove home. The best part for me was that during the ~2week course between getting the out the door price and actually buying it, the price had dropped enough to notice and they matched that price. Then I drove 750mi home. The only thing I did not expect is that they have $500 built in to the online discount for a minimum trade in allowance and I did not have a trade in. No big stink from my perspective there, but something to be aware of.

My local VW dealer wouldn't consider dropping their price at all, they were $1000 under MSRP, Sheehy was $7200-500=$6700 under MSRP. Also my local dealer only has a single GTI on the lot, they used to carry at least 5, and the one they had was oddly enough a 2 door which isn't what I wanted at all.

I would recommend them. I am fairly certain my wife's next car here in the next couple of years will be coming from their dealership.

^^^
Not bad, but did you finance thru them or already have that lined up or pay cash?

Just wondering if they had strings attached with that