Buying an out of state Mercedes

[dproudfo]

Hey everyone,

I'm finally looking into purchasing a Mercedes for myself and I'm shopping out of state. I live in MN and am looking all over the country (rust free states) and I'm being as patient as possible and trying to take as many precautions as I can when it comes to shopping for a used vehicle. I suppose I'm just worried about how bad things can potentially go when buying a used vehicle. I also realize that at some point you're just going to have to take the plunge and hope that you did the proper research.

My question for the board is, because I'm not going to be able to inspect the car myself until I'm 99% committed to buying (on location), how should I go about having somebody qualified look at the car before I buy a plane ticket to pick the car up? Pre-purchase inspection from an authorized dealership? Inspection from a recommended independent (according to the forum of course)? I've also heard of people from the forum actually looking at a car for another member.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks again!!

BTW: I'm looking for a W124. Either a Coupe from 92-95 or a 94-95 E420.